Why The Oklahoma City Thunder Should Consider Signing Dragan Bender

With the NBA set to open a transaction window on Tuesday, teams all across the league are expected to bolster their roster heading into the remainder of the season in Orlando and even looking into next season. While teams during this window will have the opportunity to cut players on their current roster, they will also have the ability to sign players. This goes for all 30 teams, not just the 22 teams that will be continuing the season at Walt Disney World
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. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, there are some decisions to be made.

With one open roster spot, it makes a lot of sense to sign their two-way sensation Luguentz Dort. After an exceptional start to his career, Oklahoma City will have the ability to sign him to a full-time NBA contract to fill their final roster spot. With that being said, they also have the freedom of signing someone else around the league and carrying Dort into the playoffs as two-way players are going to be allowed to play in the postseason, which has never happened before. They could then sign him in the offseason to his full-time contract.

While the Thunder have several great options they could look to sign to increase their ceiling in the final eight games of the regular season and into the playoffs, perhaps they should think more long term. One player who could be a beneficial signing for their future is Dragan Bender.

Bender is the former No. 6 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Although he has been a major disappointment at this point in his career, there is still a tremendous amount of upside in signing him. Even in his fourth year in the league, he is still only 22 years old. The 7-foot-1 power forward has the versatility to play multiple positions and is a solid 3-point shooter for his position at 32.3 percent on his career. His ability to stretch the floor in the modern NBA is very intriguing.

After spending two years with the Phoenix Suns to start his NBA career, Bender has since played with the Milwaukee Bucks and more recently the Golden State Warriors. In 16 games this season, he has averaged 13.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per 36 minutes. This goes to show that if he were in a situation where he fit well and was given a consistent role, he could flourish.

While he more than likely wouldn’t be a season-altering player for Oklahoma City right now, he would be a great long-term asset. If the Thunder were to sign him for the remainder of the season plus a deal with low guaranteed money next season to hold onto his contract, he would certainly be worth the risk. According to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, there could be quite a few teams that would be interested in signing Bender to a deal like this.

Bender is currently on a 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors and it appears that they would like to keep him. While this gives the Warriors a leg up on other teams around the league, there is still a chance he could find himself elsewhere for the remainder of the season. Regardless, in the nine games he has played with Golden State this season, he has posted career-highs in points (9.0) and rebounds (5.9) per game as well as free throw percentage (72.7) 3-pointers attempted (3.8). Bender seems to be trending in the right direction, but is it sustainable?

It seems that Bender just hasn’t found the right fit in the NBA. With Oklahoma City’s proven track record of turning careers around and developing players well with guys like Nerlens Noel, Dion Waiters, Enes Kanter, and others, Bender could be their next project.

If this were to happen, the Thunder would have 22-year-old Dragan Bender and 20-year-old Darius Bazley as their power forwards of the future. That seems enticing for a team that will at some point have to undergo a slight rebuild as they look to re-tool around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and build a championship-contending roster down the road. It would make a lot of sense for the Oklahoma City Thunder to look into signing Dragan Bender during the upcoming transition window this week.