OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 20, 2020 – The Oklahoma City Thunder has acquired the draft rights to forward Aleksej Pokuševski (selected 17th overall), forward James Johnson and a 2024 second-round draft pick from Minnesota in a three-team trade, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. Oklahoma City sent guard Ricky Rubio and the draft rights to Jaden McDaniels (selected 28th overall) to Minnesota and the draft rights to Immanuel Quickley (selected 25th overall) to New York.
Pokuševski (7-0, 195) averaged 10.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.3 steals in 22.6 minutes in 11 games with Olympiacos B in the Greek Second Division, HEBA A2 in the 2019-20 season as the team went 17-4 and earned a second-place finish in A2. At the 2019 U18 European Championships, the Serbian native averaged 10.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.7 steals and led with event with 4.0 blocks per game.
Johnson (6-7, 240) has appeared in 634 career games (220 starts) with Chicago, Toronto, Sacramento, Memphis, Miami and Minnesota, averaging 8.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 20.6 minutes per game, shooting 47.7 percent from the field. During the 2019-20 season, the 11-year NBA veteran appeared in 32 games (one start) with Miami and Minnesota, recording averages of 8.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.00 block in 19.3 minutes, shooting 47.9 percent from the floor.
Rubio has appeared in 563 career games (542 starts) with Minnesota, Utah and Phoenix, averaging 11.3 points, 7.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.87 steals in 30.9 minutes per contest. He was originally acquired from Phoenix on Nov. 16.
The draft rights to McDaniels were originally acquired from the Lakers along with Danny Green in exchange for Dennis Schröder.
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