Assuming that they move Muscala, as has been reported they quickly will, I have the Thunder lowering their tax bill from $147 million to $80 million. Combined with the payroll savings, that is around $80 million saved for a 1st and whatever it takes to move Muscala. Decent work by Presti, but still with an $80 million tax bill. Singler will assuredly be stretched, which will save them another $20 million in taxes this year, but they’re also on pace to be $20 million over the tax again next summer with the acquisition of Schroeder.
I guess they lowered it to ~$86M with them taking back TLC. So if they stretch Singler, that lowers it to around $67M for only 13 players.
Even scarier, they are already $2.2M over the tax for the 6 guaranteed contracts the following season! If everyone opts in to team/player options, they are looking at a $43M tax bill for just 10 players. For a non-contender. Crazy.
I wouldn't call them a noncontender as they could legitimately be the 2nd best team in the West
They’re more likely to miss the playoffs than be #2 in the West.
This is just silly. They were the 4th seed last year and should be a much better team this year. They get rid of Anthony who was dragging them down and get a much deeper overall bench. They also will at some point get Roberson back (though obviously his health will be a concern).
This team is not missing the playoffs (unless RW or PG miss extensive time). they have 1 open spot, let's say they bring Brewer back to fill the 3 and D role.
PG - Westbrook, Schroder, Felton
SG - Roberson, Abrines, Ferguson, Luwawu-Cabarrot
SF - George, Brewer, Singler
PF - Grant, Patterson
C - Adams, Noel, Johnson
That should be one of the best defensive teams in the league. They also have 2 excellent scorers and won't have many of the bench depth issues that plagued them last year. Assuming Russ and PG3 stay healthy, the Thunder should be a 50 win team.