Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti admitted the organization will have to make some cost-pertinent decisions in the wake of the NBA Draft:
“Last season in order to keep Paul George and Jerami Grant in Oklahoma City, we were going to have to be aggressive in that situation,” said Presti, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. “Where we are right now, we’re not going to be able to sustain that 0ver a long period of time.”
The Thunder doled out a whopping four-year, $137 million deal to Paul George, a move they had to do to get him to stay. They followed it up with Jerami Grant's three-year, $27 million deal, which at the time seemed reasonable for a rotation player, who had improved with the team.
Yet there are always financial implications that come with signings, and recent pacts doled out to Russell Westbrook (five years, $206.8 million) and Steven Adams (four years, $100 million) have the Thunder shackled with very little money to spend, as these exorbitant deals have buried them in luxury tax.
The Thunder have $97.3 million tied to Westbrook, George, and Adams alone this upcoming season, which is 89.2% of the league's salary cap for the 2019-20 season.
OKC traded its 21st overall selection to the Memphis Grizzlies (Brandon Clarke) and traded for the Utah Jazz's 23rd pick, drafting Darius Bazley with their lone pick of this year's draft.
Presti and the front office will have to address the team's dire shooting needs this offseason. While they seemed to be in line to draft a player like Cameron Johnson with the 21st pick, his early selection (11th to the Phoenix Suns) likely threw a wrench in their plans to get some shooting for cheap, now likely to pay the veteran's minimum for some depth in the future.
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