{"id":2059655,"date":"2026-07-24T10:30:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2059655"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:30:43","slug":"thunder-didnt-trade-lu-dort-to-avoid-the-second-apron-they-did-it-to-cut-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2059655","title":{"rendered":"Thunder didn\u2019t trade Lu Dort to avoid the second apron. They did it to cut costs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Oklahoma City Thunder have no qualms with the second apron. Their cost-cutting summer was just that \u2014 cost-cutting.<\/p>\n

Trading away three rotation players, including all-defensive wing Lu Dort<\/a>, for a mishmash of second-round picks was not a basketball strategy. It was, as the team\u2019s general manager Sam Presti said earlier this week, a move to save money.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis was a financial decision,\u201d Presti told The Oklahoman<\/em>\u2019s Justin Martinez<\/a>. \u201cThe impression I have been given is that the savings generated this summer, and from being out of the tax the last several years, will be reallocated to future teams. Along with other new well-documented revenue streams,\u00a0this will allow us to make more basketball-related decisions over the next several years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second apron, a payroll threshold far above the luxury tax, has garnered the attention of the basketball world since its inception in 2023 because of the strategic repercussions that come with going above it. Surpass the second apron, and a team loses its ability to execute most types of trades and most kinds of free-agent signings. Dealing Dort to the Atlanta Hawks dropped the Thunder\u2019s 2026-27 payroll to below the $221.7 million second-apron threshold.<\/p>\n

But the Thunder, who remain $14 million above the luxury-tax line, did not trade Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe because the second-apron roster-building restrictions scared them. In the league\u2019s third-smallest market, owner Clay Bennett is sticking to a budget. And losing three players who helped support a contender is the consequence of it.<\/p>\n

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How the Spurs upended OKC to win the Western Conference<\/div>\n
Dan Woike<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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