OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Now with his eighth NBA team in 10 seasons, point guard Chucky Atkins has — sometimes the hard way — learned about the ups and downs of life in the league.

As his career progresses, he senses himself becoming an elder statesman of sorts, wanting to pass along to a younger generation lessons he’s gleaned from his basketball odyssey. That’s why he thinks he’s in an ideal situation as the newest member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder might have the NBA’s worst record — 6-32 after beating the Chicago Bulls 109-98 in overtime on Saturday — but Atkins said he’s happy to come to Oklahoma City, where he hopes to serve as a mentor to rookie point guard Russell Westbrook, just as others mentored him during his younger years in pro hoops.

“Every young player needs that,” said Atkins, whom the Thunder obtained — along with a 2009 first-round draft choice — last week in a trade that sent center Johan Petro and a 2009 second-round draft pick to the Denver Nuggets. “Older players gave it to me, so it’s time for me to give back. Here’s my opportunity, and I look forward to it.”

In a 1996 draft class that included guards like Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen and Stephon Marbury, Atkins said he considered himself one of the better players at his position. But the South Florida product instead went undrafted.

“I could have easily given up and gave up the game of basketball, but I kept striving and fighting to try to make it,” Atkins said.

He spent time with La Crosse of the Continental Basketball Association, then played for two years with Cibona Zagreb in Croatia, before receiving his NBA chance in 1999 when then-Orlando coach Doc Rivers brought Atkins to play for the Magic.

“Not only did he give me the opportunity, he was like, ’I didn’t bring you on this team to have you sit on the bench. I’m going to give you the ball and let you do your thing.’ And fortunately for me he did that,” Atkins said. “He must have seen something in me that nobody else saw.

“I knew that I was good enough to play. I just didn’t know where my opportunity was going to come from. Once I was given the opportunity, I just ran with it.”

After one season in Orlando, Atkins’ long and winding road through the NBA included stops with Detroit, Boston, the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington and Memphis before landing before last season in Denver, where he missed all but 24 games with a groin injury.

He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Sept. 24 and played sparingly this season in 14 games with the Nuggets, averaging 1.9 points per game, before the trade. Atkins — whose given name is Kenneth — said he’s been “100 percent for about a month and a half.”

The 34-year-old Atkins, who hopes to make his Thunder debut on Monday against the New Jersey Nets, has a career scoring average of 10.6 points. He gives Oklahoma City a true third point guard, along with Westbrook and Earl Watson.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks, himself a former point guard, said he believes Atkins’ experience, and his willingness to share it, will be an asset for a young Oklahoma City squad that has only three other players — Joe Smith, Desmond Mason and Watson — who have played seven or more years in the league.

“Anytime you get a good veteran — not just a veteran, it has to be a good veteran — it helps,” Brooks said. “... Chucky understands where he is in his career and he’s looking forward to helping us out the way he can.

“I anticipate him playing some. I don’t know how many minutes, but he’s definitely going to get opportunities.”