Even with an NBA championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to squeeze every drop of juice out of their G League affiliate, OKC Blue. There’s an argument to be made that no other NBA franchise fully utilizes their developmental program as well as they do.
The Blue are where the bottom of OKC’s depth chart goes to log minutes and play low-leverage situations. Players like Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Ousmane Dieng spent time there in the infancy stage of their careers. That’s why it’s important to note the Blue’s roster transactions.
In a relatively quiet offseason for OKC, the Blue announced another trade on Thursday. This time, they exchanged some veteran NBA experience for NBA experience experience plus some draft capital.
The Blue have acquired a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick and the returning player rights to guard Malachi Flynn from the Austin Spurs in exchange for the returning player rights to guard Adam Flagler.
In the G League, returning player rights belong to the team that previously rostered a player in the last two seasons. This allows the original affiliate a chance to refuse a player signing elsewhere. Considering the high turnover rate of G League rosters, this makes sense. Players sometimes leave the developmental league for other opportunities before returning.
The Thunder had Flager for the last two seasons. He went undrafted out of Baylor in the 2023 NBA draft. He helped the Blue capture a 2024 G League championship. He was a two-way player last season for the eventual NBA champion. He signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the San Antonio Spurs this offseason.
Meanwhile, Flynn has had plenty of NBA experience. He’s played in five seasons from 2020-25 with four different teams in the Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets. He’s known as one of the more obscure players who’s dropped 50 points in an NBA game.
It remains to be seen if Flynn joins the Blue. He signed overseas this offseason with a Turkish club. If he decides to play in the G League, he’ll provide the Blue with rich NBA experience as a veteran. If not, they at least received some G League draft picks from the transaction.
The G League hosts a draft every year. It lasts four rounds and teams only have to make two selections. It’s a nice way to see if the Blue can find any hidden talent from a 150-player pool. The Blue will start their 2025-26 season on Nov. 7. Sharing an arena with the Thunder, G League assignments and recalls should remain a seamless transition. Blue head coach Daniel Dixon will enter his first season after spending time as a Thunder assistant coach.
The Oklahoma City Blue has acquired a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick and the returning player rights to guard Malachi Flynn from the Austin Spurs in exchange for the returning player rights to guard Adam Flagler, the team announced today.
— OKC BLUE (@okcblue) September 19, 2025