Thunder sign Jim Boeheim's son
The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Buddy Boeheim, son of longtime Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim, ahead of the 2024-25 campaign. After waiving forward Alex Reese, Oklahoma City signed the Syracuse product, a guard who spent his first two NBA seasons with the Detroit Pistons. After leading the Orange to an NCAA national championship in 2003, Jim Boeheim was showered with appreciation after announcing his retirement 20 years later, less than one year removed from when his son went undrafted in 2022. Buddy Boeheim agreed to an Exhibit-10 deal with the Thunder, per Sports Illustrated's Rylan Stiles.
He played in only ten games for the Pistons last season but averaged 15.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 26.8 minutes per game for the Cruise — the Pistons' G League affiliate. Boeheim also connected on 41.9% of his three-pointers on 8.0 attempts in 47 games, including the Showcase Cup. He'll likely spend most of 2024-25 with the Oklahoma City Blue — the Thunder's G League affiliate.
Reese is likely heading down the same path. The Alabama product is coming off a brief G League stint with the Portland Trail Blazers' Rip City Remix, with whom he played in 43 games and averaged 11.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 17.2 minutes in 2023-24.
Both players are intriguing prospects for a deep, young Thunder roster amidst the tail-end of a preseason showing for its first-round draft pick, Dillon Jones, second-round Ajay Mitchell, and undrafted prospect Adam Flagler. OKC Blue won its first-ever G League championship in 2024.
Dillon Jones highlights 'strength' as a key difference
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has a promising group of rookies to add to his well-stocked crop of versatile prospects, including the 12th overall pick, Nikola Topic. However, with Topic out for the season due to a torn ACL, Dillon Jones is at the top of Thunder's rookies to look out for as Daigneault approaches Dillon's rookie season, emphasizing developing his strength as an NBA defender.
Jones' unique physique stands out to the Thunder head coach in the early go.
"He's a hard-playing guy. He's a really unique physique. He's strong, a low center of gravity. He's got to learn how to leverage that defensively with his physicality because he's got a chance to become a pretty impactful defender because of his strength and just how low to the ground he is," Daigneault said. "But, he's really gotta learn how to do that."
Jones's best preseason outing was when he finished with 17 points on 8-of-11 attempts, five rebounds, and three assists in a 112-107 win against the Spurs. After beating the Nuggets 124-94 on Tuesday, the Thunder improved to 3-1 in the preseason and will host the Hawks in their final exhibition on Thursday.
