The Thunder have built something expensive, deep and very much under pressure from the NBA’s new money rules, and that puts Chet Holmgren in a tricky spot whether Oklahoma City wants it to or not.
On paper, Holmgren still looks like a player you build around. He’s on a max contract, and the Thunder should absolutely not trade him. But when a team has spent the summer trying to get under the second apron, every big salary gets scrutinized, and Holmgren’s name is going to keep coming up in that conversation.
The reason is simple enough. He’s one of the most expensive players on the roster, and his offensive game was shaky during last year’s playoffs. That run ended with him being completely unreliable on offense, and it’s hard to ignore how badly that showed up when he went up against Victor Wembanyama.
Defensively, though, Holmgren gives Oklahoma City something close to elite value. He’s one of the best defenders in the NBA, and that level of impact matters a lot. But the new CBA changes the math, and teams have to be far more careful about which players they commit max money to.
The Thunder also have a crowded center room, which only adds fuel to the speculation. They brought in Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency a couple of years ago, and they’ve also drafted Aday Mara, Jaylin Williams, and Thomas Sorber. None of those three are close to Holmgren defensively, but Hartenstein is older and doesn’t really line up with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams’ timeline.
So if Oklahoma City ever needs to trim money, there are other places it could look first. Still, with Holmgren’s contract, the team’s center depth, and his uneven offense all sitting in the same frame, it’s easy to see why he’s going to be part of ugly second-apron talk for the foreseeable future.
In Other News...
Thunder Have One Emergency Option They Hope This Season Never Forces
The Thunders roster looks full enough that one of their most useful tools may wind up sitting untouched. After the Lu Dort trade, Oklahoma City created a $17.7 million traded player exception, a potentially valuable bit of cap flexibility that gives the front office a way to absorb salary if the right opportunity comes along. For now, though, the organization appears to be planning around depth rather than a midseason fix, which says plenty about where the roster stands entering the year.
Christoph Tillys recent Exhibit-10 deal for training camp is another small clue about how the Thunder are thinking. Instead of reserving that final spot for an emergency addition tied to the exception, Oklahoma City may give a young prospect a look and trust its current group to handle the season. The exception remains there if injury changes the equation, but for a team that likes its depth, the hope is simple: it never has to become part of the story. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Just Reopened A Raw Thunder Fan Wound
Kevin Durant and Thunder fans have never exactly settled into a warm reunion, and a new social-media flare-up has only kept that old tension alive. A screenshot circulating online appears to show a profanity-laced exchange between Durant and an Oklahoma City fan, adding another chapter to the often prickly relationship that has followed his 2016 departure and every fresh reminder of how emotional that split still is for plenty of people in the city.
The post spread quickly and drew a wave of reaction from NBA fans, which is hardly surprising given Durants long history of online controversies and his tendency to become part of the conversation whenever his name hits social media. Even so, the bigger issue here is not just the tone of the exchange, but the uncertainty around it, because the image has been passed around widely while the underlying question of what actually happened still hangs in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Former Thunder Fan Favorite Just Took A Tough Turn In His Career
Lindy Waters III, once a familiar face to Thunder fans, is taking the next step in a career that has shifted far from Oklahoma City. After a stint with the San Antonio Spurs and no NBA deal materializing for the 2026-27 season, Waters has headed overseas and signed with the Beijing Ducks in China.
It is a tough turn for a player who was once easy to root for in Oklahoma City, even if his recent NBA production never gave him much staying power. He averaged 2.4 points in 40 games for the Spurs last season, and with his future in the league now looking uncertain, this move suggests he will have to rebuild his path from a very different stage. [Read more 🡒]