2026 NBA draft thread

[michaeltex]

Yes OKC will be in a salary crunch, and they won't keep all their good players. Counting the draft picks, they are staring at about $45M over Apron 2, and $65M over the tax line, which is an impossible payroll (about 275M of tax). It's an interesting exercise to try to figure out what they will do. They MIGHT use some of the picks as bait. They MIGHT decline some options, but then use Bird rights to re-sign the player at a lower salary. They MIGHT use some of the 2026 picks (or recent draftees, or future picks) as bait to trade away a bigger salary for a smaller salary. Many possibilities, like a bit of this and a bit of that and some things we don't expect.

QUESTIONS
If you claim a TO in its last year, does that affect FA status at the end of that year? 
The TO must first be exercised to be able to trade the player. His situation will be the same with the new team as with OKC had he had his TO exercised but not been traded -- you can extend if eligible, re-sign using Bird rights, etc.

If you don't sign them to an extension before the TO expires are they then UFA?
If OKC trades them, the TO must have been exercised to do so. 

Does enacting a TO then trading count as a SnT, with possible hard cap implications?
No. It's a player who has one year left on his deal, and will be a FA at the end (if not extended beforehand).

Does trading away a key guy like Hartenstein or Dort send the wrong message to the rest of the team? 
Hard to say, but we can't assume either will necessarily end up being traded. There are many possibilities, lots of moving parts in play.

Thanks for the info!

FWIW, for next season, Hartenstein's TO is $28.5M and Dort's is $18.2M. I'm sure they will both want raises in an extension, but as I stated, OKC is already $190M+ with just 4 players. Another $60m-ish for Hartenstein and Dort seems like a big pill to swallow. 

I guess I'm just seeing a overflow of riches in OKC and wondering if DAL can somehow tap into that stream to maybe nab one or two contributors while "helping" OKC with their impending logjam.

Of course that would presume a DAL GM that knows what they are doing.