Read Madrid forward Gabriel Deck, who officially signed with the Thunder on April 12, has arrived in Oklahoma City, head coach Mark Daigneault confirmed on Friday.
The news of his arrival was first reported by NBA Global reporter Leandro Fernandez.
Deck’s steps upon arrival included passing a physical and going through COVID-19 protocol. Once he has cleared both, he will join the team.
“As soon as he’s cleared to do that, he’s going to join us and we’re going to try to get him in the mix pretty quickly because we’re excited about seeing him play,” Daigneault said.
Deck’s international experience comes with both his home country of Argentina and with Real Madrid. He was named the Argentinian LNB MVP in 2018, and at the 2019 FIBA World Cup, averaged 13.9 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 37.% from 3. Argentina won the silver medal that season.
Daigneault said the 6-foot-8 forward will get in the lineup quickly once available.
“It’s valuable, the evaluation time for us, and it’s valuable experience for him,” Daigneault said. “He’s never played in the NBA. We’re going to try to get him right in the mix as fast as possible as we’ve done with most of these guys throughout the course of the season that have joined us at different points of time.”
Justin Robinson and Jaylen Hoard were the two latest examples of Oklahoma City putting new players into the rotation immediately. They played the same night in which their signing with the Thunder was announced.
Deck, 26, has a four-year contract but the next three seasons are non-guaranteed. He’ll look to prove he can play at the NBA level over the Thunder’s final stretch of the season.
