Thunder to release former first-round pick Justin Jackson

The Thunder are waiving fourth-year forward Justin Jackson, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The move will open up a spot on Oklahoma City’s 15-man roster to go along with the team’s open two-way contract slot.

The Thunder have since officially waived Jackson, the team announced in a press release.

Jackson, who turned 26 in March, has appeared in 33 games (16.5 MPG) for the Thunder this season, averaging 7.2 PPG and 2.2 RPG on .406/.306/.857 shooting.

The former 15th overall pick began his career in Sacramento in 2017 and also played for Dallas before arriving in OKC in the 2020 offseason along with Trevor Ariza as part of a three-team trade that sent Delon Wright to the Pistons and James Johnson to the Mavs.

With a $5,029,650 cap hit for 2020-21, Johnson had been the third highest-paid player on the Thunder’s active roster. Although Oklahoma City will remain on the hook for that money, the club won’t owe the forward anything beyond this season, since he had been on track for free agency.

Jackson would have been eligible to be a restricted free agent if he had played out his contract, but clearly wasn’t in the Thunder’s long-term plans and always seemed unlikely to receive a qualifying offer. He’ll instead reach the open market later this week as an unrestricted FA, and will be able to sign with any team except the Mavs.