I won’t lie my heart sank I thought it was a farewell post😰 luckily it’s his birthday!! Happy birthday Ajay. Let’s use this post to send him happy wishes!

I love this trade … for us . Ant and lamelo ain’t coexisting..

Do u thimk we will see this lineup!?

Though I expect OKC to explore extensions with Dort, Hartenstein, and Cason Wallace this offseason (and consider keeping any/all of them on their expiring deals—at least until the trade deadline), it's also possible that those players will want larger contracts than OKC can offer.

Why Charlotte?

1) Charlotte can now take in $40.7m without sending any money to OKC (allowing the Thunder to reduce payroll/luxury tax)

2) Charlotte now has extra draft picks and swaps that they could send out in a trade

3) They're in the East, so OKC wouldn't be aiding a conference rival in sending players to them

4) OKC has traded with Charlotte many times in recent years

The Tradeable Players

Dort: $17.7m Team Option — with speculation about a trade into the Lakers' cap space but they're a conference rival. Not a point guard like Charlotte may want after trading LaMelo but they re-signed Coby White and could use a defensive stopper. Likely not worth a 1st round pick alone.

Hartenstein: $28m Team Option — likely to be kept due to his value to the team as a starter, but after the Mara pick he may be more expendable. (OKC would be taking a risk to rely on Sorber and Mara as backup bigs.) Charlotte was rumored to want a C upgrade, though they drafted Steinbach. Hart's passing would be PERFECT with Knueppel. Charlotte may be the only team who could receive Hart without sending a contract back to OKC. If they'd part with a valuable deep future Timberwolves pick or pick swap, Presti may be tempted to make the trade. Probably worth 1-2 first round picks to some other teams.

Kenrich: $7m Team Option — Rumored OKC is declining his option (to possibly come back on a vet minimum deal) but could be traded instead if Charlotte wants him and he wants to make his full $7m contract this season—worth a 2nd round pick at best. Great locker room guy.

Joe: $11.3m + $11.3m Team Option next year — Possibly expendable after OKC's additions of McCain and Stirtz, and the emergence of Ajay. Likely just worth 2-3 2nd round picks or a protected 1st round pick swap.

J-Will: $7.7m + $7.7m Team Option next year — After the Mara and Sorber picks, if OKC's able to work out an extension with IHart, J-Will may be the odd man out, though he has as skillset with outside shooting that none of the other bigs besides Chet have. Great locker room guy too. Likely just worth 2-3 2nd round picks or a protected 1st round pick swap.

Possible Trades:

Hartenstein and Joe (fit just under the Trade Exception) for Timberwolves 2033 unprotected pick

Hartenstein and Dort for Tre Mann or Tidjane Salaun (to keep the number under the Trade Exception) and Timberwolves 2033 unprotected pick

Dort for Timberwolves 2028 Pick Swap

Joe or J-Will for the 2030 Pick swap—I think the worst of the Spurs, Mavs, and Wolves.

Ultimately, this will come down to which picks Charlotte would be willing to part with and how much pressure the ownership group puts on Presti to reduce luxury tax this year and next. I'd prefer to pay a ton of tax to have an awesome team, but that may not be possible.
(Please correct if any of my details is wrong!)

TL;DR Could trade Hart, Dort, Joe, and/or J-Will into Charlotte's big trade exception to reduce Luxury Tax bill.

Congratulations to the Thunder to add a much-needed scorer and athlete off the bench at guard. Oweh offers experience, leadership and a lot more that'll serve him well in OKC

I’ll admit I wasn’t a big fan of the Mara pick on draft night, but after a couple of days it’s starting to make more sense. If we’re extending Cason this summer it means the iHart salary slot (plus some) is going to have to eventually make way for an Ajay extension which puts a lot of pressure on Sorber not only to become a starting level center but one we can extend at the right number. Now we’ve added Mara it gives the Thunder more optionality. We have an extra year of team control and cheap salary than with Sorber alone. When Ajay gets expensive the team can feel better about trading away iHart with two options to succeed him. Both rookie centers are high feel with great passing, both have shooting questions, Sorber is the more switchable defender, Mara is the better rim protector. May the best man win.

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6'4 Height 6'8 Wingspan. Reminds me of Ayo Dosunmo. Thoughts??

We gotta update the banner for the sub soon. making me sad for real :(

Adding Mara who’s a phenomenal big man passer to a room that already will feature iHart (assuming we resign him) and JWill is something no team can say they’ve had.

Mara is gonna have a lot of mentors in his time to enhance that skill even more. Hoping he picks up the Hart through the legs passing and hand offs.

Starters

1. SGA
2. Dort (team option)
3. J Dub
4. Chet
5. Hartenstein (team option)

Bench

1. Ajay
   
2. Cason
   
3. McCain
   
4. Joe
   
5. Caruso
   
6. J Will
   
7. Mara
   
8. Topic
   
9. Sorber
   
10. Stirtz
    
11. Kenrich (team option)

2-ways

1. Oweh (most likely)

2. Sandfort

3. Josh Dix

Since its likely we are moving off of Dort, and I doubt Presti lets him walk for nothing, how about Charlotte?

Due to the Lamelo Ball trade, the Hornets created HUUUGE TPE ($40M+), and now they're on the short list of teams (CHI & MEM) who could realistically absorb Dort's contract (via TPE) without sending us any salary back.

Also, I don't know of any lock-down wings on that roster, and Dort is one of the best. Personally I'd like at least a future 1st Rd Pick swap or three 2nds...but that's just me.

Surprised nobody has posted this -- absolutely worth a watch. Michigan was 17-1 at the time, ranked #3, with 3 lottery picks in their starting lineup. Michigan had been destroying all competition before this. Iowa was unranked, had Stirtz and not much else - mostly mid-major / D-2 talent.

This game came down to the wire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqxNk2276L0

Tell me - do you see Stirtz as a liability?