It seems that the Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t done trying to win an NBA championship with Derek Fisher on their roster, and might be bringing the veteran point guard back for a third season with the team.
Fisher made the league minimum last season, beginning it with the Dallas Mavericks before asking to be released in order to be closer to his family and an injury he sustained early in the season. He then pulled off quite the disrespectful move by signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder, probably because they had a better chance of winning than the Mavs of last season.
In any case, Fisher landed himself in a bigger role than anticipated during the postseason, playing more than 23 minutes a night due to Russell Westbrook injuring his knee. Fisher did a decent job considering everything, scoring 8.7 points on 45.7% from the field.
However, in any role but as a shooter to make the most of Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook getting double teamed the Thunder aren’t getting themselves too much of a player. Fisher is no longer a very capable defender or ball handler, and yet it seems that he’ll share the bench-backcourt time with Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb, who some though was heading towards a breakout season next year.
What’s interesting about Fisher joining the team is the future of other players. If Fisher does indeed sign, it means that either DeAndre Liggins or Daniel Orton won’t be making the cut. It also might mean that their chances of signing Mike Miller, who looked like he had OKC as his favorites, have taken a hit and he’s heading somewhere else like Houston, San Antonio or Memphis.
Fisher is a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and reached the NBA finals in 2012 with the Thunder, but hardly added much to the team except hitting open shots, which might be harder to come by now that the Thunder don’t have a third scorer on board.