More Moves COMING… MASSIVE Thunder Free Agency Update | OKC Thunder News

More Moves COMING… MASSIVE Thunder Free Agency Update | OKC Thunder News

We have a massive Thunder free agency update. As we know for sure, a Jaylen Williams extension is the next thing in the books for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, when that’s going to happen, there’s no telling. It took about a week for Chad Homegrren to get his rookie max extension. Do I believe that he deserved the max? Nah. You know, his injury concerns are something that I’ve been thinking about that maybe, you know, he didn’t deserve the deserve the max. But his play, yes, 100%. Injuries though, no. Jaylen Williams, though, I believe 100% deserves every single bit of the rookie max extension. No doubt about it in my mind whatsoever. The problem now going into this is what is a team going to look like financially in the future? Is Jaylen Williams going to get the max as well? I’m here to answer all these problems and concerns and questions that you guys may have regarding the Thunder’s financial status for the next few years as these extensions, they’re going to cost a lot of money. They will. So, let’s go ahead and take a deep dive at it in today’s video. Before we get into all that though, quick moment to recognize that we’re now at 6,090 subscribers for the channel. All right. I appreciate each and every single one of you guys that have been here along for this journey. The growth we’ve seen over this offseason has been insane and absurd. So, thank you guys for the constant support. And if you guys aren’t subscribed to the channel already, go ahead, join one of the fastest growing Thunder YouTube channels out there on the platform. With that out of the way, let’s go ahead get into talking about Jaylen Williams, the possible extension, and all the financial problems and worries that us Thunder fans might have. gonna tell you right now, do not worry about the team being, you know, oh, financially, you know, unstable and having to do what the Boston Celtics did. All right, the Boston Celtics, they had their top five guys making 30 million or more per year. All right, you can’t sustain long-term success like that. Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum were making almost 100 million combined just those two players. Now, Shay and Chad will be making almost 100 million combined just with those two. Yes. All right. The cap’s going to be increasing though to where you can afford that. The Celtics, what they did, they went ahead and handed out with their starting five $190 million in those contracts. You can’t sustain that. You can’t. The Thunder know better. They haven’t done this. All right. They haven’t. Right now, you know, it’s, you know, Shay making 33 million a year, I think. Hartstein making I, you know, 28 million next season. Uh, Dub and Chet still on their rookie contracts for one more season. Dort making $18 million. Okay, like it’s it’s fine what the team’s doing. It’s 100% fine. Alex Cruso, he’s going to make be making 20 million. Okay, we can, you know, afford that. Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, those guys are on good contracts. Jay Wills on a good contract. AJ Mitchell, all these guys, they’re on great team friendly deals. Okay, it’s just, you know, it gets in the problem with the big three. And Jaylen Williams, he has some leverage now if he wants to discuss contracts, if he wants to for sure get the max deal. All right, Jul and Thunder have momentum towards a rookie extension deal per ESPN. OKC just signed Shep for 250 million and SEA for 290 million. Okay, like let’s not look at it at straight up, oh this is the money they’re making. You look at it in basis of percentages is what you’re supposed to look at it when you’re talking about contracts in the NBA. You don’t look at it as the 250 million you see right here and then 290 million for Shay. That’s not how you look at it. You got to look at it in percentages. All right. Also, keep in mind the cap’s going to constantly increase. Right now for the next cap in the 2026 off seasonason, the cap’s projected to jump up by 7%. The max it can jump up by is 10% and that is the average. All right, that’s what they’re expecting it to do every single year. Next season it’s 7% is what they’re, you know, estimating right now, but it could jump to 10% and be even more in cap space. So the Thunder, they are fine. There’s no reason to worry whatsoever. Is Jaylen Williams going to get this max? More than likely. Yeah. Are you going to have to say goodbye to a play or two? More than likely. Yes, you’re going to have to say goodbye to a ton of players no matter what. I get as fans, we get emotionally attached to these guys, but you have to realize the organization is, you know, you you can’t just hold on to them. You can’t. Sometimes you have to trade away players for the betterment of the team. That