After having had a superb year as a rookie, the young Frenchman saw his statistics and his playing time plummet. Hoping to have an important place in the OKC rotation, Theo Maledon will have to wait because from now on he will play in the G-League for the Blues, the Thunder affiliate team.
This is called a cold shower. After his excellent first year in Oklahoma City, Theo Maledon (20) was one of the players who are eagerly awaited this season for the Thunder. Except that not everything is going as planned. Indeed, after a good offseason, however, the French leader is no longer successful. Blame it on tougher competition than last year with Josh Giddey in particular. The young Australian, drafted in 6th position of the 2021 draft, impresses with his basketball IQ. Unable to simply do as well as them, so Maledon was sent to the bench.
As a result, the former ASVEL player has stats in free fall with 2.2 points at 21% shooting, 1.8 rebound, 1.3 passes in 24 minutes against 10.1 points at 37%, 3, 2 rebounds, 3.5 assists in 27 minutes last season.
Faced with these stats, OKC decided this week to send him to the G-League so that he finds playing time and sensations. He joined two other Frenchmen, Jaylen Hoard and Olivier Sarr, in the ranks of the Oklahoma City Blue.
Following this disillusion, the French will have to review his objectives. However, in the current context, it is preferable for him to be able to play in order to find the Thunder as quickly as possible. Now the priority is to get the machine going very quickly and to achieve good performances in the G-League.
Nathan ZIMMERMANN
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