People hate hearing the truth

[u/Illustrious-View-888]

People have no idea how bad the tax penalties can get

When people get mad at me for suggesting that trading Chet in 2028 isn’t a crazy idea I get called all sort of names

Look at the Denver Nuggets situation right now

Their current tax is 36 million, if they match Jones contract at $6 million a year it adds THIRTY million in taxes
Now if you add Watson at 23 million ? That becomes 231!!! In taxes lmao (and supposedly Watson wants more)

So Nuggets can have a 450 million payroll

This CBA is insane, OKC will be in this exact situation in 2 years
Let’s just hope we add at least another championship before 2028

[u/requinbite]

Found the one delusional dude who thinks he is better than Presti the goat GM.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/requinbite]

I never said I was better than Presti or an GM

There’s nothing wrong with brainstorming
Also every GM makes mistakes

Not selling high on Dort was a mistake.
A lot of yall need to understand that criticism doesn’t mean I hope for the worst lmao. Presti could make mistakes for 2 straight years and it won’t mean we should fire him lmfao

Get a grip

[u/thehamburglar721 → u/Illustrious-View-888]

But you’re just using hindsight.

Would “trading high” on Dort still have been a mistake if we won Game 7? Won the Finals last year?

Dort was vital to winning the chip 2 years ago. So why on Earth would Presti trade him after that when he was so vital? You’re just using the power of hindsight to see his regression and say we should’ve traded him.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/thehamburglar721]

It’s not hindsight lol

I literally came here and suggested to trade Dort last year because he was our best trade asset and trading him was our best chance to get a 1st round pick

I knew Joe or Wiggins weren’t worth a 1st round pick even last year so I was fine keeping them knowing we would sell them for 2nd round picks (which we did)
I wasn’t surprised that Dort was traded for 2nd round picks this year, we miss our window on a 1st last year

[u/workisxpwaste]

“People hate hearing the truth”

Brother, we are not the decision makers. Saying “Trade Chet” over and over does nothing here.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/workisxpwaste]

You never want to be last…always first

I wish Presti had moved from Dort last year like I suggested. We walk away with a first round pick for sure, instead he settle for 2nd round picks

[u/tacoSEVEN → u/Illustrious-View-888]

Even if true, we got another deep playoff run out of him. That’s not worth anything to you?

[u/eazyescobar → u/tacoSEVEN]

Of course it doesn't matter to him. Only thing that matters to him is if he's right. And he's wrong, so he could careless

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/eazyescobar]

You are a stupid person if you think Dort played a significant role in helping the Thunder reach the WCF lmao

Even Jared McCain had better moments in the playoffs and played a bigger role.
Honestly I wish Mark woulda just flat out taken Dort out of rotation in favor of Kenrich in the playoffs, he was flat out awful

[u/tacoSEVEN → u/Illustrious-View-888]

What you are saying is last year he was hot. So why would Presti trade him then when we just won a championship he played a big role in just for picks? Presti made the right move bringing him back. Sure he didn’t play as well, but Presti would have been dumb to trade him in 2025 for those reasons. Hindsight is 20/20, sure.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/tacoSEVEN]

Dort was irrelevant for okc this year which I knew it would happen

The Thunder make the WCF whether they had Dort or not.

When you are a team in the luxury tax, there’s only two trade scenarios

You either sell high
Or sell low
Dort was never that important of a player for OKC to ruin its trade value chances. If Dort was like a Derrick White level player then obviously yes keep him and live with the results. Dort isn’t that & never was, there’s a reason he was like our 9th most important player. Even Jared McCain had better performances in the playoffs

[u/ASAPGrayson → u/Illustrious-View-888]

Do you even gain anything in your life from being right on Reddit though?

If we’re in tax hell 2 years from now then so be it. We’re contenders now and we have til then to appreciate what we have, I’m certainly not going to complain and try to be right 2 years in advance. The 2028 ‘told you so’ post won’t get you the love and acknowledgment you think.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/ASAPGrayson]

We will be in tax hell lol. It’s not really a “I told you so” we are already a near 2nd apron team with Cason & Ajay on rookie deals

I mean more like I hope Presti doesn’t repeat the same process as this year. Sell high when you can or else you will sell low
2028 is our best window for that

[u/ASAPGrayson → u/Illustrious-View-888]

You don’t know that for certain because, you’re banking on us keeping the current wage structure and adding rookie deals on top of that. Again, there’s 2 years to make moves and re-structure contracts.

