The Oklahoma City Thunder have granted themselves some temporary financial reprieve with their flurry of moves this offseason.
Their trades of Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and Luguentz Dort— combined with their influx of young talent on rookie-scale deals— has taken them below the second apron and saved them a hefty amount in luxury tax penalties. For a team that needs to deal with the extensions for Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren kicking in on top of the hefty salary already being paid to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, these were painful, but necessary, moves.
To a certain extent, these moves also don't represent a major sacrifice to their depth. Neither Joe nor Wiggins consistently made the playoff rotation this past season, and Dort was a negative offensive player for much of the end of his tenure in Oklahoma City.
Next offseason, though, is when the true tests will begin. With extensions for Cason Wallace, Jared McCain, and Ajay Mitchell looming, the Thunder will need to truly decide whether this team is worth dipping into the second apron, and the pieces they'll need to ship off to make it work become infinitely more difficult to parse out.
Thunder will have another financial breaking point to contend with next offseason
The modern CBA isn't designed to allow teams to keep more than one or two stars on max deals without cycling out significant talent off the rest of the roster. It's why the Thunder have amassed so much depth and so many draft picks over the course of the rebuild— so that they could continuously replenish what they had beyond Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and Williams.
They have a pair of immediate replacements for Dort in Wallace and Mitchell, and the perimeter shooting of McCain and Bennett Stirtz should help replace what Wiggins and Joe provided.
But next offseason, the financial burdens will be even greater. The Thunder will owe a total of $150 million to their start trio once Gilgeous-Alexander's contract takes the $20 million leap. Even if they're able to extend Wallace this offseason at a relatively modest value (i.e, below about $25 million annually), both McCain and Mitchell will be entering the final seasons of their contracts.
The Thunder can likely accommodate all of these deals if they're willing to go into the second apron.
But the pieces they'll need to move off of if they want to avoid the same financial burden are much less replaceable than Wiggins, Joe, and Dort. Alex Caruso has three years and roughly $60 million remaining on his current contract. Isaiah Hartenstein's three-year, $75 million extension also kicks in this season.
Both players would be the next pieces on the chopping block if Oklahoma City is looking to again avoid financial strain while extending their young players.
In short, their flurry of moves this offseason has given them the flexibility they need for 2026-27. But a similar crisis is coming next offseason, and their path out of it is already becoming more cloudy by the day.
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