Branding. “Hey guys, it’s death if we call it a hard cap, how about ‘second apron’? No one will know what that means.”

Lu Dort is a menace but not in that way. Cheap shot specialist

I am curious to see how these teams start to cash in on all of their 2nd round picks. #TrustTheOptionality

Dort literally lost his mins as playoffs continued. He was getting traded regardless

The Knicks losing Mitch Robinson to us is the kind of ironic apron fallout that makes this era both terrifying and fascinating.

I think the myopic, obsessive focus on parity will hurt the league in the long run. Fans will get tired of their favorite teams being blown up a year or two after a title. Only the most diehard will stick with the game.

Lou Dort is their Marcus smart 2nd apron or not you didn’t need him long term on the contract at all

Dort is fucking trash lol

If he wasn’t on okc he would not get away with his fouls as much a he does. He is trash

Lu Dort actually sucks though

76ers putting it all on the line.

Dort also isnt that good, he was like their 7-8th most important player in the playoffs

Well it’s always funny to me that teams feel like they have to pay players their max then realize they have to trade them due to second apron.

As if, these teams can’t make arithmetics when signing players.

The real problem is that the NBA doesn’t really reward teams to be under or near the cap. You need to overpay so you can trade players later on. If you don’t, you have nothing to trade off.

I’m pretty surprised how many ppl are responding to this by denigrating Dort.

Dort was a really big part of their whole evolution from bottom feeder to apex predator. He’s also one of only two players that were wearing thunder jerseys the whole time. If anyone should be a lifer and a perpetual thread in one team’s fabric, it’s a player like Dort. This is sad

that’s some apron, that 2nd Apron.
It’s the best apron there is.

I feel the motivation for turnover may have changed but something has been bothering me with this narrative vilifying the 2nd apron. You can still keep 2 guys essentially their whole career just not 3 studs. Warriors with Steph / Dray / Klay only worked because Steph was on a cheap contract. As soon as he was a max and Klay wasn’t a star he’s gone. Shaq and Kobe broke up. KG and Pierce only had a half decade window on Celtics. Miami had no depth around the big 3. I guess are thinks functionally that different?

I feel like the 3&D guys are the most easily replaceable skill set. Not that it’s easy and Lu is damn good, but when the squeeze comes, that’s the kind of guy I think we’ll see move. The idea they were going to send out Chet or JDub was nuts at this point. Keep throwing the picks at developing the next Dort type even if they’re 20% or so worse.

Lu Dort was meh. He was getting phased out during the playoffs. They’ll be fine this isn’t a massive loss for them. Non-story.

But it’s brilliant front office work when they salary dump..

Why would the player’s association agree to this cba?

And the funniest thing is the Players Association agreed to all of this. Or at least didn’t negotiate worth a damn lol

Lou Dort averaged 8 points per game in the playoffs for his career. Not comparable at all to trading a first-second team all nba guy.

This is a great trade by okc and if they just develop their young core they’ll be better than this year

Yeah, that’s the real message. Brad is doing an amazing job in keeping us upright in the storm and every year a contender, despite losing a Tatum for a year+

And we’re right back there again with roster flexibility looming and young underdrafted talent popping amid a top-tier development program.

We have the MJ of executives in his peak. And he’s as BRaVe as he needs to be to make the moves that separate. Cheers, Brad.

Big difference between Lu sort and Jaylen brown, holiday and Kp

The aprons came about because tax penalties were a complete failure, today’s owners have way more money at their disposal than was true 30+ yrs ago. The new solution is to destr your ability to build a team if you don’t abide by the rules……and it’s very effective. Personally I’d prefer a hard cap it’s simple and easy to understand.

Dort wasn’t a starter anymore. Against the Spurs, he played 19 minutes a game and didn’t play very well. Four points a game and defense below what you’d expect. It was pretty clear they were going to let him go.

He was a great player but his time at OKC had run its course. He was gone either way.

Wiggins’ a 6’5, 190 lb, streaky ass 4 & bad on D. Joe is a great shooter, but a 6’1 SG. Dort is a scrappy defender, but 6’4 & mistake prone.

Each being paid over 10 mil & had fallen out of OKC’s rotation. It was always Presti’s plan for them to be moved & free up north of 30 mil

Disagree. Dort was a drag on performance and moving him for 3 seconds to open minutes for Ajay, McCain and Stirtz was a total win that makes the Thunder better

What current starting roster has two all-nba players?

Ehh he’s incredibly overrated. He’s like the 8th best defender on his own team. Decent at forcing turnovers (a thing Caruso is the absolute best in the league at) but that’s it.

It’s not that big a deal. They didn’t even have to reload with Ajay and Cason waiting for their turn.

I love the second apron

It’s not the second apron causing this movement - it’s the harsher repeater tax penalties. The genius of the second apron is that it gives GMs the “basketball reasons” talking to protect the owners from looking like cheapos.

Dort signed with Klutch this year and was in the final year of his contract, so the writing was on the wall that he wasn’t looking to give OKC a team friendly deal. Dort got fewer minutes in the playoffs than Wallace or Caruso, so that meant the Thunder weren’t going to offer him a lot of money. I don’t think this is a second apron issue as much as it’s just a pragmatic thinking issue.

The 2nd apron is bad for the game. Fans don’t want to talk about budgeting that’s CPA talk. Let them all play. Let them all compete. Communism for basketball doesn’t work.

> their starter

SGA - Cason Wallace - Jalen Williams - Isiah Hartenstein - Chet

Ajay Mitchell - Jared McCain - Alex Caruso - Jaylin Williams - Kenrich Williams

Plus recent first round picks Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber, Adam Mara, Bennet Stirtz, Brooks Barnhizer.

The Thunder salary dumped their 8th, 9th, and 10th guys and re-signed Hartenstein (an actual “starter”).

The Thunder effectively planned for Dort, Wiggins, and Joe to depart so that SGA, Chet, and JDub could get raises, and Hartenstein could get an extension AND they have a ridiculously stocked bench.

Next year, they have to shed Caruso (and Wallace) to keep their core together, with the bench and young guys and more picks.

OKC doesn’t have to break up their “big 3” for at least three more seasons.

The OP doesn’t prove what it claims to prove. The 2nd apron is working exactly as designed and OKC is barely affected.

Not the player you want to make that point with.

The Thunder trading Dort isn’t going to get the Celtics past the second round

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