The Oklahoma City Thunder have declined the team options for Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins ahead of their June 29 deadline, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Joe had a $2.1 million team option and Wiggins had a $2 million team option for the 2024-25 season. The Thunder foregoes the cheap salaries in exchange to begin negotiations on long-term deals for the bench duo.
There’s a bit of a risk involved with these moves as they allow other teams to offer contracts to Joe and Wiggins — who will be restricted free agents. With that said though, it’s easy to assume the Thunder have already had discussions about a new deal for both and none of this caught anybody by surprise.
Joe and Wiggins have been staples of OKC’s depth. They were valuable finds by the Thunder as Joe was a training camp cut by the Philadelphia 76ers and Wiggins was the 55th pick in 2021.
The Thunder can keep both on what will likely be team-friendly deals. They have over $30 million in cap space this offseason to spend, so expect those two to command most of that.
In 78 games last season, Joe averaged 8.2 points on 45.8% shooting, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He shot 41.6% from 3 on 4.5 attempts.
In 78 games last season, Wiggins averaged 6.9 points on 56.2% shooting, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists. He shot 49.2% from 3 on 1.6 attempts.
The Thunder will get their first crack at handing them extensions at the start of free agency. If they’ve already shook on a deal, expect an announcement to happen soon.
