3 ways the new CBA benefits the OKC Thunder this time around
By Rylan Stiles
The OKC Thunder are building a special core, but will they be able to keep the band together?
As the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to put the pieces of Sam Presti’s Puzzle together, there is a tiny little voice in the back of every OKC Thunder fan head whispering, “How is the team going to keep everyone?” A common worry of small market teams.
The OKC Thunder have already inked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a max contract, and if Jalen Williams continues to play this way, he will be in line for one as well. That does not even include how good people expect Chet Holmgren to be and the progress you can project for Josh Giddey, who has improved year after year.
That is a lot of mouths to feed on and off the floor for the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, things got a bit easier with this new CBA for the Thunder. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the league has agreed to “eliminate restrictions limiting a team to two designated super-max players. This would have a huge impact for Cavs, who have Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland on super max deals and Evan Mobley approaching rookie extension.”
While Woj uses the Cavs as the example here, swap Cavs for “Thunder” and the players listed on the Cavs for the Thunder players listed above, and you can see how important this will end up being for Oklahoma City.
The ability to keep Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Josh Giddey, and the band together is a massive win for the Thunder, who continue to draft and develop at a high clip.