BREAKING MOVE -- Thunder sign Defensive Maestro amidst Injuries

We have got breaking news from Oklahoma City. The Thunder are signing defensive specialist Daylon Terry to a two-year deal. A former first-round pick, back in 2022, the Thunder looked to Terry to replace some of the point-of-attack defense that was recently lost to the injury bug. As fans, we should expect some real-deal rotational minutes right from the jump with the addition of Terry. Sam Presti making the call earlier this morning. Wishing you Thunder Digest fans a good morning and jumping right into the Thunder signing Daylon Terry to bolster that wing depth that was lost with some recent injuries and this news just broke 33 minutes ago at the time of recording this and that news guard for Daylon Terry has agreed on a two-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder sources tell ESPN Terry enters his fifth NBA season after the former number 18 overall pick spent time I'm in Chicago, Philadelphia. was in Golden State's training camp this past summer before making his way onto OKC. And we're here reporting it within the hour on Thunder Digest. Want to ask you guys humbly to subscribe. Help us hit our 11,000 subscriber goal that we are trying to hit by Thanksgiving. You can get all of your OKC news right on time, right in one easy, convenient place for me and Ryan. And if you already are subscribed to the Best Thunder community on all of social media, thank you for your continued support. As we move into looking at Daylon Terry, The terms, the contract, and we don't know exactly the number that you're going along with this deal. We just know that it's the two years. And we're going to confirm that with you guys whenever more details are released later. So like we said, make sure you stay tuned for this. But this roster move, it is Sam Presti going to work. It is Sam Presti keeping this team competitive in the midst of SGA's prime, SGA's third straight MVP campaign. It's keeping this team competitive in this championship window, even while missing. All NBA guys. And adding in a guy like Daylon Terry, it's going to help in some capacity. It's going to help in that perimeter defense specifically that you lost. Losing point of attack guys like Cason Wallace, J-Dub, even Lou Dort this past offseason. Even Otega Awe, who you drafted specifically to play the role that Daylon Terry is now going to be playing. Well, you're going to see this guy jump in and just get heavy minutes because his defensive profile, it is something that OKC has went from having in abundance. To now that they need, which is very interesting development over the past just course of months, how many quality point of attack, versatile perimeter defenders that they have lost and what Terry must show coming in to get some minutes and to fill the needs of this team contain the point of attack, especially on the wing. We saw Cooper Flagg in our first loss of the season for the Mavericks have his way with pretty much any guy that we could have on him because we didn't have the frame to match him We bring in Terry, a guy who's six foot six. Seven foot plus wingspan, quicker feet, that's going to help, and that's going to give him court time, playing time, and give the Thunder that valuable point of attack defense that they need. He's also going to have to be able to navigate screens and switch when he is needed. Talked about that 6'6 frame, that wingspan, and that's going to allow him to guard some bigger guys, a la J-Dub and his versatility, and OKC is going to need that. They're down guys, quality defenders, and he's going to have to take a variety of matchups early on with his time in the Thunder. And he's also going to have to create deflections without fouling. He is a very good defender without fouling. And OKC, they usually in years past have thrived on turning defense into offense, getting deflections into the open court, in the transition game, and losing a guy like Cason Wallace, who has four or more steals in a quarter of his games, losing another all-NBA defender in J-Dub, losing Dort in the offseason, you're losing a lot of that transition defense. Even Alex Caruso isn't available right now. So, Daylon Terry. He's going to have to be able to get this team in transition, get them some easy buckets by, you know, getting them into the open floor. And lastly, we need Daylon Terry to knock down open shots. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, we saw in last night's win against Cleveland, he is going to be facing five defenders at all times, at least until the new year when Shai comes back. The defensive attention overwhelmingly on SGA. Guys are going to have to convert when they are wide open. And Daylon Terry, we saw, shoots about, you know, 34%, 35%, 36% from three. So, not the best shooter coming in, but a serviceable guy, 36.5% from three during his most recent campaign, and if he's able to equip, you know, even 37 for us, that's respectable enough to keep the defense honest, playing SGA, guarding him, and sending a triple team every time he touches the paint. So, when you take a look at Terry coming into this team, we need to, one, stabilize this perimeter defense, and if he does that, can he, A, earn these rotational minutes over Josh Dixon, they're coming in the game. Or is he