What is OKC doing ?

[ederson]

https://thebiglead.com/2018/07/04/thunder-luxury-tax-paul-george-russell-westbrook/

The Thunder re-signed Raymond Felton to a one-year, $2.4 million deal Tuesday night. In doing so,  the Thunder have become the first team to cross the $300 million mark in salary and projected luxury tax commitments. They now have a luxury tax bill of $150 million, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Why ?

Biggest waste of money i've ever seen.....

[GreenEnvy]

I really have no idea what they are doing. Hefty price tag for meaningless playoff appearances.

I guess they have to fill out their roster so what’s the difference between $290M and $300M, even when it’s for someone as washed as Felton?

[greece66]

I really have no idea what they are doing. Hefty price tag for meaningless playoff appearances.

I guess they have to fill out their roster so what’s the difference between $290M and $300M, even when it’s for someone as washed as Felton?

$10M

Seriously now, did they get to pay lux tax for Felton? Was there a way to avoid it? I have no idea about cap rules, insights would be appreciated.

[ederson]

I think they were already in luxury tax

Felton "helped" them reach 300m. 


Considering they sent Harden to Houston because they couldn't sustain a 100m payroll this is beyond crazy

[Moranis]

I still the Thunder could pose problems for the Warriors especially if Roberson is healthy.  They do need Anthony to buy in though and come off the bench

[Celtics4ever]

I still the Thunder could pose problems for the Warriors especially if Roberson is healthy

Lucky for the warriors Anthony is on that team and he will cause problems.

[Eja117]

This kinda shows me that either the cap is too low or teams are making tons of money. It's also further proof that these teams need no tax payer support whatsoever and that winning must have a pretty tangible benefit for teams

[saltlover]

OKC will certainly do some tax management before the summer is over, but it seems like their tax bill will be at least $40 million this year.

[JBcat]

I’m starting to think owners are less worried about going deep into the tax with now legalized gambling, which probably has vastly increased the value of teams.

[tazzmaniac]

OKC will certainly do some tax management before the summer is over, but it seems like their tax bill will be at least $40 million this year.

Can they realistically even get it that low?  No team has the cap space to absorb Melo's contract.  Abrines and Singler seem like the only ones they'll move. 

[saltlover]

I’m starting to think owners are less worried about going deep into the tax with now legalized gambling, which probably has vastly increased the value of teams.

Perhaps a bit of that.  But the NBA also saw that a lot of teams were potentially going to have tax problems this year, so they tripled the line of credit teams can tap into from the league.  The presumably low interest rate combined with increased future revenues probably both factored in to some extent.

[ederson]

OKC will certainly do some tax management before the summer is over, but it seems like their tax bill will be at least $40 million this year.

Can they realistically even get it that low?  No team has the cap space to absorb Melo's contract.  Abrines and Singler seem like the only ones they'll move.

Stretching Melo helps a lot... At that's what I ve read.

[Moranis]

OKC will certainly do some tax management before the summer is over, but it seems like their tax bill will be at least $40 million this year.

Can they realistically even get it that low?  No team has the cap space to absorb Melo's contract.  Abrines and Singler seem like the only ones they'll move.

Stretching Melo helps a lot... At that's what I ve read.

save them like 91 million this year, though some of that is made up in future years obviously. 

The problem is both George and Westbrook like Melo and they have no way to replace him.  Now maybe it is worth it, but maybe not.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

This team has a lot of talent and adds a much needed back up big in Noel. They really just need a coach, too much talent to be a first round out. Gotta keep Westbrook and Melo under control. Shocked PG decided to stay for this madness.

[saltlover]

OKC will certainly do some tax management before the summer is over, but it seems like their tax bill will be at least $40 million this year.

Can they realistically even get it that low?  No team has the cap space to absorb Melo's contract.  Abrines and Singler seem like the only ones they'll move.

They can stretch Singler over 5 years and Melo over three, which will knock $20 million off their books, and an amount too high for me to calculate off their tax..  Then they could probably dump Abrines.  Maybe $45 million is the floor — I didn’t add up every number — it’ll still be high regardless, and they’ll probably have a similar tax bill next year thanks to the stretched salaries.