The OKC Thunder officially put an end to the Lu Dort era out in the Sooner State, as they just traded the beloved veteran to Atlanta in a three-team deal that netted them three future second-round picks in exchange.
While the initial belief was that Oklahoma City was willing to tread water in the second apron in order to keep their title-winning core largely intact, a sentiment that was seemingly only strengthened by picking up Dort's player option earlier this month, ultimately, the allure of getting out of it altogether seemed too great for the front office to pass up.
During a recent interview with The Oklahoman, executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti broke his silence regarding Sunday's trade, and revealed that while he will always love Dort, and "will miss him," at the end of the day his decision to part ways with him was nothing more than "a financial decision."
"The impression I have been given is that the savings generated this summer, and from being out of the tax the last several years, will be reallocated to future teams. Along with other new, well-documented revenue streams, this will allow us to make more basketball-related decisions over the next several years," Presti said.
Thunder have now saved a fortune as a result of Lu Dort trade
The recent Dort departure wasn't the only fiscally driven trade the Thunder have made this summer. During the weeks leading up to his departure, Oklahoma City sent both Aaron Wiggins' and Isaiah Joe's contracts packing.
However, this latest move was the biggest from a financial standpoint, for now Presti and company have managed to reduce the club's payroll and luxury tax penalties by $317 million, per the findings of Third Apron's Yossi Gozlan.
With this salary shedding comes added flexibility that the Thunder didn't have before these trades.
It opens up the opportunity for the team to pursue a free agent to fill in their 15 and final roster spot with either the taxpayer's mid-level exception ($6.1 million) or the veteran minimum.
It opens up three rather large trade exceptions, the biggest of which holds a value of $17.7 million.
Heck, it even now opens the door for a potential Cason Wallace extension in the not-too-distant future -- after all, he's now the clear next man up to take on the starting shooting guard position.
Of course, though many may be looking at the immediate effects these offseason moves could have on the Thunder, it's clear that Presti has his eyes on the long-term when it comes to his rationale, as he is confident that these moves have "positioned us financially to maintain" title contention status for the years to come.
So while moving on from Dort may have been a hard decision to pull the trigger on from a personal and emotional standpoint, for Presti, it seems to have been a no-brainer when solely focusing on the business and future strategy side of the equation.
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