The Oklahoma City Thundercats have added depth to their roster by adding PG sharp shooter Eric Maynor in a trade with the Jazz.  The Thunder also took on Matt  Harpring’s $6.5 million contract in the trade but Harpring isn’t planning on playing in the NBA again.  The OKC Thunder gave up the draft rights to Peter Fehse who was a 2002 draft pick who is playing in Germany and has never played an NBA game.  The Thunder needed a backup PG and badly.  Westbrook is only a 2nd year player and with Ollie and Weaver out the Thunder were using Harden as the backup PG along with Mike Wilks and Shuan Livingston.   Wilks was just signed a couple weeks ago and Livingston has been hurt since his debut in the NBA a few years ago.

This is a pretty good move on the Thunder’s part.  I’m not sure how the situation will work out with Harpring’s contract, but I’m sure if he retires this year there is some salary cap exception so it won’t really affect the Thunder (plus they are under the salary cap regardless).  Maynor really didn’t have a spot in Utah with Deron Williams playing most of the minutes and his backup with Ronnie Price who has a few years under his belt as opposed to Maynor who is a rookie.

Maynor will allow Harden to play strictly at his natural #2 spot and he can give Westbrook a few more breather’s here and there.  For the Jazz, Maynor started two games and one of those was a 24 point performance against the Cavs.  For the season he is averaging 5.2 ppg and 3.1 apg.  The Thunder released Wilks and Livingston from their contracts today to make room for Maynor and Harpring’s contract.

Grade for the Thunder: B; Solid backup who is young and will make mistakes but it was a position where they had no depth at all due to injuries.  They didn’t give up much but they are taking that $6.5 million hit as of right now which can sting a little.

-The Basher