Now that the Oklahoma City Thunder have finalized their roster for the remainder of the game, we know what type of hula hoop Sam Presti will have to jump through at the bottom of the depth chart.
The Thunder surprised most people when they acquired Jared McCain from the Philadelphia 76ers on the cheap at the NBA trade deadline. While most are graded as A’s or above, the way they handle the end of the bench can have some unintended consequences.
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Ousmane Dieng was taken a salary cut to the Charlotte Hornets to make room for McCain on the 15-man standard roster. We know who the Thunder’s standard 15 players are. That makes their three two-way spots a little trickier the rest of the way.
The Thunder spent the first two-thirds of the season with Brandon Carlson, Brooks Barnhizer and Chris Youngblood as their three two-way players. It should be reminded that two-way transactions allow NBA players to be active for 50 games in a single season and can move up and down seamlessly between the NBA and the Development League.
One of these three has reached the limit. Youngblood has reached the 50-game cap before the NBA trade deadline. He was brought back to the Thunder Blue Team of the G-League, but he will not be able to play for the Thunder for the rest of the game. That’s why they added Buddy Boeheim to fill his two-way spot.
The next guy to potentially reach his limit is Karlsson. He has 13 games left. Barnhizer has 19 games. With 26 games left in the regular season, it will be interesting to see how the Thunder handle the former.
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Another important reminder is that two-way players cannot participate in the NBA playoffs. So Carlson’s season will end with the regular season finale. This is somewhat surprising considering most believed the Thunder would convert him into a standard roster spot once the NBA trade deadline passed. McCain’s surprising availability clearly threw a curveball.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said the Thunder realize Carlson’s days are limited. This is his second season on a two-way contract with the Thunder. They liked him so much that they brought him back this past offseason. The 26-year-old is a decent fourth-line center who has helped the Thunder deal with injuries.
“You have a limited budget for two-way players. We try to be pretty strategic with that,” Dainio said. “Balancing current needs while understanding future needs.”
Unfortunately, injuries plagued the Thunder’s season. From negotiating over 70 wins to retaining the top seed. The Thunder are coming off an exciting regular season with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out for about a month with an abdominal strain and Jalen Williams likely to play in fewer than 40 games this season.
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That doesn’t include AJ Mitchell, who missed more than a month with an abdominal strain. Or Isaiah Hartenstein missing six weeks with a strained soleus muscle. The Thunder have been battered like every other team in the league, which may explain their mediocre performance over the past two months.
“The difficulty is that the future is uncertain, so you don’t know what will happen or what you might need,” Dainio said. “You want to make sure as we get to the end of the season that we’re utilizing these guys well enough to get them on the field when we need them.”
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: How will the OKC Thunder handle Brandon Carlson and other two-way players?