The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team overflowing with talented players without the financial flexibility to pay them all. Can the solution to their problems be trading Lu Dort to the Charlotte Hornets?
Yes, it just might be a match made in heaven.
The Thunder are cutting salary
The Thunder have dueling goals this summer. On the one hand, they want to maintain and put together a roster that can defeat Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards en route to the NBA Finals this season. On the other, they want to maintain a contending team not just for a year or two but an entire decade. That is a monstrous task.
If any team could pull it off, however, it would be this Thunder team. And if any general manager was going to steer them rightly through the eye of that needle, it would be Sam Presti.
The work has already begun. Aaron Wiggins was sent to the Atlanta Hawks for a couple of second-round picks. Isaiah Joe will now suit up in Motor City as the Thunder collected another two second-rounders from Detroit.
The goal is to get beneath the second tax apron, which will give OKC another year before those penalties start to kick in. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cason Wallace both on track for massive pay raises next summer, keeping the team's salary below the second apron this season is paramounth.
The Thunder still needed to clear another $19 million from their books, and while they could have declined the team option on Isaiah Hartenstein to save all of that money in one fell swoop, they wanted to keep their starting center around for at least another season or two and so they worked out a new three-year contract that lowers his salary this season to move them closer to their end goal.
Lu Dort is on the chopping block
That means Lu Dort and his $17 million team option are on the chopping block. Perhaps the Thunder try to work out a new deal with Dort, a new deal with Hartenstein, and a minimum contract with Kenrich Williams and lop off that $17 million in chunks. That probably won't be enough, but it could get them close.
The better option is to pick up that team option and then trade him to another team. That would wipe his entire contract off the books but allow them to get assets back in a deal, just as they did with Wiggins and Joe. For Dort, one of the league's premier perimeter defenders, the return could be even greater from the right team.
Who should the Thunder call about a trade? The Charlotte Hornets are a leading candidate.
The Hornets should trade for Dort
Charlotte has been busy in the transaction game themselves, trading away All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball and re-signing Coby White to replace him. What the Hornets desperately need is perimeter defense -- in other words, a player just like Dort.
This is also a young group that could use a veteran leader in the locker room. After executing the Ball trade, they now have a massive $40 million trade exception that could be used to absorb all of Dort's salary (leaving $23 million or so) and not send any back to the Thunder.
OKC has also appeared to be most comfortable trading its players to Eastern Conference teams, as they did with Wiggins and Joe. This would allow them to move Dort out of the conference as well.
Charlotte is now flush with draft assets, and while some of them are complicated picks swaps and protected options, no one likes to wade into the minutae more than Sam Presti. The two sides could certainly come to terms on fair value for Dort.
The Thunder would save significant money, open up a roster spot and keep Dort out of the West. They have Wallace, Alex Caruso and Jalen Williams able to step up as perimeter defenders. They will miss Dort -- especially his competitive fire and leadership -- but they can find their way through.
If trading Dort is the plan, then the Hornets are their...team. It just makes too much sense.
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