Busy Week Shows OKC Thunder Are Already Thinking About the NBA Trade Deadline

Just a few weeks ago, it seemed as though the Oklahoma City Thunder would forego extensions with their three eligible players—Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson—as part of a plan to position themselves as a free-agent player in 2017.

By late Monday evening, Adams and Oladipo had agreed to long-term deals through the 2020-21 season, per The Vertical. Then forward Ersan Ilyasova got traded Tuesday to the Philadelphia 76ers for Jerami Grant, as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical.

What changed?

This spree gives clues as to what the Thunder will do going forward.

In early October, I wrote about a conceivable path for Oklahoma City to create maximum salary-cap space next summer. Under current salary-cap rules, the Thunder could have leveraged relatively low cap holds on their trio, offloaded other salary onto another under-the-cap team and potentially carved out at least $30 million in space. They could have then re-signed their players as restricted free agents once they netted a free-agent prize.

The concern was that rule changes in the forthcoming collective bargaining agreement could waylay this plan. As explained by Bobby Marks of The Vertical, that will apparently happen:

Proposed rule change could see 1st rd. cap holds change to:250% to 300%- Below $8m salary 200% to 250%- Above $8m salary

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 30, 2016

In the case of Oladipo he could see his cap hold increase from $13.1m to $19.7m. For Adams an increase from $7.9m to $9.4m.

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 30, 2016

The new cap hold formulas would have slapped an additional $9 million in cap holds onto the Thunder’s salary calculations, nixing the space needed to make a major free-agency push.

With that strategy effectively destroyed, general manager Sam Presti instead made the logical move of locking up his players while the opportunity was there. It wasn’t a radical course correction, but rather a return to the status quo.

“I think obviously in today’s NBA with so many uncertainties and so many things that are outside your control, having young, developing or emerging players that you can have the opportunity to extend or match given their contracts, I think that’s always important,” Presti explained in his season-opening news conference.

Oklahoma City may have secured its players at a discount. ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported in July that Oladipo was seeking a maximum salary contract. In the end, his four-year, $84 million extension comes in about $21 million under the max:

That’s a huge win for OKC. Oladipo’s deal comes in around $21m less than the max, AND is less per year than his projected cap hold.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) October 31, 2016

Oladipo’s deal is in line with comparable players who recently signed contracts.

Portland’s C.J. McCollum, the 10th pick of the 2013 draft, signed an extension in July that could be worth as much as $106 million over four years. Teammate Allen Crabbe snagged a four-year, $75 million deal. Promising but oft-injured Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal landed a five-year, $128 million contract.

Given time in the Thunder system under coach Billy Donovan, Oladipo has the potential to turn his contract into a real value in the league. Presti gushed after acquiring him, along …

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