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2022 Free Agents - Theo Maledon

Summary
Maledon got a lot of minutes for the Thunder in his rookie season in '20-'21, playing 65 games and getting 26.5 minutes per game. However, that decreased in '21-'22, as he only played in 50 games and only 17.5 minutes per game. Maledon has good size for a point guard at 6'4" and a long wingspan. He's not strong and not super athletic, which hurts him on drives and on attempts at the rim, but he has some craft to his game. He has potential as a solid play-maker out of pick-and-roll and generally makes the right reads. He hasn't shot well from anywhere on the court through two seasons but his outside shot looks decent.

Maledon hasn't shown much defensively yet, but that is common for young players and his size at least gives him some hope there. Maledon has the potential to be a solid backup point guard, but he'll likely need to hit outside shots at a higher rate to get there, as he has only hit 33% of his threes thus far.
 
Cap Considerations
Maledon's $1.9 million salary for 2022-2023 is non-guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Thunder will have no form of Bird rights on him. It's unlikely the Thunder waive Maledon, and if he did he might be claimed before hitting free agency. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so, as his contract doesn't fit within the minimum salary exception as it was a four-year contract.

If Maledon becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. If Maledon is waived and clears waivers, his value will have dropped low enough that he would only have offers for the minimum.

Potential Teams: Thunder, Hawks, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Clippers

Predicted Contract: Not waived: $1.9 million
If waived: 1-year, $1.8 million with the Hawks

Actual Contract: Not waived: $1.9 million
As predicted, Maledon made it through his guarantee date without being waived. I wouldn't call him a lock to make it onto the 15-man roster though, as the Thunder have a roster crunch and have space below the tax to have dead money on their books.

Last updated: 6/30/2022

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