There have been a lot of questions surrounding Andre Roberson for the past two seasons.
Most of them about when he might be able to play again.
But it sounds like the conversation is starting to change to where he might play again. And according to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, there’s talk around the league that it might not be in Oklahoma City.
At the start of the season, it was anticipated that general manager Sam Presti would be prepared to flip both center Steven Adams and forward Danilo Gallinari for future assets, but with the Thunder unexpectedly entrenched as a playoff team, rival executives could see Presti limiting his activity to moving Andre Roberson and his expiring $10.7 million contract, primarily for cap relief with the Thunder currently edging over the luxury tax threshold.
This isn’t the first time that Roberson’s name has come up in conjunction with the possibility of a trade.
In a January report, Erik Gee of Sports Illustrated said that ESPN’s Bobby Marks had tapped Roberson as a player to “keep an eye on” as the trade deadline neared. Gee called the idea “intriguing”.
The thought behind trading Roberson is someone might be willing to take him off (Sam) Presti’s hands because of his expiring contract if the Thunder were willing to part with a first-round pick. Not having to pay the rest of Roberson’s 10.7 million dollar contract could allow the Thunder to be buyers at the trade deadline.
The question would likely be how difficult is it to move a player that hasn’t played in more than two years? Especially when there’s no indication that he’ll play again any time soon.
Roberson just passed the two-year anniversary of the day he ruptured his left patellar tendon. Though he’s been believed to be close to full-strength several times, he has yet to return and moved his rehab to Los Angeles in December.
If Bucher is correct in that Presti would limit his activity to trying to move Roberson, it would indicate that at least for now, the rebuild is at a standstill. And that the organization is going to go with what got them to this point in the season, and hope that it’s enough to carry them to the playoffs.
