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Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has waived point guard John Lucas III.
Lucas averaged 5.0 points and 2.7 assists in three preseason contests. He was inactive for all three of the Thunder regular season games.
The Thunder roster now stands at 14.
The AP reports: Russell Westbrook sparked a comeback with back-to-back steals on the defensive end and then scored the go-ahead basket for the last of his 14 points as the Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 88-85 Sunday night for their first victory in their new home… Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 18 points despite a 7-for-21 shooting night. Green added 13 points, Chris Wilcox scored 12 off the bench and Collison had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double. Minnesota’s Al Jefferson had 24 points and 13 rebounds for his third straight double-double to start the season, but the Thunder clamped down late on him. Craig Smith added 13 points, Gomes scored 12 and Mike Miller had 10… Foye was 0-for-10 and had his only two points on free throws.
The AP reports: Tracy McGrady and the Houston Rockets made up for a sputtering offense with some sparkling free-throw shooting. McGrady had 22 points, Yao Ming added 16 and the Rockets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 89-77 on Saturday night for their third straight win. Carl Landry had 14 points and tied a career best with 11 rebounds for Houston. Ron Artest, Luis Scola and Rafer Alston added 10 points apiece… Kevin Durant, the reigning Rookie of the Year, had 26 points, five rebounds and four steals for Oklahoma City. Johan Petro and Jeff Green had 10 points each.
Rockets Assistant Coach Jack Sikma joined Houston after spending four seasons on the coaching staff in Seattle … Sikma, who was selected by the Sonics with the eighth overall pick of the 1977 NBA Draft, had his jersey #43 retired by Seattle-Oklahoma City franchise on Nov. 21, 1992 … Houston Assistant Coach R.J. Adelman worked as an NBA advance scout for the former Sonics before coming to Houston … Gerald Madkins, Houston’s as Director of Scouting, joined the Rockets after serving as the Director of West Coast College Scouting for Seattle in 2007-08 … Brent Barry still ranks fifth all-time in Seattle-Oklahoma City franchise history with 669 3-pointers made … originally chosen by Seattle in the second round (31st overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Houston obtained the draft rights to forward Carl Landry on June 28, 2007 … Scott Brooks, an assistant coach with the Thunder, played three seasons with the Rockets (1992-95) … Oklahoma City Assistant Coach Mark Bryant also played one season with Houston (1995-96) … Thunder guard John Lucas III played two season with the Rockets (2005-07).
The AP reports: Michael Redd, Richard Jefferson and Charlie Villanueva each scored 20 points and the Milwaukee Bucks gave Oklahoma City’s sellout crowd little hope about by spoiling the Thunder’s debut with a 98-87 win on Wednesday night… Oklahoma City started 2-for-12 from the field and never led, falling behind 20-9 and then watching Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant come out of the game with early foul trouble… Andrew Bogut added 14 points and Bell scored 11 for Milwaukee. Villanueva also had 12 rebounds. Chris Wilcox led Oklahoma City with 15 points off the bench, first-round pick Russell Westbrook scored 13 in his debut and Durant finished with 12 on 5-for-14 shooting.
The NBA’s opening day rosters are official, and now posted on InsideHoops.com.
This evening was the deadline for NBA teams to trim their rosters down to 15 players or less.
The 2008-09 regular season starts Tuesday, October 28. InsideHoops is your online basketball home. We’re pumping out more content this season than ever.
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The AP reports: Kobe Bryant, coming back from a knee injury, made a brief appearance at the start of Los Angeles’ final preseason game Friday night and appeared to be moving fine in the Lakers’ 105-94 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder… Los Angeles’ Andrew Bynum had 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while playing 29 minutes in the final tuneup for both the Lakers (5-2) and the Thunder (1-6). Bynum was 10-of-15 from the floor. Jordan Farmar had 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting for Los Angeles… Rookie Russell Westbrook scored 23 for Oklahoma City, and Kevin Durant added 15.
The AP reports: Amare Stoudemire scored 17 points before dislocating his left pinky and the Phoenix Suns, with their regulars together for the first time, beat the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder 102-93 on Thursday night … Steve Nash, returning after missing three games because of a sprained right ankle, scored 15 points for the Suns. Leandro Barbosa also had 15 points, Shaquille O’Neal added 13, and Matt Barnes had 12. Rookie Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 22 points. Kevin Durant, last season’s Rookie of the Year, added 19, Johan Petro had 17 and Jeff Green 12.
Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has waived center Chris Alexander and guard Derrick Byars.
Alexander averaged 1.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 5.0 minutes in four preseason games while Byars averaged 4.1 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 14.8 minutes in four preseason contests.
The Thunder roster now stands at 15.
Oklahoma City has exercised the third-year team options on both guard/forward Kevin Durant and forward Jeff Green for the 2009-10 season it was announced today by General Manager Sam Presti.
Durant and Green were both members of the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA All-Rookie First Team and participated in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.
Durant, 20, was named the 2007-08 NBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 20.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists in 80 games. The Washington D.C. native was named NBA Rookie of the Month five times and became just the third teenager to average 20 or more points per game.
Green, 22, concluded his rookie campaign with averages of 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists in 80 games. The Georgetown product averaged 10.5 points per game, fourth among all rookies last season.