During a Feb. 22 podcast episode of The Draymond Green, guest Portland Trail Blazer star Damian Lillard took a shot at Oklahoma City’s free agency appeal, saying players have reasons outside of city lifestyle that influences their decisions on where they sign. Green asked Lillard his thoughts on Portland’s free agency appeal after bringing up the fact that he has only played with one All-Star teammate in LaMarcus Aldridge:
“Bruh, people going to Oklahoma City bruh. No offense, but people going to Oklahoma City and people going to Milwaukee.”
Lillard would then mention Carmelo Anthony and how he waived his no-trade clause in the summer of 2017 to get traded to the Thunder instead of the Trail Blazers.
Now while Lillard is right in this example, where Anthony essentially chose the Thunder organization despite it being located in Oklahoma City, it’s hard to really think of any other free agent signings that were super significant in Thunder history. The fact that the Thunder’s biggest free agent signings since its relocation to Oklahoma City include Nerlens Noel, Patrick Patterson and Mike Muscala goes to show that the team will probably never attract any big time free agents.
