Everything is promising for the Thunder right now. The vibes of Oklahoma City’s first NBA championship are still going strong statewide. Young stars Shai Gigeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren all signed long-term extensions to stay in OKC until the start of the next decade. Fan favorite role players Jaylin Williams and Ajay Mitchell penned team-friendly deals. The upcoming season promises the league’s most nationally televised games and the Thunder are the runaway favorite to win the 2025-2026 title.
The only distressing thing possibly nagging at the back of OKC fans’ minds is the question of whether or not the organization can keep this beloved cast of characters together past next year. But Sam Presti had some encouraging insight into the future cap complexities during his annual preseason media availability on Thursday morning.
“People talk about the CBA and the second apron has become so engrained in our NBA vocabulary so quickly. But there's nothing relative to the second apron that would prohibit us from keeping anyone on our team," Presti said. "The rules themselves are not prohibitive to our ability to maintain the team. The challenge is obviously for every team that has a sufficient collection of talent is the finances that come with that.”
But surely Presti must be missing something, right?
The entire NBA landscape has been led to believe that the second apron is a death sentence for a team overflowing with talent like OKC. The funny thing about this championship squad is that it has been incredibly inexpensive relative to most title teams due to all the youthful contracts. “We're positioned this year to be a non-taxpayer. Assuming we're a contending team this year, that would be three years as a non-taxpayer as a contender. We won't hit any type of repeater penalties until we're in another CBA. We'll be in a new arena by the time we're hitting any repeater tax penalties, as long as we stay under this year.”
In other words, by the time OKC fans have to worry about repeater tax penalties, the second apron may or may not even exist. Presti conceded that at that time, the team would be more expensive. But there will be financial help on the way in the form of a new TV deal, possible expansion (both domestic and in Europe) and a new Oklahoma City arena.
“So we're positioned well to have a significant influx of capital going forward, during a period of time where for sure, our team is going to get more expensive.”
What does all of this mean? Thunder fans can enjoy this young, fun championship squad without worry of future finances. This isn’t to say OKC will be able to keep the whole team together, as this collection of blossoming talent will become more and more expensive. Stressing about having too many good players is a good problem to have if you had to choose one. Ultimately, OKC is in the best position possible in the current NBA with the best GM in the business at the helm.