(Note: About an hour after I finished writing this, Marc Stein at ESPN reported that the Thunder were the destination for Derek Fisher assuming he clears waivers at 6:00 pm today.)
Just two weeks ago, I wrote about how the Thunder roster was too good to be tinkered with at the NBA trade deadline. As I expected, Thunder GM Sam Presti took my advice and sat the deadline out. Now, I am making the opposite argument. The team needs to make a move.
That move is Derek Fisher.
While the Thunder sat on their hands, the Lakers make a flurry of roster changes. One trade was to bring in Cleveland guard Ramon Sessions, and a second was to ship out their previous starter to the Houston Rockets. Derek Fisher had been the Lakers starting point guard for most of the past fifteen years. He was the guy running the show when Shaq and Kobe were winning back-to-back-to-back championships and after a three year hiatus when the team was at it's worst, he returned to help them win back-to-back championships. Now, the suddenly budget conscious team in Los Angeles shipped him off to save $7 million in luxury tax.
Now in the twilight of a long career as a valuable role player, Fisher was less than enthused at the prospect of finishing out his career with a borderline lottery team in Houston, refused to report after the trade, and was bought out of his contract in order to become a free agent. Assuming he clears waivers today, he will be free to sign with whomever he wants. I hope he wants to sign with Oklahoma City.