Oklahoma City’s summer reshaping has already taken a massive bite out of what once looked like a staggering 2026 payroll picture.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Thunder were staring at a potential $557MM bill for the coming season entering the offseason. Just picking up team options on Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort, and Kenrich Williams and then making their draft selections - with no trades and no free-agent additions - would have pushed the club to a $261MM team salary and a projected $296MM tax hit.
But the Thunder have worked that number down in a hurry. Hartenstein and Williams came back on slightly more team-friendly deals, and Oklahoma City moved Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins without taking any salary back. That dropped the projected payroll to $234MM, with about $214MM in team salary and roughly $20MM in tax penalties.
The cost-cutting has come with a basketball explanation attached. Dort, Joe, and Wiggins all played rotation minutes last season, but none ranked among Oklahoma City’s most effective postseason performers.
Marks noted that among the 12 Thunder players who logged at least 75 playoff minutes, those three had the worst on/off numbers. Even so, the savings have been enormous - more than $320MM - and the Thunder got there without touching their “big three,” their backcourt rotation, or their bigs.
The Dort deal has also put ownership in the spotlight. Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman wrote that the team’s owners are “officially on watch” after the trade, pointing to the way head of basketball operations Sam Presti framed the move as a “financial” decision and said he had been told the savings would be reinvested in future versions of the team. Mussatto also noted that the optics are tough for ownership, given the timing with the team building a new arena that is primarily funded by taxpayers.
Dort’s departure has drawn plenty of reflection in Oklahoma City. In separate stories for The Oklahoman, Jenni Carlson examined the defensive imprint Dort left over seven seasons with the Thunder, while Mussatto described the former undrafted free agent as one of the best developmental success stories in team history.
Joe, meanwhile, is already looking ahead. Speaking at a charity event in Oklahoma City on Monday, he said he’s excited for a fresh start in Detroit but won’t forget his time with the Thunder.
“This place is home,” Joe said. “Everybody that I met is great people, lovely people.
The connection is going to live on forever. So, for that, I can never thank this city enough.”
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