OKC Thunder: Key dates for 2021-22 season and impending contract decisions

At present, the OKC Thunder front office is buckled down in the war room preparing for the 2021 NBA draft this Thursday, July 29th. Following that major event, the league will launch into the free agency moratorium and also make plans for the Vegas Summer League.

This was the second successive season the NBA and all major sports were impacted by the pandemic and subsequently had to drastically alter the typical schedule. Fortunately, this coming season of 2021-22 will find the association getting back to normal business with a typical calendar.

Although this offseason is still operating on a later than normal calendar the good news is training camp and preseason realigns the NBA to the typical calendar. Moreover, if things keep progressing arenas should be full to capacity again bringing life back to a sense of normalcy.

Its fortunate timing as the National Basketball Association will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the league.

Key dates for the OKC Thunder in 2021-22 calender

To that end, here are the critical dates to mark down in your calendar for the upcoming offseason and the 75th season of the NBA.

• Free Agency moratorium begins  – 6:00 pm EST, August 2, 2021
• Free Agents can formally sign new contracts – 12:01 pm EST, August 6th, 2021
• NBA Summer League commences in Vegas, August 8 (running through August 17th), 2021
• Media Day (not confirmed but likely on this date), September 27th, 2021
• Training camp commences – September, 28th, 2021
• Opening night of NBA 2021-22 season –  October 19th, 2021
• 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio – February 18th to 20th, 2022
• Final games of 2021-2022 season – April 10th, 2022
• Play-In Tournament runs April 12th to 15th, 2022 with eight teams participating
• 2022 NBA Playoffs begin – April 16th, 2022
• NBA Draft Lottery – TBA (typically during the playoffs but closer to Conference Finals)
• NBA Finals begin – June 2nd running to June 19th, 2022 (if Game 7 is necessary)
• 2022 NBA Draft – June 23rd, 2022

Other key OKC Thunder dates related to salary (all 2021):

• Tony Bradley – Thunder must extend qualifying offer, August 1st
• Svi Mykhailiuk – Thunder must extend qualifying offer, August 1st
• .OKC Thunder can offer a max extension to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, August 2nd
•  Kemba Walker can be reaggregated in a trade, August 2nd
• Walker can also receive a one-year extension on August 2nd
• Isaiah Roby fully guaranteed date, August 4th ($1,782,621) NOTE: eligible for three or four-year extention.
• Kenrich Williams contract becomes fully guaranteed, December 15th ($2,000,000)

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

OKC Thunder Trade Exception expiry dates:

• Dennis Schroder – July 30th ($865,853)
• Ricky Rubio – August 2nd ($850,600)
• Kelly Oubre – August 6th ($332,940)
• Danilo Gallinari – August 9th ($10,100,00)
• Steven Adams – August 9th ($27,528,088)
• Jalen Lecque – August 9th ($1,517,981)
• Trevor Ariza – February 3rd, 2022  ($12,800,000)
• George Hill – February 11th ($9,590,602)

Notably, all of these exceptions are marked as “Trade Player Exceptions” or TPE’s. Teams can use them to offer instead of assets in deals.

While an exception can be split up and used on more than one deal a team can only use one TPE in a season. TPE’s cannot be combined.

In terms of roster size the NBA has elected to extend the 17 players per team through to next season with 15 guaranteed spots and two 2-way players. Two-way players can play 50 games with the varsity club with no practice limit and there is no deadline to sign these types of contracts so teams can change those players throughout the season.