Thunder Off-Season Details:

27m above 2nd Apron

15 Player Roster

2 Incoming 1sts

OKC Fan Sentiment

From what I've gathered, most OKC fans are resistant to the idea of trading some of their players for players of lesser talent and salary cap reduction/flexibility. Historically, however, that is how salary cap flexibility has been achieved.

The counterargument I've seen brought up has been to simply decline Dort and Hart's TOs to achieve balance while also opening up 2 roster spots for their rookies. To that, I give the FA signings above that would directly hurt OKC's ability to win in the regular season and increase difficulty in the playoffs.

My main point in this demonstration is to pose a question.

Give up Hart and Dort to conference competition if it meant you get to keep your non lottery, unproven, rookie talent

Trade those picks and 2 players (Joe, Caruso, Dort, Wiggins) to an ECF team or rebuilding team, and retain a proven Hart to keep the WCF weaker