The love at first sight between the Thunder and Mike Muscala will last a little longer! After initially declining the team option of Mike, the Éclairs finally decided to extend it, for an amount and a duration still unknown. Nice reward for a blue collar with a very interesting profile, since he evolves as a 4/5 combo and shoots this season at 42.3% from the bar. This is a great training partner for Chet Holmgren.
This season in the NBA, only two players over 2.08 meters have fired the strings from the 3-point line with more than 40% success. The two boys in question? Karl Anthony-Towns and… Mike Muscala. Of course, the second city enjoys a game time more than half the first, but that does not prevent anything. This season, Muscala has averaged 8 points and 3 rebounds in 14.3 minutes and 43 games played. At long distance, we are therefore talking about a percentage of 42.3%, for a volume of 3.8 shots per game, not a straw in this position. Never tenure, the prerogative of a man in the shadows. Shade yes, but above all efficiency.
Hampered by pain in his right ankle, he will be rested mid-season but ESPN – which reports the signing of this contract – indicates that Mike will be operational again for the resumption of serious things during training camp. The 30-year-old strong winger / pivot will have a fairly important role despite his limited sporting responsibilities. Yes because 30 years at the Thunder is a bit like having known the dinosaurs in fact. Chet Holmgren, Ousmane Dieng, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams… witnessed daycare in Oklahoma.
✍️ #MikeMuscala pic.twitter.com/ixAjENKiH6
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) August 4, 2022
Mike Muscala’s career therefore continues with the Thunder, great news for a player who had found a comfort zone in the franchise. Drafted in 44th position in the 2013 Draft by the Mavericks, he was not kept at the Zétazunis by Dallas and therefore went to perfect his ranges in Spain in Santiago de Compostela, which has a club in Liga Endesa. A season averaging 14.6 points, enough to convince the Hawks to recover his signing rights and offer him a contract. The figures will of course take a big hit on the face compared to what they were in Europe, but the objective of returning to the country has been successful. Four years in Atlanta in all, interspersed with a brief G-League stint with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and then a shipment to the Erie BayHawks.
In 2017, he went to the Sixers for a season, then to the Lakers in 2018. In 2019, he was done wandering. The guy agrees with the Thunder for two years and is renewed in 2021 then one more year until next summer. Now familiar with the franchise and its workings, Muscala will be an important gear in bringing experience to the young members of the group. His career with multiple teams has shown him many ways to approach the game. In the locker room, nothing better than these elements to show a good example to the future generation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55yFi6BSP14
Mike Muscala will be able to continue to evolve in the NBA in a team that fully trusts him. With the key role of an experienced man, he will surely be keen to give everything to ensure that the Thunder jewels develop to the maximum. And also to keep lighting the strings from the parking lot every night, of course.
Source : Oklahoma Thunder PR, ESPN