According to the team, the Oklahoma City Thunder have signed Justin Patton. The oft-injured center has played in just four NBA games in his two year career.

After being drafted with the 16th pick by the Chicago Bulls (and subsequently traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Jimmy Butler deal) in 2017, Patton broke his left foot prior to summer league. That injury sidelined him for most of the first half of the season. Patton rehabbed with the Timberwolves’ G-League affiliate for much of the second half of the season, averaging 12.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 23 minutes per game. He made his NBA debut on April 1st, 2018. After that game, the team decided to sideline Patton for the rest of the season. On April 18th, he had another surgery on his left foot to further promote healing on the broken bone.

Patton suffered another set-back last offseason, breaking his right foot. He had surgery on September 18th, 2018, and was sidelined, once again, for much of the first half of the season. On November 12th, Patton was once again packaged with Jimmy Butler in a trade, this time from Minnesota to Philadelphia. Patton appeared in just three games for the 76ers and was waived on April 3rd, 2019.

At his core, Patton is a 7’0″ athletic, rim-running center with the ability to make good passes out of the post. Defensively, his 7’2″ wingspan can be disruptive, but he can also be undisciplined, which leads to him picking up unnecessary fouls.

It is unknown whether this is a guaranteed deal or whether this is a training camp invite type of deal. But this definitely fits in Presti’s “reclamation project” type of swings that he takes on players from time to time.