Thunder trade Hasheem Thabeet to Philadelphia

The Thunder have traded Hasheem Thabeet, along with cash considerations, to the 76ers who absorb his contract into their cap space, creating a $1.25 million trade exception.

Why did the Thunder do this? With the emergence of Steven Adams, plus the addition of Mitch McGary, Thabeet is firmly the Thunder’s third center and nothing more than an insurance policy. His contract for next season was non-guaranteed ($1.2 million) and was likely to be waived in training camp anyway. The Thunder have 14 players on guaranteed deals for next season and prefer to keep the last spot open for flexibility purposes. So Thabeet was going to be waived for nothing, but the Thunder, as they tend to do, created an asset, albeit small, for the future.

Thabeet appeared in 89 games over the last two season with the Thunder, averaging 1.2 points and 1.7 rebounds. He did record his first career double-double with the Thunder with 13 points and 10 rebounds against the Bobcats in 2013.

My two other favorite Thabeet moments with the Thunder, with No. 1 being the video up above:

Where Thabeet mixed it up with James Harden in his return to OKC. He endeared himself forever for that. He got ejected, and then unejected.