[Shams] OKC Jalen Williams agrees to 5 year max extension

[whitehops]

Knew it was coming after Chet got his. Welcome to second apron hell OKC.

Lol... They wont be in the 2nd Apron anytime this decade unless they want to be. They MIGHT be in 26/27with Hartenstein, Dort, Joe, and Wiggins making ~$70M, but I assume they will move them before then as they have 3 1st in the 2026 draft.

they also have to avoid making transactions that would have them hard capped at the first apron.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Chet rhey said 250... he doesn't have the full escalators? Paolo was 287 as well

Williams and Paolo have the higher max because they've made the All NBA team.

you need to make it in both your 2nd and 3rd (only Luka ever did it) or in your 4th year to qualify.
All these contract are "up to 287m", assuming the guy makes it. But for, for some reason, for Chet the wording was "up to 250m"

[phanman]

This was a foregone conclusion with his breakout regular season + strong playoff showing. I thought they could have gotten some back on Chet's extension given his injury history but I think Presti probably wanted to avoid having a Harden 2.0 situation. Pay now and worry about staying under in future years.

It'll be interesting in 26/27 is going to be hella expensive with their vet role players still making a decent chunk: 108.9m
IHart: 28.5m
Caruso:19.5m
Dort: 18.2m
Joe: 11.3m
Wiggins. 9.2m
Jwill: 7.7m
Cason: 7.4m
Kenrich: 7.1m

I think getting rid of either Isaiah Joe or Kenrich is enough for the 2026/2027 season. Money problems gonna start in 2027/2028.

Even then that's only ~18.4m with the big 3 taking up ~120m, I think there will be serious discussions on retaining IHart mainly. The good news is that coming off a championship year and hopefully an injury free developmental year for Chet, him and JWill be enough to man the front court that you won't need to be paying that much for another big.

With all that said, I have all the faith that Presti will be able to stay under the second apron swapping out pieces. It looks like Dort will be the odd man out which would absolutely suck to see him getting flipped for financial reasons.

[Onlytimewilltel]

What percent of the cap are these 3 taking up in a couple years?

All the percent

[Bob Ross]

Wow their books are gonna be crazy but if there's a team worth doing it for, it's OKC. Plus all those picks oh ma god

[AussieBuck]

They'll be able to trade firsts for guys on bargain contracts.

[Ayt]

This was a foregone conclusion with his breakout regular season + strong playoff showing. I thought they could have gotten some back on Chet's extension given his injury history but I think Presti probably wanted to avoid having a Harden 2.0 situation. Pay now and worry about staying under in future years.

It'll be interesting in 26/27 is going to be hella expensive with their vet role players still making a decent chunk: 108.9m
IHart: 28.5m
Caruso:19.5m
Dort: 18.2m
Joe: 11.3m
Wiggins. 9.2m
Jwill: 7.7m
Cason: 7.4m
Kenrich: 7.1m

I think getting rid of either Isaiah Joe or Kenrich is enough for the 2026/2027 season. Money problems gonna start in 2027/2028.

Even then that's only ~18.4m with the big 3 taking up ~120m, I think there will be serious discussions on retaining IHart mainly. The good news is that coming off a championship year and hopefully an injury free developmental year for Chet, him and JWill be enough to man the front court that you won't need to be paying that much for another big.

With all that said, I have all the faith that Presti will be able to stay under the second apron swapping out pieces. It looks like Dort will be the odd man out which would absolutely suck to see him getting flipped for financial reasons.

They can just not pick up Hartenstein's team option after next season and they'll be under the 2nd apron. Losing him isn't ideal, but they know that is the route they are going to take and are attempting to prepare for it with the modest extension for Jaylin Williams and the drafting of Sorber.

[Patches Perry]

This was a foregone conclusion with his breakout regular season + strong playoff showing. I thought they could have gotten some back on Chet's extension given his injury history but I think Presti probably wanted to avoid having a Harden 2.0 situation. Pay now and worry about staying under in future years.

