Sam Presti’s strategy sets Thunder up for long-term success

The current CBA has been very punitive of the NBA’s biggest spenders, and this is meant to maintain a sense of parity around the association by de-incentivizing teams that stack their roster with All-Star talents. Now, one would think that the Oklahoma City Thunder will have their fair share of difficulties navigating this cap landscape considering how they are paying three supermax talents in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams.

But Thunder general manager Sam Presti, as it always seems like he is, is ahead of the curve. As ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel pointed out, OKC has set up their future cap table in that they could clear out a ton of space this offseason, as they own team options over the contracts of Isaiah Hartenstein and Luguentz Dort, among others, for the 2026-27 campaign.

“Sam Presti had a plan when he first extended all these guys. The goal was to remain in good cap standing with the current roster they have contending for championships. And the reason they can do that is because Isaiah Hartenstein has a 28.5 million dollar team option. Dort has an 18.2 million dollar team option. And then Kenrich Williams 7.1 million dollar team option,” Siegel said on the Clutch Scoops show.

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“Right there with those three guys it’s about 54 million dollars that they could completely clear off their books and then look to renegotiate contracts.”

Thunder are set up to be a dynasty

For next season, OKC already has around $122 million committed to their core trio. That is a huge amount of money to be paying just three players, and that figure will balloon to an even larger $152 or so million for the 2027-28 campaign once Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP-level supermax kicks in.

Nonetheless, the Thunder have ways to ease their cap burden, as Siegel noted, and they have first-round picks as well as good players on cheap contracts (Jared McCain, Ajay Mitchell) to keep their roster humming even as the tax payments mount.

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