The Thunder have already done a remarkable job of trimming the bill on what looked like an absurdly expensive future, but they’re not fully out of the financial danger zone yet.
According to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron, Oklahoma City would have been staring at a payroll north of $500MM for 2026/27 if it had simply brought back its 2025/26 roster. Through a chain of offseason moves, that number is now down to $234MM when player salaries and luxury tax penalties are taken into account.
The big swing came from the Thunder moving Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins, while also working out new deals with Isaiah Hartenstein and Kenrich Williams. Those moves helped the team duck the second apron and slash what had been a brutal projected tax burden.
Still, the math gets ugly again soon. Gozlan projects Oklahoma City to move back above the second apron by nearly $19MM a year from now, with total payroll climbing past $400MM. That figure does not include a new contract for Cason Wallace, who is entering the final year of his rookie scale deal.
Elsewhere in the West, the Lakers’ pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga may still have life, even if the path is far from clean. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report examined whether Los Angeles can still pull off a sign-and-trade after the Hawks reportedly showed no interest in taking on Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract and Kuminga was underwhelmed by the Lakers’ initial offers.
Pincus floated a hypothetical four-team trade that would give Kuminga a four-year, $77MM deal with the Lakers while sending two second-round picks and a first-round swap to Atlanta. The proposed framework would also involve the Bulls and Nets.
In Portland, the Moda Center renovation plan moved ahead last week when the Multnomah County board of commissioners voted to proceed with more than $101MM in funding. Coverage from Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report, Mike Vorkunov and Jason Quick of The Athletic, and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh of The Oregonian noted that some commissioners still had reservations, especially because former Blazers executive Chris Oxley has been chosen to negotiate with the team on the county’s behalf.
And in the wake of Don Nelson’s death on Sunday, Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard revisited Nelson’s influence on one of the most important draft decisions in Warriors history. Kawakami wrote that Nelson helped steer the team toward Stephen Curry in 2009, as the front office weighed using the pick in a trade for Amar’e Stoudemire or selecting someone else.
In Other News...
Blazers Face One Huge Question With Ja Morant And Dame
The Trail Blazers have spent the offseason assembling a backcourt that would be the envy of almost any team, but it also comes with a lineup puzzle that is impossible to ignore. With Ja Morant now alongside Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson, Jrue Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe, Portland suddenly has more guard talent than obvious minutes, and the first task is figuring out how to make the pieces fit without sacrificing the balance that keeps a team functional.
How Morant and Lillard share the floor is the question that hangs over the group, especially with defensive impact already a concern and the guard rotation likely to require some hard choices. Micah Nori is working through those adjustments as the Blazers get ready for the season, and the real test may not be whether the talent is there, but whether Portland can turn all of it into something coherent when the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Face A Backcourt Dilemma Micah Nori Cant Avoid
Micah Noris first season in Portland comes with a backcourt puzzle most teams would love to have and still have to solve. The Trail Blazers have four point guards who could start on a lot of rosters in Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday, which leaves the staff sorting out not just who plays, but how much and in what combinations. It is the kind of depth chart that looks crowded on paper and even more complicated once you factor in recent injuries, age, and the need to keep everyone engaged.
Morants availability has been a talking point after his recent injury history, while Hendersons path is tied to his role as a bench player and how much responsibility he can handle when the rotation is tightened. Holiday also enters a different conversation after years as a fixture in a starting group, and Portland has to decide whether his value is best used in a smaller role or in the kind of steadying presence that has defined his career. For a team trying to make all the pieces fit, the real challenge may be less about talent than about finding a balance that keeps the backcourt from becoming a nightly guessing game. [Read more 🡒]