happens. That’s the reason why a lot of people didn’t want to trade Isaiah Joe during the, you know, trade deadline for Cameron Johnson because they were really emotionally attached to the player. All right, I get it. I understand. But do not worry, we’re going to be able to keep a core set of guys for this team per Brett Seagull over at Clutch Points. And I believe so too, the more you look into details about the contracts that take place going forward. All right. It is expected that Williams will sign a deal almost identical to Homegrren’s new contract as he is eligible for a 5-year $246 million deal according to ESPN officer office insider Bobby Marks. With this deal expected to be finalized this offseason, it means Pressie and Thunder will have committed close to 800 million in new contract extensions to Kildas Alexander, Homegrren, and JDub. These three are the core of Oklahoma City’s championship DNA, and the team expects to contend for multiple titles with them in the years to come. Although there are obvious concerns about the how the Thunder will sustain success and construct a roster around these young stars given the implications of the league’s apron penalties, Prey has prepared for this. In fact, the Thunder’s executive has been marking except or making exceptional moves over the last several years to prevent any second apron problems. So, look, right now going into next season, we’re still under the uh hard cap. We are I say hard cap, you know, the salary cap before going into a luxury second and first apron, all that good stuff. Okay, we’re still under the cap. After that, we’ll be over the cap, but it’s not like we’re going to be in the luxury or we might be over the cap right now. I we’re not going to the luxury. I know that for sure. press even said so in a you know uh end of season press conference that you know with all the moves they’re going to be making they won’t feel the effects of the luxury tax or CBA until the next CBA agreement which is in 2028. We still got three more years before we got to worry about the tax implications and everything that goes into these contracts. So don’t worry about it right now. Worry about it in two years when it’s about to creep up on us and be like look we got to make some room financially now. And you know, I don’t think that’s going to be a worry because of some of these players that we have on contract. Brett Seagull even talked about it more in his article. Okay. Looking ahead to the 2026 2027 season, that is the year many are questioning how Prey will be able to work his magic with the extensions of Homegr and Williams. When agreed upon kicking in between the three core members of the roster, Oklahoma City will be paying somewhere between 120 million and 125 million in total. based on the cap projections and estimates for the 226 2027 season. Plus, factoring in their current contracts out automatically puts the Thunder roughly 17 million below the second apron. This doesn’t include Williams’ upcoming extension, which obviously temporarily takes Oklahoma City into the second apron. However, as a result of the way Precia negotiated some of his players contracts, Thunder will have over 50 million in team hot options for Hartstein, Dort, and Kenrich Williams that can be utilized to move under the second apron altogether. Hartinstein’s deal when he initially signed last off seasonason was viewed as a short-term move for Oklahoma City. I know a lot of you guys are going to hate me in the comments section and tell me you got to keep Hartinstein. When Hardenstein was signed to this deal, he was not projected to be someone that’d be with the team for more than three years. This is only if Dub didn’t make an allNBA team, Chet didn’t make an AllNBA team, and you know, you could save some money on those guys. If you lose, you know, in the finals, you don’t win a championship while he’s on the first two years and you pick up the team option. Now that you won the championship and you have a good chance of going back to back, you probably decline that team option, especially with these big contracts going in for Dub and Chat. More than likely, this is Hartinstein’s last season as a member of Oklahoma City Thunder unless he’s willing to take a 15 to20 million pay cut. And no one is taking a 15 to20 million pay cut. No one is. All right. Plain and simple. Plain and simple. That’s not happening. So, this is more than likely Hartstein’s last year and then also Kenrich Williams’ last year. Dor, it’s questionable. It is very questionable. I want to keep Dort. He’s my favorite player on the Thunder. All right. Is very questionable if he can stay with the team though. Going to the last portion of the article though. All right. That I know you guys going to go ahead and go in the comment section and talk bad about Hart potentially leaving, but that’s more than likely happening. Even when the Thunder ultimately see a