Boston Celtics: 5 free agents to pursue from the Northwest division
By Nick Swanson
Oklahoma City Thunder – Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, SF/SG
There isn’t a soul on this Oklahoma City Thunder team worth pursuing. The only player anyone would even consider is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander but he isn’t a free agent so he’s ineligible for this list. We’ll go with Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.
Svi has yet to really find success in the NBA and at this rate, it’s not looking like he will unless he joins a contender and is an end-of-the-bench contributor on a championship team. He looked very promising in his time with the Detroit Pistons but just hasn’t found his place in a starting rotation.
He’s a very efficient player and decent 3-point shooter; he just never gets playing time. While he won’t get significant time in Boston, he’ll be playing for a contender and one where he’ll be getting rotational minutes. We hopefully won’t be seeing the Celtics trotting out G-Leaguers off the bench anymore.
He played the best basketball of his NBA career in OKC and that really helps out his value. Mykhailiuk is only 24 years old and could still have a very long career as a pure bench player. He won’t come close to sniffing the starting lineup in Boston but he could be the shooter off the bench, outside of Evan Fournier, that they desperately need.