05-31-2026, 05:16 PM
Been thinking about OKC and their cap situation for a little bit now. Now that the honeymoon period is over with their contracts, they are going to have to start caring about apron levels now with their extensions.
Chet's kicks in this summer, and between him, Shai, and J-Dub, notoriously penurious OKC will be shelling out 124 mil just for the three of them next year and that's before we add on SGA's supermax extension in 27-28 for 60+mill a year.
Even if they decline Hartenstein+Dort options and let them walk for free, they still need to extend Cason Wallace and create cap space for their 3 draft picks this summer (which should be around $12mil in total give or take.)
Now that the table's set, I wonder if OKC would be interested in one of the myriad of cost controlled role players the Mavs have, on top of some of their draft capital?
Jaylin Williams+ Nikola Topic+12+17+37 for Gafford+30. OKC now can let Hartenstein walk for free. They clear about 10 million off the books in terms of just draft salary. We could also replace Gafford with PJ in this scenario and the money still works.
Mavs get a chance at Topic who is a big guard that just doesn't have a role, on top of 2 more draft picks in the mid first round. They also get a backup center that can stretch the floor and is cost controlled as well.
Maybe 12+17 may be too rich for Gafford alone, but OKC is definitely in trouble and something has to change. A smaller move like this for both teams where they are exchanging some high quality role players, might make sense.
Chet's kicks in this summer, and between him, Shai, and J-Dub, notoriously penurious OKC will be shelling out 124 mil just for the three of them next year and that's before we add on SGA's supermax extension in 27-28 for 60+mill a year.
Even if they decline Hartenstein+Dort options and let them walk for free, they still need to extend Cason Wallace and create cap space for their 3 draft picks this summer (which should be around $12mil in total give or take.)
Now that the table's set, I wonder if OKC would be interested in one of the myriad of cost controlled role players the Mavs have, on top of some of their draft capital?
Jaylin Williams+ Nikola Topic+12+17+37 for Gafford+30. OKC now can let Hartenstein walk for free. They clear about 10 million off the books in terms of just draft salary. We could also replace Gafford with PJ in this scenario and the money still works.
Mavs get a chance at Topic who is a big guard that just doesn't have a role, on top of 2 more draft picks in the mid first round. They also get a backup center that can stretch the floor and is cost controlled as well.
Maybe 12+17 may be too rich for Gafford alone, but OKC is definitely in trouble and something has to change. A smaller move like this for both teams where they are exchanging some high quality role players, might make sense.
14x All-Star, 12x all-NBA, 1x MVP, 1x Finals MVP, 1 NBA Championship: Dirk Nowitzki, the man, the myth, the legend.