Thunder face fight with European team over their No. 1 draft pick

The Oklahoma City Thunder likely did not expect to wind up in a rights battle when making their top draft pick back in June, but that is exactly what has happened to them roughly four months later.

Spanish club Basket Zaragoza is challenging whether lottery pick Aday Mara is eligible to play in the NBA this season. Mara had played for the club before initially leaving to attend UCLA three years ago, and Zaragoza said they expect to be compensated in exchange for letting him out of his contract.

The Thunder made clear in a statement that they believe Mara is eligible to play in the NBA immediately.

“Aday last played three years of NCAA college basketball and therefore, as advised by the NBA, no clearance from the Spanish team is required for him to play in the NBA,” a Thunder spokesperson said Friday, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

FIBA regulations do not require a transfer of club to go from Europe to the NCAA. Zaragoza is using that as their justification, arguing that they still control Mara’s rights because his contract was never actually terminated while playing collegiately.

Mara was the Thunder’s top pick in the draft, going No. 12 overall. The center was a starter on Michigan’s national championship team last season, and he saw his draft stock rise thanks in part to some ridiculous physical measurements.

The Thunder have had some very bad luck with their incoming crop of rookies. It would be quite the situation if their lottery pick wound up stuck in a contractual tug-of-war that the team did not expect to be an issue.