Eric Maynor hoping to stay with Oklahoma City Thunder despite tough salary cap decisions – NBA News
The Oklahoma City Thunder face a number of questions that need to be answered in the near future, and they will determine whether the franchise becomes a championship winning dynasty or not. The Thunder have progressed from season
to season to the point that they are the reigning western conference champions and are one of the favourites to win the NBA title next season along with Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
However, in order to do that, the Thunder need to keep their core together. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are locked till 2016, and the Thunder recently agreed to a contract extension with forward Serge Ibaka that will see
him play through the 2016 season as well. But they have James Harden who will be becoming a free agent next summer and you can bet teams will be lining up to sign him. He is an integral part of the Thunder team and they will have to give him a good contract
to re-sign him.
However there is one more Thunder player who is going to be a free agent next summer, and that is backup point guard Eric Maynor.
Maynor has earned the trust of the Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks, who played him for the entire 4th quarter in a playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks back in 2011. He missed the playoffs this season and was badly
missed by the Thunder team, who acquired Derek Fisher to take his place. Maynor was drafted the same year as Harden and Ibaka which means he is up for a contract extension as well. It is unclear if the Thunder want to re-sign him, or if they are willing to
go into the luxury tax to keep him with Harden’s contract up for extension as well. But Maynor wants to stay in Oklahoma City.
Royce Young of the Daily Thunder has reported Maynor as saying:
“If we really want to continue, it feels like we got something special here. I feel like if guys sacrifice to get something done then everybody will be here still.”
Maynor wants to be a part of the team which has developed a great team culture and chemistry, and is also in good position to contend for the NBA title.
However the side is in a financial fix. With Ibaka’s recently signed contract and Harden’s extension up next, the Thunder might decide to let Maynor go in order to somewhat contain their luxury tax, and they can do so by trading
Maynor at the trade deadline to get something in return rather than letting him become a free agent in the summer.
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