It'll be interesting in 26/27 is going to be hella expensive with their vet role players still making a decent chunk: 108.9m
IHart: 28.5m
Caruso:19.5m
Dort: 18.2m
Joe: 11.3m
Wiggins. 9.2m
Jwill: 7.7m
Cason: 7.4m
Kenrich: 7.1m

I think getting rid of either Isaiah Joe or Kenrich is enough for the 2026/2027 season. Money problems gonna start in 2027/2028.

Even then that's only ~18.4m with the big 3 taking up ~120m, I think there will be serious discussions on retaining IHart mainly. The good news is that coming off a championship year and hopefully an injury free developmental year for Chet, him and JWill be enough to man the front court that you won't need to be paying that much for another big.

With all that said, I have all the faith that Presti will be able to stay under the second apron swapping out pieces. It looks like Dort will be the odd man out which would absolutely suck to see him getting flipped for financial reasons.

I believe Presti mentioned 2029 as when tough decisions will need to be made.

Worth noting also that the current CBA expires 2030 with opt out option in 2028 so some things might change if there is appetite to lessen the severity of the 2nd apron.

[zimpy27]

For a playoff team to stay under tax you should be looking for...

top 4 players under 88% of cap
top 6 players under 102% of cap
top 10 players under 116% of cap


SGA, Jalen, Chet, Caruso is at 86% of cap
Add iHart and Dort brings it to 113% of cap for top 6
Add Cason, Wiggins, Joe, Jaylin and it's now at 134% for top 10 players

So yeah OKC are at 2nd apron (134% cap) with their top 10 players. But the reason isn't the max deals for Chet and Jalen, it's the role players that are overpaid in OKC.

They will sort that out in next couple seasons.

[Dadouv47]

I would be concerned if OKC had bad contracts and no assets. Our worst contract might be Isaiah Joe right now winning around 12 millions/year...could move him for neutral value IMO.

[MrBigShot]

OKC now has their best 3 players locked up long term. Sam Presti is smart. He will figure out the contract situation and get creative to fill out the roster over the next half a decade.

[Profound23]

As much as I dislike the Chet extension, this one is deserved. Jalen showed up in the biggest moments, played through injury, and I think is destined for Greatness

[TravisScott55]

Yikes

[BigDan245]

I think they'll be alright guys...Not need to feel sorry for them. Presti seems to know what he's doing.

[Wolveswin]

They'll be able to trade firsts for guys on bargain contracts.

As I said in Chet thread…

A trade Presti needs to make is obvious despite shaking up a championship team. But these are bench role players we are talking about.

To Nets: IHart/Caruso

To OKC: Claxton/Mann

OKC gets much better contracts, younger, and more versatile. Claxton contract is less and decreasing and Mann contract is less and holds steady.

Hurts to lose Caruso, but Wallace is next man up for that role. Mann backfill helps ease the pain too.

[Biff]

Predictable and deserved. He is a top 10 player at this point.

Excuse me?

Unless you meant top 10 player on the Thunder, then, yes, I agree. Could be a typo as well, because he is definitely a top 100 player.

Maybe top 15 depending how you rate post prime guys like KD.

Jalen Williams just made All-NBA and All-NBA defense in the same season while being the 2nd best player on a championship team. He is one of the best defenders in the league while being a really good scorer and playmaker. Top 100 is wildly underrating him.

Maybe top 25. He's 32 according to RAPTOR and most GM's think that's the best metric currently.

[Kent]

The cap is going up the next several years from the new media deal.

That should help.

[Bobbymcgee]

They'll have a fire sale like the Celtics soon enough.

[DaPessimist]

I'm sure the strategy is to replace their current depth with draft picks. They'll be fine the next two seasons, but they need to draft well to keep this team at contender status past 2027.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Chet rhey said 250... he doesn't have the full escalators? Paolo was 287 as well

Williams and Paolo have the higher max because they've made the All NBA team.

you need to make it in both your 2nd and 3rd (only Luka ever did it) or in your 4th year to qualify.
All these contract are "up to 287m", assuming the guy makes it. But for, for some reason, for Chet the wording was "up to 250m"

Best I can tell they all have the same base deal of 5/239, but Chet agreed to lower escalators.