Former Syracuse basketball star Buddy Boeheim has landed a new exhibit 10 deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder just two days after the Detroit Pistons waived the forward.
The Fayetteville native has spent the last two years with the Pistons organization, splitting time between the G-League affiliate Motor City Cruise, and Detroit. Boeheim still had a year left on his two way contract before Detroit decided to waive him.
It’s been just about two years since Boeheim graduated from SU. In his first year after ‘Cuse in 2022-23 with the Pistons, he played 18 games in the G-league, and just 10 in the NBA with Detroit. With the Cruise, he averaged 12.1 points. With the Pistons, Boeheim averaged just over a point a game with very limited playing time.
As for 2023-24, Boeheim appeared in 10 games for the Pistons and 31 games for the Cruise. In the NBA, the forward averaged just over three points a game. In the G-League though, he averaged 17.2 points per game, just over four rebounds, and two assists. The improvement with more minutes in the G-League points to why the Thunder picked up the forward.
The exhibit 10 contract that Boeheim signed is a non-guaranteed minimum salary deal that will not go against the Thunder’s cap space unless he makes the regular season roster. It can however be converted to a two-way contract before the season starts, so that Boeheim can still get G-League minutes.
In essence, Boeheim needs to play well enough in preseason camps and the NBA summer league to make the opening day roster, or else he will be playing G-League ball to start the season once again. Luckily for the Syracuse native, he signed just in time to play with the Thunder in the summer league, which is starting on July 12th in Las Vegas.
Boeheim joins former Syracuse Center Jesse Edwards as the second former Orange player to sign with an NBA franchise in the last week.
