The Thunder have signed first-round picks Nikola Topic and Dillon Jones to rookie scale contracts, the team announced in an email. Second-round selection Ajay Mitchell inked a two-way deal.
Chosen with the 12th pick, Topic was originally viewed as a potential top-five selection, but a partially torn ACL caused his draft stock to tumble. The 6-foot-6 point guard averaged 15.1 points, 5.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds for Crvena Zvezda this year in the Adriatic League. He’s not expected to play next season, giving the injury plenty of time to heal.
Jones, the 26th overall pick, was acquired from New York in a draft night trade. The 6-foot-5 small forward out of Weber State led the Big Sky Conference in scoring this season at 20.8 points per game, while adding 9.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.0 steals per night. He was a finalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard out of UC Santa Barbara, was the 38th pick in the draft. He averaged 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals this season and was a First Team All-Big West selection the past two years.
Assuming they both got the maximum rookie contract they were eligible to receive, Topic will earn about $4.9M in his first season and $23M across four years, while Jones will be paid $2.6M as a rookie and $13.5M on his four-year deal. Oklahoma City will have third- and fourth-year team options on both players.
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