Summary

Noel may not be the disruptive defensive presence that made him a top prospect coming out of high school and after his freshman year at Kentucky, but he can provide some rim protection. Noel has improved his discipline on defense, but still isn't elite on that end. He has some ability to switch out and defend on the perimeter, but can get burned by upper-tier guards.

On offense, Noel is nothing more than a lob threat. He's not one that can make plays out of the short-roll, allowing the defense to trap hard and not worry about Noel unless he's open for a dunk. However, Noel's athleticism gives him some versatility on both ends, which could make him an intriguing free agent to a number of teams.

Cap Considerations

Noel will be an unrestricted free agent with a $1.6 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. If the Thunder re-sign Noel using the Early-Bird Exception, they could offer him a starting salary of up to 105% of the average salary this past season (roughly $10 million), which will be more than enough.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Noel as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, or Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him. He could also potentially be had at the minimum salary.

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Potential Teams: Warriors, Bucks, Rockets, Thunder, Clippers