The Oklahoma City Thunder shelled out $30 million last year to keep forward Andre Roberson for three years. Roberson barely got to repay the Thunder with his play on the court as he managed to appear in just 39 games, thanks to a ruptured patellar tendon injury he sustained back in January.
While there’s no definite timetable for Roberson that indicates a target date for his return, the sticky perimeter defender said that he’s expecting himself to be available for the Thunder’s training camp (h/t Erik Horne of The Oklahoman).
Andre Roberson on the Thunder’s summer league broadcast, if he’ll be ready for training camp: “That’s the plan. The plan is to come back for training camp and start the first game of the season. So far, so good.”
Roberson’s absence left the Thunder running through a series of options for the team’s starting shooting guard slot. Alex Abrines, Terrance Ferguson, and Corey Brewer mostly covered for Roberson via a committee approach.
Andre Roberson is a walking contradiction of sorts for a shooting guard, primarily because he’s not a scorer at all. He boasts of a career average of 5.0 points per game. He shoots 48.2 percent from the field, but he’s an atrocious 25.7 percent shooter from behind the arc. Simply put, he’s not the type of player opposing teams would plan to limit offensively prior to games.
The Thunder are not paying Roberson big bucks for his offense, though. Rather, it’s for his ability to slow down the other team’s best wing scorer. Before agreeing to a three-year deal last year with the Thunder, Roberson’s presence on the floor meant that opponents shot 3.8 percent worse from the 3-point area and 3.9 percent worse overall in their field goal attempts. He was also second on the team last season in defensive box plus/minus stat.
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