It's obvious that the Oklahoma City Thunder really pulled off a slam dunk with their offseason moves thus far, given how they re-signed Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams to rookie max extensions. But the biggest win in making these moves was avoiding one big mistake the Cleveland Cavaliers recently made, by not giving J-Dub a 30% salary escalator.
Let's break down exactly what I mean by this. During their negotiations, the Thunder had the option of giving Williams an 'escalator' (essentially meaning a condition) on his contract that would guarantee certain salary increases if he reached certain individual accomplishments in the future.