The Thunder took a swing at Spencer Jones on Saturday, putting a two-year, $12 million offer sheet in front of the free agent forward. Denver stepped in and matched it, keeping Jones in the Mile High City with Nikola Jokic and company.
That outcome may sting a little for Oklahoma City on the player front. Jones was the kind of low-risk, high-reward addition GM Sam Presti likes to chase: a defensive-minded wing who also gave Denver a major boost from deep last postseason, when he shot 69.0 percent from three.
But the Nuggets’ decision to keep him does more than block OKC from landing a promising young 3&D forward. It also preserves one of the Thunder’s most valuable tools: the $17.7 million traded player exception created in the Lu Dort-to-Atlanta trade a few weeks back.
That exception matters because it gives a team the ability to bring in a player within that salary range without having to send matching money back out. For a team that could be looking for help before February’s trade deadline, that kind of flexibility can be huge, especially if injuries pile up the way they did last season.
If Jones had actually signed with Oklahoma City, the picture would have gotten much tighter. The Thunder would have been out of roster room, and the trade exception would have been effectively unusable.
The financial squeeze would have been real, too. Oklahoma City would have had only about $840k of breathing room before crossing the second apron, and its tax penalty would have jumped from $19.9 million to $43 million.
Under the current CBA, teams in the second apron can’t use trade exceptions. So while adding Jones would have been an appealing move on the basketball side, Denver matching the offer keeps the Thunder from getting boxed into that corner and leaves them with full control of that hefty TPE.
In Other News...
Sam Presti Just Saved The Thunder From A Brutal Cap Spiral
The Thunder have spent the summer doing the kind of roster housekeeping that can shape a contenders future as much as any big-name acquisition. By moving three rotation pieces and getting seven second-round picks back, Oklahoma City added draft flexibility while keeping its core largely intact, a balancing act that matters even more for a team trying to stay ahead of the leagues harshest spending rules.
Sam Prestis front office also managed to steer clear of the second apron, which is the sort of financial trap that can squeeze a roster before the basketball consequences even show up. The Thunder still have a cap challenge coming, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexanders supermax set to begin next summer, but for now the path looks a lot cleaner than it does for teams that tried to push their luck and paid for it later. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Finally Made The Frontcourt Move Fans Have Wanted
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Aday Mara gives the Thunder another way to play up front, and that alone should make the rotation more interesting once the games start to matter. Between Hartenstein and Holmgren, the Thunder already had size and versatility, but now there is a new layer to how they can line up, and the real question is how quickly that added depth turns into a usable weapon for a team with bigger goals than simply surviving the regular season. [Read more 🡒]
DeMarcus Cousins Sparks Thunder Sixers Debate Over How Title Teams Are Built
DeMarcus Cousins stirred up an old championship debate by questioning whether a roster loaded with talent is enough to survive the grind of the postseason. In his view, the difference between a team that looks dangerous on paper and one that can actually make a deep run comes down to chemistry, camaraderie and the kind of shared experience that only builds over time.
For that reason, Cousins pointed to Western Conference clubs such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs as examples of teams that have had years to grow together and learn how to win meaningful games. His skepticism about Philadelphia was not about star power, but about whether a group that has not spent much time together in high-pressure basketball can be ready for the kind of series that exposes every weakness. [Read more 🡒]