Soon after negotiations reportedly broke down with Nerlens Noel and the Oklahoma City Thunder, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the team had agreed to a deal with Mike Muscala.
The 6-foot-11 big man, who turned 28 years old on Monday, has been in the NBA since 2013-14 after playing four years for Bucknell in the Patriot League. Drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft, Muscala played for the Atlanta Hawks for five years before splitting 2018-19 between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Though now he’s set to be the newest member of the Thunder following Sunday’s news.
While it seems the Thunder made the move in reaction to the Noel breakdown — which was reported by ESPN just three minutes before the Muscala news — that may have not been the case.
According to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News in St. Paul, Thunder general manager Sam Presti went to Muscala’s home in Minnesota to recruit the big man:
Based on this report, Noel could still be in play for the Thunder.
