Friday afternoon, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced the news that the OKC Thunder chose to reunite with an old familiar friend.
After clearing waivers following his recent buyout deal with the Detroit Pistons, NBA Insider reports that veteran Mike Muscala “plans to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the remainder of the season.”
With this move, Sam Presti has once again found an inexpensive and highly strategic way to fill out his club’s roster as it prepares to embark on what is hoped to be a long and successful run. elimination.
While far from a star talent in the association, Muscala is a player who can make a multitude of meaningful contributions to a team both through his play and just his presence.
Following the announcement of his reunion with Oklahoma City, there appear to be a few key upsides that could present themselves immediately.
As fans and the franchise fully understand based on his previous four-year stint with the Thunder, Muscala is an incredibly reliable long-range shooter.
Over the course of his career, he has a 37.6 shooting percentage from beyond the arc, and while working for OKC, he managed to raise that average to 39.2% on 3.8 attempts per night.
Someone give Muscala a towel! ????#ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/ZKQgh7nWCi
– Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) January 26, 2021
While the team already has the best three-point shooting rate in the entire conference at 39.9 percent, outside of Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams, they currently don’t have a player 6-foot-8 or taller who take advantage of ranged shots. a clip above 33.3 percent.
The addition of Muscala could not only help bolster their wide-range shooting arsenal, but also, with his proven comfort in the team environment, help improve his current shooting clip that allows him to take advantage on just 31.8 percent of his attempts this year.
