AROUND the NBA:

[michaeltex]

Absolutely. And if they fail who is going to pay them to get out if that situation?

Given all the upcoming picks OKC has, and knowing they'll need slots for whatever selections they do make, some of their guys may be playing to maximize their trade value. Although we'll hear terms like "key contributor off the bench".

According to BR they, for the 27-28 season are at $237M for 12 contracts, but five of those are TOs (Jay Williams, Topic, Sorber, McCain, Mitchell) worth ~$31M. Wallace is up for a rookie extension after this year or he goes to FA (rFA?). For reference, they are at roughly $215M starting this season with 14 contracts.

For the starting season, Tax line is $200M, 1st Apron is ~$209M and 2nd Apron is ~$222M. NBA is projecting a 6.7% cap increase for next season, which would raise the 2nd Apron to ~$237M.

In the eye-opener category - for the trio of Jalen Williams, Holmgren and SGA, their salary committments are (roughly):

26-27 - $124M
27-28 - $150.5M
28-29 - $161M
29-30 - $174M
30-31 - $185M (SGA has a $75.6M PO)

Note that SGA signed a supermax extension, so his numbers may actually drive the total up. 

If OKC plans on keeping this core together, they HAVE to keep bringing in cheap picks, develop them for a couple seasons, then trade them for future picks to keep fueling the pipeline.