B, an emergency depth type of guy that Sam Presti is bringing in for a plug and try if we don't get the defense going? And is he C, a guy that they're going to have to bring in another piece alongside of for them to meet all their goals to get this roster back to where they can compete for home court advantage in the playoffs and such in another prime SGA year? You're going to have these guys out there. They're going to be trying to win games. And the Thunder injuries. They make perimeter defense an essential. Having a guy like Jalen Terry out there an essential to win these games. You have to get stops in the NBA. And that has been the Thunder's thing in the past. But when you're missing not only Jalen Williams for probably the remainder of the year, Kason Wallace for the remainder of the year, Alex Caruso, who has been out for about a week now with an ankle sprain. And on top of that, Chet Holmgren out through the new year. Nikola Topić and Sorman doing their usual thing. This team is injured. This team needs players who can step up Get on the basketball court and play some quality minutes. If Jalen Terry shows that he is going to play hard and come in and address a need that we have in a 3 and D wing, well, then that's going to yield him minutes very quickly with this team. And honestly, through the new year, because we have some guys injured for the long term that usually are playing hefty, hefty minutes for this team. And whenever you take a look at OKC moving forward, Daylon Terry, how he's going to contribute, He hasn't had the biggest. Statistical impact in the NBA, the most eye-opening career. I mean, when you take a look at his journey, he was selected 18th overall back in 22, eventually made his way out to Philadelphia, and this past summer was with Golden State on an Exhibit 10, and then was waived, but... His days of playing, you know, spurts of five minutes off the bench, those aren't going to be the role he's in. Those days have come to an end because on this OKC team, they're just so thin in their roster. He's going to be playing night in, night out, acquire some type of rhythm, and then we're really going to see what type of player this guy can be. Can he be a consistent shooter on the offensive end? Is he going to be a tenacious defender night in, night out? We're going to be able to see how he impacts this team. But offensively, the thing I want to point out and why we should hold out some hope for this guy on the offensive end is when he was on the Bulls most recently, there is a bad luck charm I'll say by the name of Patrick Williams over there that all of their players and fans do not seem to like very much and whenever that he's not out on the court very improved numbers from Terry in the offensive department as a playmaker as an efficiency as a shooter as a scorer and getting to his spots better so whenever you're putting the right guys around Terry out here which usually we Now it's going to be a little bit more iffy. We're going to see if he can produce with guys like SGA Mitchell around him, you know, getting him these looks. So it'll be interesting on the offensive end to see his immediate impact. That's what I'm keeping an eye on because I can almost assure you he will be a very good addition to our defense, our point of attack perimeter defense right upon entry. We've seen those skills from him before. We're hoping offensively he can, you know, justify himself being on the court. And maybe there still are more moves to be made. This Mavericks fan. They're asking about guys like Ben Simmons, Caruso, and if we would move them, how they could help us in the current. And we have a war chest of draft picks that are also at our disposal to make this team better right now. We're going to see how Sam Presti additionally tries to keep this team competitive with the injuries to J-Dub, Cason Wallace, Chet Holmgren. Literally, the laundry list goes on and on. But this is an SGA prime year, and you cannot waste it. You have to at least try to stay competitive. Fight for home court in the playoffs, and if things are going south still by the all-star break, maybe you adjust your plans there. But I think for now, OKC should still be putting pedal to the metal, trying to get home court advantage for whenever Chet Holmgren returns. Maybe you get a guy like Cason, a guy like J-Dub, back in the playoffs for your team, and we're going to have to see how that all weighs out. Make sure you're subscribed to Thunder Digest so you catch all of the updates when all of this news breaks. And we are just jumping on top of things today. Today, we go on this video. within the hour here at Thunder Digest. And we hope that, you know, that pays off. Makes you guys want to stick around, join our great community, and discuss some Thunder basketball with us down in the comments. Let us know how you think Daylon Terry is going to be doing in his addition to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sam Presti making the call, deeming him an essential piece moving forward. And we're going to see in the Thunder's next game, we're going to have a post game after that game. So make sure you're subscribed to catch that. And hopefully I see you in that video. Hopefully you enjoyed this video. And until I see you guys next time, peace and love, my friend.