Former OKC Thunder Forward Ditches Golden State Warriors
The Davis Bertans saga continues as another member of the 2023-24 OKC Thunder roster exit the NBA as the sharpshooter inks a multi-year pact in Dubai after earning a try out with the Golden State Warriors.
Last season, Bertans played a key role for the Oklahoma City Thunder starting in June when he was shipped to Bricktown along with the No. 10 overall pick Cason Wallace in exchange for the No. 12 pick rookie center Dereck Lively II who helped propel the Mavericks to the NBA Finals. A win-win move as each side got a talented prospect and the salary dump came around to help each franchise as well.
Bertans’ importance was never seen on the court, but it was felt in a big way off of it. On top of netting the Thunder Wallace, Sam Presti flipped the sharpshooting big man to the Charlotte Hornets along with Vasilije Micic and Tre Mann for NBA veteran Gordan Hayward.
While Hayward was more passive than an 80-year-old Grandma driving on I-40, at this stage of his career just months before retirement his value too came from a salary cap spread sheet. Moving on from the trio of contracts sent to Buzz City and seeing Hayward fall off the books this summer, the Thunder were able to land a big ticket item in Free Agency.
As the Thunder ink Isaiah Hartenstein to the larget free agent contract in club history, the move can really be traced back to Bertans and credited to two players now out of the league.
Earlier this week, the belief was Bertans would attend training camp in the bay area prepare for the season with the Golden State Warriors in hopes of landing another NBA deal after being waived by the Hornets this summer.
Instead, on Saturday it was announced that Bertans would skip out on the Warriors audition and ink a multiyear pact with a club in Dubai which is said to include out conditions to allow a return to the NBA should the opportunity present itself to the seven-footer according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
Update: NBA veteran Dāvis Bertāns is no longer expected to audition this month for Golden State after receiving a multiyear offer to play in Dubai that is said to include “out” conditions that do allow for a down-the-road return to the league.
More NBA: https://t.co/A6ycVmnrjq https://t.co/kWKA9LBeGz— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 7, 2024