The Oklahoma City Thunder appear to be moving on from Tony Bradley, a young center acquired at the trade deadline.
The Thunder are not expected to issue Bradley a qualifying offer as he hits free agency, according to The Athletic’s Tony Jones. Bradley was acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the George Hill trade last season.
In 22 games with the Thunder, Bradley was a reliable big man, averaging 8.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in 18 minutes per game while shooting 65.6% on 5.5 shots per contest.
The Thunder’s roster is already filling up, though, and they enter Monday night with six selections in the 2021 draft. The assumption is that they’ll trade some or pick a draft-and-stash player — or both — but there’s limited room to work with.
Bradley started seeing playing time in his third year in the league. In that 2019-20 season, on the Utah Jazz, he averaged 4.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per game.
He was traded to the Sixers during the 2020 offseason. A third- to fourth-string center for much of his tenure in Philly, Bradley only appeared in 20 games, but he played well overall during his stint as a starter in place of the injured Joel Embiid.
Bradley was traded to the Thunder, where he played solid but remained stuck in a busy rotation, one in which Oklahoma City wanted to explore a more positionless style with players like Darius Bazley and Isaiah Roby at center, along with true big Moses Brown, who has been traded to the Boston Celtics.
Assuming Bradley is gone, the Thunder will have no true centers on the team.
The draft will begin at 7 p.m. Central Time on Thursday.
