As the NBA enters the slowest stretch of its calendar, the Oklahoma City Thunder will have a couple of more months to bask in their championship before shifting their focus to becoming a rare repeat winner.
Being the second-youngest NBA champion, the Thunder will have the rare luxury of roster continuity. Everybody who was under contract for their historic 68-14 regular-season run is under contract for next season, too. Outside of some bottom depth chart movement, expect the same rotation.
The one roster spot still left open is the third two-way spot. Brooks Barnhizer and Branden Carlson are signed to the other two spots, but one remain. After they completed the Summer League, plenty of possible candidates had their moments.
Let’s look at three candidates who could receive the Thunder’s third two-way contract. The deal allows players to appear in 50 games and split time between the NBA and G League:
Chris Youngblood
Out of all the undrafted rookies, Youngblood stood out the most in the Summer League. The 23-year-old is a sharpshooter with a quick release. He gained more minutes in the rotation as the two-week event progressed. There’s always a demand for shooters. He could get a shot because of it.
Youngblood averaged 12.4 points in five Las Vegas games. He shot 52% from 3 on five attempts. Even though the sample is small, he was also a high-volume outside shooter at Alabama. He wasn’t afraid to let it fly from deep in a variety of ways.
Malevy Leons
Familiarity might help Leons. After he went undrafted out of Bradley, he signed with the Thunder. He was a training camp invite last year and even earned an NBA deal for a brief moment before being waived. The 25-year-old spent most of the season in the G League.
Leons spent most of the Summer League as a starter. He had his moments, especially on the defensive side. The 6-foot-9 forward has good physical tools but remains raw as a half-court player. Still, there’s obviously some intrigue there from the Thunder as he enters his second year with the franchise.
Viktor Lakhin
A popular theory that circulated among Thunder fans was about Lakhin. He went undrafted out of Clemson. Some believe that happened because a torn foot tendon plummeted his draft stock after he received some second-round buzz.
Lakhin had a career season at Clemson before the May injury. He averaged 11.4 points and 56.4 rebounds. Because of the injury, he didn’t play in the Summer League. The Thunder knew that when they signed him. The speculation is that the only reason they’d do that was to ensure they’d sign him to a two-way deal. Remains to be seen how true that theory is.
Payton Sandfort
Everything said about Lakhin can be copied and pasted here. Two shoulder surgeries to fix torn labrums caused Sandfort to go undrafted out of Iowa. Nonetheless, the Thunder liked the upside enough to add him to their Summer League roster, knowing he wouldn’t play.
Considering Sandfort had surgery in April and May, don’t expect him to be cleared for a while. November has been viewed as a target return. He was a sharpshooter in his four years at Iowa. He shot 34% from 3 on 7.5 attempts last season. You always need those types of players at any level. Let’s see if it’s enough to warrant a two-way spot before he’s even suited up for the Thunder.
