OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Can this team afford Kevin Durant, James Harden, Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook under the new system?
Wouldn’t it be appropriate if changes, including a super-harsh luxury tax, designed to limit big-market spending ended up costing the small-market Thunder a piece of their four-man core? The conventional wisdom says Oklahoma City can’t afford to add big-money extensions for Westbrook (a restricted free agent after this season) and the Harden/Ibaka duo (each a year behind Westbrook) because such moves would tie between $50 million and $60 million (as the deals mature) to just four players. Fill out the roster, and you’ll cross the tax line– something a tiny-market team can’t do, the thinking goes.
But the tax and cap lines will rise if revenue jumps as the league expects, and if that happens, it’s possible the Thunder could be the San Antonio of the 2010s — only with four highly-paid players, instead of three, flanked by guys on bargain-basement deals. And remember: This question gets at profitability and revenue sharing, from which the Thunder should benefit.
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