Why are the Thunder reportedly talking extension with Dion Waiters?
Oklahoma City reportedly interested in locking down inefficient guard to long-term deal. Can he mold his defense and offensive tendencies to be more productive?
By
Matt Moore
•
2 min read
Dion Waiters was drafted fourth overall despite never starting at Syracuse. His agent basically pulled a Jedi mind trick on the league and jumped his draft stock by about seven spots. In Cleveland he clashed with Kyrie Irving, wanting a bigger role in the offense and to handle the ball more. He had a chance to show LeBron James he was worth being a building block last year. Instead, Cleveland traded him for a first-round pick they later swapped for Timofey Mozgov.
In Oklahoma City he shot 39 percent from the floor and 32 percent from the arc, while featuring worse on/off court net differentials than Anthony Morrow and Andre Roberson. There is actually an ongoing meme of Waiters calling (unsuccessfully) for the ball. That's the first thing that comes up in search suggestions for Waiters:
So naturally, with all this, the Thunder are talking about extending him. Sigh. From Yahoo Sports:
Guard Dion Waiters and the Oklahoma City Thunder are actively exploring a contract extension with the Nov. 2 deadline looming, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Waiters, 23, has been enthusiastic about working toward a deal with the Thunder, eager to compete on a contender and comfortable with his growth in a strong atmosphere for player development.
As part of the NBA’s 2012 draft class, Waiters is eligible to extend his deal. Waiters’ agent, Rob Pelinka, and Thunder general manager Sam Presti have met and had ongoing discussions on the deal over the past several weeks, league sources said.
Source: Sources: Thunder, Dion Waiters exploring contract extension - Yahoo Sports.
Again, here's Waiters' shot chart from last season:
Now, there are still things Waiters provides. When he's plugged in, and playing within himself, Waiters' defensive abilities are really underrated. He's long and athletic, tough and physical, aggressive. He could very much be a 3-and-D player at a high level if he focuses on his spot-up shot and still has the ability to score well enough off the dribble as a counter if the defender tries to run him off. It's just that Waiters has always envisioned himself as a star, someone who creates with the ball, but is overall very inefficient.
The Thunder offense was very good with him on court last year, but then, OKC's offense was always very good. There is a good player locked somewhere within Waiters at age 23. Can the Thunder bring that out?
Here's a bigger question: What are the Thunder really risking by letting him hit restricted free agency? If they can get Waiters back at under $10 million per year on a short contract, then this is worth it, sure. Anything more and they're overextending themselves. What if Kevin Durant leaves this summer? The Thunder are obviously executing plans as if KD will re-sign, they should. Still, you need to keep your outs open. With Waiters, Kyle Singler (four-years, $25 million) and Enes Kanter (four-years, $70 million) on long-term deals, the Thunder would head into a Russell Westbrook contract year with those three guys as established parts of the core.
Painting themselves into a corner with mediocre role players with Durant's impending free agency seems like a dangerous plan. We'll see what kind of number they can get Waiters at, if they do indeed come to a deal before November 1.
