Oklahoma City Thunder confident they’ll re-sign Reggie Jackson

The Oklahoma City Thunder are confident they can re-sign guard Reggie Jackson, who’s eligible for an extension until Oct. 31.

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Jackson, who has mostly come off the bench in his first three NBA seasons, has said he wants to start this year. But the Thunder don’t seem inclined to do that, and would rather bring his scoring talents off the bench to boost the second unit.

According to The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel, Thunder general manager Sam Presti doesn’t think that will get in the way of Jackson signing an extension.

"Privately, the Thunder brass raves about Jackson. That’s why Presti seems so confident about getting a deal done with Jackson. Presti loves Jackson’s makeup, his “DNA,” to use one of Presti’s favorite terms. If Jackson were to bow up at coming off the bench again, it would surprise the Thunder organization. This franchise sees Jackson as having the right stuff to be a long-term, pillar of the team."

The Thunder should want to sign him to a long-term deal early. They were unable (or unwilling) to do that with James Harden, who supplied much of what Jackson does during his time in Oklahoma City. Like Harden, Jackson has been brought off the bench and used in both point guard and shooting guard roles.

Last season, Jackson appeared in 80 games and started 36 in place of a struggling Thabo Sefolosha. He averaged 13.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game.

This season, Jackson will likely come off the bench and Anthony Morrow will start at shooting guard.

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