After the team deemed it necessary to surrender James Harden two years ago, there’s a growing notion that the Oklahoma City Thunder will feel similarly inclined to part with Reggie Jackson at some point in the next year. General manager Sam Presti tried to put that belief to rest today, insisting Jackson – who will be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension before October 31 – is a core member of the Thunder’s future.
Harden was in a similar situation to Jackson when he was shockingly traded to the Houston Rockets in late October 2012. He and Oklahoma City were far apart in extension negotiations, and Presti deemed it prudent to sell high on Harden before the season tipped-off as opposed to letting him reach restricted free agency or even choosing to deal him at the February trade deadline. While stressing Jackson’s long-term importance to the Thunder, Presti made it clear Oklahoma City hasn’t entertained a Harden-like scenario unfolding with their latest star reserve.
Via Royce Young of ESPN:
“We don’t look at [Jackson] as anything other than a core member,” Presti said. “We want to invest in Reggie. There’s not a lack of clarity in that regard. Figuring out how best we do that is my job. And I’m going to do everything I can because I believe that he’s a great example of a lot of things that we try to do here. He was drafted, he’s been developed by our coaches and our support staff and the next step is to keep him with us for a long time.”
[…]
“That’s just not something we’ve considered,” Presti said about the possibility of repeating a trade with Jackson. “I think with him in particular he’s a guy we see being here for a long time. It may not be something we get solved in October, but the system is set up to try and give you an early opportunity to do that and we’ll try to take advantage of that. We want to get things done in advance if possible, but if not, we’ll pick it up next season and do it in earnest again.”
It seems unlikely that Jackson and the Thunder will agree to an extension before the Halloween deadline. The 24 year-old told The Oklahoman earlier this month not only that he longs to be a starter, but also that he’ll look to Eric Bledsoe’s eventual deal to help set terms of his own. Considering Bledsoe was just awarded $70 million by the Phoenix Suns, it would be foolish to expect Jackson to take considerably less right now – the only type of extension OKC is surely considering granting him.
But Presti’s contention that the Thunder are hellbent on keeping Jackson obviously renders his likely lack of an extension less problematic. OKC will be able to retain Jackson for the long-haul almost no matter what if it so chooses, and the league’s saturation of effective point guards – plus the player pitfalls of restricted free agency – means the market for his services could fly in the face of his esteemed talent-level. It wouldn’t shock at all, for instance, if Jackson and the Thunder play a summer-long game resembling the one Bledsoe and the Suns finally completed yesterday.
Presti basically confirmed what we already knew, but it still must be heartening for Thunder players and fans – nobody thought Harden would be shipped out at this point two years ago. At the very, very least, it seems Jackson will still be in Oklahoma City for the beginning and end of the 2014-2015 season.
Do you believe Presti?
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