Report: OKC Thunder signing former bartender to standard deal

With big man Isaiah Hartenstein sidelined, the Oklahoma City Thunder are rolling the dice on a former bartender.

Of course, there’s more to the story. The former bartender is Alex Reese, a basketball player with years of high-level playing experience.

Reese played at the University of Alabama for four years, earning regular minutes with the team but never blossoming into more than a role player. During his best season at Alabama, he averaged 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game across 31 appearances and 26 starts.

After going undrafted in 2021, Reese stepped away from basketball and became a bartender.

He then returned to basketball a year later, playing internationally before landing in the G League last season. Across 32 appearances in the G League’s regular season, he averaged 13.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, shooting 44.4 percent from the field and an impressive 41.7 percent from deep.

More recently, Reese just played with the Thunder in the NBA preseason. He didn’t get a ton of playing time, but he evidently did enough to earn an opportunity with Oklahoma City on a standard deal.

His story is fascinating and unique, as he went from quitting basketball to being a bartender to eventually landing in the NBA. It’s hard to imagine that many — if any — other players have followed that same path.

Reese has never appeared in a regular-season NBA game, so he is still a rookie. If he earns any type of role with the Thunder and helps them win some games this season, it will only add to his once-in-a-lifetime story.

Oklahoma City is looking to take another step in the right direction this season after the team made the playoffs last season and reached the second round before being eliminated. A deep postseason run in the upcoming campaign would certainly represent good progress.

The Thunder have one of the best young cores in the league, and Reese is going to get a chance to contribute to what the franchise is trying to build. OKC will open its season on Oct. 24 against the Denver Nuggets on the road.