Report: Thunder will pursue Blake Griffin next summer

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The Oklahoma City Thunder are already looking at ways to build around Russell Westbrook.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical, the Thunder have interest in bringing Blake Griffin in next summer to complement Westbrook. Griffin can enter free agency in the summer of 2017 if he opts out of his deal, which he is widely expected to do.

Griffin played his college basketball at Oklahoma, so a return to the state would be a homecoming of sorts. As Wojnarowski notes, he’s had his tensions with Chris Paul, and the Thunder may well feel that they’ll be able to lure him away from Los Angeles.

This is not the first time we have heard this story. Now that Westbrook has committed himself to Oklahoma City for at least the next three years, the team can dare to dream about pairing him with another superstar that could once again make them contenders in the loaded Western Conference.

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Braves could reportedly pursue Yasiel Puig

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Yasiel Puig has likely played his last game for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and one team that might be able to afford taking on the restoration project is the Atlanta Braves.

According to a report by Jim Bowden of ESPN on Thursday, the Braves could explore a pursuit of the mercurial outfielder. Since they currently have the worst record in the league, Atlanta would have first priority in a potential waiver claim of Puig should the Dodgers place him there. Bowden also notes that if that effort fails, the Braves may consider trading a mid-level pitching prospect for the Cuban defector.

Puig, 25, was recently demoted to the minor leagues by the Dodgers after their acquisition of outfielder Josh Reddick at the trade deadline. They have long been open to dealing away Puig, and the Braves have a void at the right field position (aging veterans Nick Markakis and Jeff Francoeur notwithstanding) and not a lot to lose.

There is obviously significant risk that comes with adding Puig, especially considering how his performance on the field (he’s batting just .258 in his last two seasons combined) no longer allows for his foolhardy behavior off it to be tolerated. But Puig is the very definition of a buy-low guy right now, so the Braves might find a dice roll on him to be a decent enough investment.

H/T Baseball Reddit

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