How the Oklahoma City Thunder saved money - and whether they might have to save more
[...] This is a significant departure for a team that, a few years ago, would not pay tax at all. Back in 2012, it was financial pressures like these that cost the Thunder James Harden.
In extension negotiations, the Thunder offered Harden very nearly the maximum salary, yet Harden wanted a full max, and knew he could get it elsewhere. Under threat of signing a maximum offer sheet in free agency next summer, Harden asked to be traded from the team; unwilling to pay the luxury tax, and also seemingly unwilling to use the amnesty clause on then-starting centre Kendrick Perkins to dodge it for Harden, the Thunder traded Harden before losing him, and although the trade package returned yielded Adams, Harden has gone on to be an all-timer. It is impossible to know for sure how much losing Harden has cost Oklahoma City, yet it is self-evidently a lot.
To go from being the team that lost a future MVP over a few million dollars to a team prepared to pay a potential $74 million tax liability for Dennis Schroeder and Jerami Grant is quite jarring. Nevertheless, as easy to cite of a criticism as that is, it is not a fair one. No one should be compelled to make the same mistake as they did once before purely for the sake of consistency; we should all seek to learn from our mistakes, and that starts with not making them again.
Furthermore the franchise's financial position is different. Since that time, the Thunder have experienced changes in their ownership structure, including bringing in new investors with particularly deep pockets. Sam Presti and the front office are empowered to spend more money on the playing roster now not only because of the fallout from the Harden situation, but also because they simply can. There is more money now, and thus more spending power.
The question is, how long for. [...]
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In extension negotiations, the Thunder offered Harden very nearly the maximum salary, yet Harden wanted a full max, and knew he could get it elsewhere. Under threat of signing a maximum offer sheet in free agency next summer, Harden asked to be traded from the team; unwilling to pay the luxury tax, and also seemingly unwilling to use the amnesty clause on then-starting centre Kendrick Perkins to dodge it for Harden, the Thunder traded Harden before losing him, and although the trade package returned yielded Adams, Harden has gone on to be an all-timer. It is impossible to know for sure how much losing Harden has cost Oklahoma City, yet it is self-evidently a lot.
To go from being the team that lost a future MVP over a few million dollars to a team prepared to pay a potential $74 million tax liability for Dennis Schroeder and Jerami Grant is quite jarring. Nevertheless, as easy to cite of a criticism as that is, it is not a fair one. No one should be compelled to make the same mistake as they did once before purely for the sake of consistency; we should all seek to learn from our mistakes, and that starts with not making them again.
Furthermore the franchise's financial position is different. Since that time, the Thunder have experienced changes in their ownership structure, including bringing in new investors with particularly deep pockets. Sam Presti and the front office are empowered to spend more money on the playing roster now not only because of the fallout from the Harden situation, but also because they simply can. There is more money now, and thus more spending power.
The question is, how long for. [...]