Thunder Acquire Miye Oni, Second-Rounder In Trade With Jazz

The Jazz are finalizing a trade that will send guard/forward Miye Oni to the Thunder, per Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic.

The Thunder made the trade official in a press release, announcing they were sending “cash considerations” to the Jazz.

Along with Oni, the Thunder will also receive a 2028 second-round pick in the deal, added ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Oni, 24, is 6-foot-5 and was named Ivy League Player of the Year in 2019 as a senior for Yale. He was drafted by the Warriors with the No. 58 overall pick that year. 

He was immediately traded to the Jazz has appeared in 80 games over the past three seasons. That includes 16 games this season, though he is averaging just 2.8 minutes per contest.

“Oni doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary for the 2021/22 season, so he can be waived by Friday without his entire $1,782,621 cap hit applying to team salary,” wrote Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors.

With that in mind, the Jazz were likely considering waiving Oni before Friday,. but worked out a lower level trade in return.

But as Wojnarowski noted, the Thunder also intend to waive Oni, using the trade to help their salary floor and land a second-round pick in the process. Nonetheless, they will still have to waive someone else before the trade can be completed.

The Jazz open a roster spot and will create a small traded player exception “worth a prorated portion of Oni’s salary” once the trade is official, Adams wrote.