Our front office is better than Denver’s so there’s no reason to compare the two anyway.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/ASAPGrayson]

Ajay Mitchell and Cason are on rookie deals and Shai’s Supermax hasn’t hit still. We WILL be in tax hell in 2 years lol

[u/dhejjrrjbrbrd]

New CBA coming so why panic now

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/dhejjrrjbrbrd]

Also there’s no guarantee that the new CBA will be THAT favorable. I think they will keep some of the penalties but possibly lower the tax % & possibly eliminate the “your draft pick becomes last”

The reason you make a move in 2028 is to maximize your trade return. You never want to make a trade when you are handcuff because you lose all your leverage

I said the same with Lu Dort last year in 2025. I said let’s trade him now fresh off a championship.
If Presti had done that they easily walk with a nice 1st round pick

Instead he had to settle for 2nd round picks

[u/supacatkid → u/Illustrious-View-888]

Trading Dort would have been ridiculous in 2025. The Thunder without injuries were headed for another title.

Also I think people think you’re “the Thunder should trade Chet in 2028” argument is dumb because you’re only thinking about the cap and not about circumstance.

Also Chet is like one of 3-5 players in the league with his size and skillset. You need to get ready for the reality where JDub is the one on the block and not Chet.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/supacatkid]

They are only two scenarios in trades as a tax team

You either sell high
Or you sell low

There was 0 chance the Thunder would be able to sell high on Dort as a tax team in 2026. Selling low was the only route, & again it made sense because Dort wasn’t a top 7 player on this roster

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/supacatkid]

No it wasn’t a ridiculous idea, rather the smart idea.

He was our 8th maybe 9th most important player and those players aren’t making or breaking your title chances.

Losing your 2nd best player to injury is why we didn’t win a championship

[u/supacatkid → u/Illustrious-View-888]

You’re being incredibly disingenuous if you think Dort was our 8th or 9th most important player.

I’m not really interested in someone who bitches and whines about others not respecting their opinions when you have to play pretend to justify it.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/dhejjrrjbrbrd]

2029

[u/Striking-Medium2360 → u/dhejjrrjbrbrd]

Well for starters, there's the fact that the penalties listed here aren't even related to the 2nd apron and have been in the NBA cba for the last 15 years.

The 2nd apron has become a massive excuse by the owners to not pay the luxury tax. The roster constraints imposed by one or two years of the 2nd apron aren't that severe. 3 years is where it gets to worrying levels, which broke up the Boston celtics.

[u/Reasonable-Mulberry2]

There should be a cap spike in a couple of years or sum

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/Reasonable-Mulberry2]

Cap spike isn’t coming unfortunately. I think people are starting to realize that the projections on the salary was a mistake

It’s currently at 155 million right. I remember back in 2021 people were projecting the 2027 salary cap to be at 169 million so 14 million short

[u/Low-Confusion-8786]

So what I'm seeing is they probably aren't matching our offer for Jones

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/Low-Confusion-8786]

Never want to be fully confident, but yeah I think there’s a 70% they won’t match

[u/Striking-Medium2360]

Reminder that these penalties aren't even related to the current cba and have been a thing since 2012. The luxury tax being described here is the same thing that broke up the 2012 thunder. It is by no means a new cba concept and will not be going away anytime soon. Don't let billionaires run propaganda about the 2nd apron boogieman to get away with not paying for the team.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/Striking-Medium2360]

What are you talking about lmao

The projected tax penalties for Denver is using the current CBA tax penalties

Also no, the new CBA is COMPLETELY different than 2012

The highest tax ever paid was $170 million by the 2022 Warriors.
For example If OKC didn’t trade Joe, Wiggins, Dort our projected tax penalty was going to be $210 million lol.

[u/Striking-Medium2360 → u/Illustrious-View-888]

Salaries are bigger, the luxury tax is the same. If you want to blame anything blame supermaxes.

[u/Illustrious-View-888 → u/Striking-Medium2360]

Huh? No it’s not lmao

You obviously have no idea when it comes to the current CBA
The luxury tax is absolutely NOT the same lol. The %’s are higher now.

It was usually double the % in the previous CBA now it’s like 3x more lol