higher tax bill and are forced to go in the second apron, they will already be well into their championship journey. This isn’t going to happen for at least four years and by then Oklahoma City could have multiple championships with their core of Gildas Alexander, Homegrren and Williams. It is hard to say what will happen then since it’s so far in the future. But the one thing that is certain about the Thunder is that they can sustain success now and for many years to come while remaining below the dreaded second apron. With plenty of young talents developing behind the scenes and the ability to continue drafting highlevel talents, the Thunder aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Plain and simple, they aren’t. Okay, we can go and take a look. You know, this is the breakdown pretty much of what the article talked about and what’s going on. Okay. While some while some some tend to think the second apron is going to eat the Thunder alive, think again. Taking Chat and SGA’s extensions in account, OKC has about 17 million from the Second Apron for the 2026 2027 season. And they have team options for Hardstein, Dor, and Kenrich Williams. While tough roster decisions will need to be made, Sam Pressy has this team in a position where they can save money around easily and replace players with young talent. Alex Cruso, Casey Wallace, and Ear Wiggins could take over for Dort. Even though I don’t want Dort gone, this is very, you know, likely that to happen. You choose between Caruso and Dort. Who is going to have the better impact next year? I think whoever plays better next season is the guy that Pressie is willing to keep. Jay Will and Thomas Sorber will eventually take over for Hartinstein. I agree with that as well. Not to mention Pressie has a handful of draft picks to play around with. Um, the Thunder have options and plenty of flex flexibility and remain below the dread tax apron even with SJ Homegrren and Jub Extension. As you can see, all right, like the Thunder are going to remain below the tax. I say below the tax, below the second apron and, you know, below the, you know, entirety that they have to. Will they have to go into the apron at some point? Yes. All right. There are ways that they can get around it, though. Is that, you know, going to have to say goodbye to some fan favorites? Yes. You’re going to do that a ton, though. Chris Stops and Drew Holiday were fan favorites in Boston. I know this because I was there during their title runs and while they had him. Kristoff Sporzing was one of the favorite, you know, favorites for the city of Boston and the fan base. Okay, he was they had to say goodbye to him because sometimes that just happens. It does. If you want to keep your core three guys, they figured out their core three is Derek White, Jason Tatum, and Jaylen Brown. You’re going to have to sacrifice some of these guys that the fans love. That’s the unfortunate truth about the NBA. So, the sooner we get that in our heads as a fan base, the better off we will be for the future. And I guarantee you in Prey we trust. Keep that in your mind. If that means Caruso’s gone, Caruso’s gone. It’s for the betterment of the team. Keep that in mind. When has Prey ever did something to harm the team? When has he ever done something to potentially, you know, intentionally go out there and be like, “Yeah, let me screw over the fan base.” No, he is drafted very well. He has brought in great talent. Just trust what Prey is going to do the next few years. Plain and simple. Okay? Like like I said, that means saying goodbye to some fan favorites like potentially Dort Alex Cruso. I know Kenri Williams is a fan favorite even though he’s not making a ton of money. Isaiah Hartstein has quickly become a fan favorite, but he was always a short-term deal. You have to get, you know, you have to come to realization that some of these players might just be gone in the future. But if it means we’re going to win more championships and not have to blow the whole thing up, I think it’s for the betterment of the team. That’s all I got for this video. Let me know. All right. Like honestly, do you are you super worried still after this video if the team can still sustain long-term success with these max extensions that they’re giving out? Let me know in the comments section below. See you guys in the next

With the new Chet Holmgren extension, fans are wondering what is next? Well, the simple answer is a Jalen Williams extensions, but where does that put the team financially? Bryson Akins answers all this in the latest video on Thunder Digest.

Thunder Digest covers the latest reports, news and rumors regarding the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you want to stay updated with every trade, move and tidbit on players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Mark Daigneault and Sam Presti.

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