After two weeks of silence on Thunder signee Gabriel Deck, it has now been confirmed — he has arrived in Bricktown.
As per Mark Daigneault, the 26-year-old forward has cleared the immigration process and is currently situated in isolation in Oklahoma City until he has passed both a league administered physical and the league’s health-and-safety protocol.
“As soon as he’s cleared to do that, he’s going to join us and we’re going to try to get him in the mix pretty quickly because we’re excited about seeing him play,” said Daigneault. “Because we’re excited about seeing him play — we want to see him in an NBA game, on our team. It’s valuable evaluation time for us and its valuable experience for him.”
With Oklahoma City only having 12 more games on schedule it should come to no surprise as to why Daigneault and the organization may have playing Deck high on their priority list. Deck is currently making $3.87 million for this season, but beyond that, his final three-seasons are non-guaranteed, meaning his four-year $14.5 million deal could be salted after this year.
Given Deck’s monstrous contract for the season’s commencement, this is not your typical tryout, nor should it be one because Deck is not your average late-season pickup.
Deck, coined by fans as “El Tortuga” (the turtle,) has an extensive 11-year history with professional basketball. In his homeland Argentina he collected 3 championships, two Finals MVP’s, and an MVP award in the LNB before moving to Europe to compete in the EuroLeague. In his this season’s EuroLeague, Deck harbored averages of 9.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 58 appearances with Real Madrid, shooting 36.5 percent from three on two attempts per contest.
The 6-foot-8 forward upon clearance should have a greenlight to receive major minutes in Oklahoma City’s season end-cap, and with a well-rounded game highlighted by an elite passing sense, he should fill right in.