Lu Dort should be expendable anyway

The Thunder trade their longest-tenured player for second-round picks and slide under the second apron. His importance to the team was already slipping. But what's this mean for Cason Wallace?

Good morning. It's July 20 and LeBron is still is a free agent. Let's basketball.

The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off their third and (probably) final cost-cutting move of the summer on Sunday, sending Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal that sends three seconds back to OKC, Zaccharie Risacher to the Dallas Mavericks and Ryan Nembhard to Atlanta. After this, plus trading Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins in salary cap dumps and re-signing Isaiah Hartenstein, the Thunder appears to be under the second apron.

On paper, this is purely a cost-cutting move. Also, that's exactly what Sam Presti, genius leader of the Thunder, is saying in an exclusive interview with The Oklahoman's Justin Martinez. But there is a wrinkle here.

This was a financial decision. The impression I have been given is that the savings generated this summer, and from being out of the tax the last several years, will be re-allocated to future teams. Along with other new well-documented revenue streams, this will allow us to make more basketball-related decisions over the next several years. 

We have a team that is capable of contention. And as I understand it, the decisions this summer have positioned us financially to maintain a team of this caliber.

This is an indication that ownership has told Presti that they are willing to go into the luxury tax when necessary to compete, but not right away. It's a pretty interesting framing from Presti, and I'm really curious what he's talking about with the "other new well-documented revenue streams." The new OKC arena is under construction and on track to open for the 2028-29 season. That's also the target season for two-team NBA expansion, which will result in owners getting large checks that don't have to be shared with players and won't result in salary cap boosts. This statement is also a way to put pressure on the Thunder's owners in the near future to go over the tax line, something the franchise hasn't done in ages.

All that said, this isn't far off from a basketball-related decision in the near term. There are three constraints in team-building: money, roster spaces and playing time. Dort has been the biggest loser on the roster in that last category owing to the arrival of Alex Caruso two summers ago and the development of three younger players – Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain. By the Spurs' series this spring, Dort – despite starting all seven games – was No. 8 in minutes per game, and that was with Jalen Williams, the team's second-best player, behind him due to injury. Dort's inconsistent shooting and lack of offensive punch has made him rather expendable.