The Oklahoma City Thunder are riding high as NBA champions and look to be the top threat to take home the 2026 title as we head into the upcoming season. As we examine their intentionality with team-building, what they choose to do with Lu Dort is going to say a lot about where this team's decision makers' intentions are.
We saw this summer how the Thunder wanted to approach re-signing their main stars. They got all three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams back on long-term, near max deals. The question here is whether they will plan to enter the second tax apron to also keep their role players, or if potential cuts could be coming.