They could easily win the title again and this talk about breaking them up could look stupid.

# 1 seed in the west 3 straight years ever since he started playing.

Doesn’t help that you’ll most likely face that one player in every playoffs for the rest of eternity

Tbf he did drop 4 points in the most important game of the season

It’s a pretty important player to be bad against. Wemby isn’t going anywhere for a while unless he starts getting injured.

I don’t think a single series is going to define the guy, but if it continues to be a problem it’s something the Thunder are going to have to think about. You can’t have a player making max money consistently having that kind of performance.

I think Chet will play better against him this year. He got embarrassed and was one of the main reasons they lost. That being said though, Victor has a personal grudge against Chet and elevates his game against the Thunder because of it. If the one team you need to get past plays better because of a guy on your team, yeah you might have to get rid of him.

If he was playing with LeBron he would have been

It’s tough if you matchup against 28 other teams but the one team that you likely need to go through features the one guy who has your number.

Yeah, bro. Especially because everyone plays really well against Wemby. Author is on to something with their crack session

You can’t be a max guy if you’re borderline unplayable against your biggest playoff rival

wemby gonna be the star of Space Jam 3 but playing for the other team

Wemby really needs to start having the PA for home games play the Monstars’ theme when he comes on the court - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4_3PVFSUxE

Edit: Just dawned on me that Wemby’s elbow to Naz and Carter’s shoulder charge into SGA was literally:

“If I hit ‘em high, hit ‘em high, hit ‘em high

And you hit ‘em low, hit ‘em low, hit ‘em low”

Sounds like a nothingburger me or you could write lmao

THANK YOU!! These talks about Chet have been making my head spin.

I despise this post so much cause all these fans of other teams have no idea what they’re talking about. Presti has said multiple times that ownership is prepared to pay the 2nd apron tax.

Or maybe he’s closer to JJJ or Mobley. Guys who have a similar playstyle to him (limited creation offensively, great rim help defender, can’t play center) have had the “second or best defender in the league” label, and are both kind of panned as not serious players/bad contracts.

No he isn’t 

Do people actually think Chet is a better defender than Rudy? Insane.

No he’s not. He’s just surrounded by other defenders who are allowed to hack with impunity.

Gabe Vincent 

KAT did great against him. OG Anunoby did well too. But they are both very rare types of players.

Giannis

Edey?

So would the thunder

Thunder would be making a grave mistake picking JDub over Chet.

JDub is fantastic, but his skillset is far more replaceable. Chet’s a 7 footer who provides DPOY-tier rim protection on defense and spacing on offense. That’s one of the most valuable and rare archetypes on the league; one that every team dreams of having.

I get that Chet’s struggles against Wemby are a long-term problem as the Spurs are their primary WC rival… but I trust that the collective personnel of Thunder as a team can figure it out.

On the other hand, booting out Chet would hurt them considerably against all 30 teams. Chet’s the guy who takes their defense to the next level, and allows them to play 5 out on offense if they want to. They need him.

Yeah I don’t even know how this is a conversation. Jalen Williams is clearly a redundant skill set with Shay. He’s a fantastic player but you can’t replace Chet. There’s only literally a handful of players who can do what Chet can do so you have to hope that he can improve his three-point shooting.

Partially agree. Chet is more unique but I think all the injuries last year have made us forget just how much Dub does contribute when healthy. And I’d argue he’s more of a defensive impact as well, which is even more valuable with Lu gone.

Y’all are not gonna like it, but if he makes a couple All-NBA teams during this deal - he mathematically totally is worth the contract. GMs can’t hold out contracts based on whether a PG can outproduce Steph, or if a forward can beat prime LeBron in their individual match up. You similarly can’t base whether your center deserves a max solely on “Is he good against Wemby?”

How is a Diet Wemby (or Wemby Zero?) not worth his contract?

It’s just 25% of the cap for pretty clearly the 2nd most impactful defensive player in the league.

Yeah, I don’t think he was spectacular in the championship run either. But I do think he’s very tradeable, he only really has issues with Wemby

Chet’s money makes sense on a team like CHI who need a young C to pair with their guys

Many stars who signed early in the second apron aren’t. Now we’re seeing “stars” who could have gotten the max years ago not getting it.

was he not top 3 in DPOY last year though?

I think thats basically consensus though

if you understood basketball, you’d understand this is a terrible take.

I don’t think he needs to improve, well besides his shooting needs to get back to what it was, he just needs to stay healthy.

He has a Jimmy Butler-lite impact on OKC regardless of whether he is shooting well or not.

Any non top 10 player on a max is overpaid. But if you don’t overpay you won’t have them.

Wemby would likely end himself before playing along with Chet but the idea of two players with their profile on the same team is terrifying lol

Not on that contract we won’t.

Chet/vic ⁴⁄₅ would be insane

All NBA, All defense wing. Yeah super replaceable lol

Join the club bro

This is literally the exact point of the salary cap. Their team salary is going to be higher than any other team.

Lol this is fucking rich. It’s all fun and games until it’s time to go above the apron. I get it, but no one was shedding a tear for the Celtics the last few years. Enjoy it while you can.

the point is that you should pay players what they’re actually worth. good on both Jdub’s and Chet’s agents for getting them the bag ASAP after their championship, capitalizing on the moment.

however, neither are MAX guys. they’re being paid no.1 option money when they aren’t. no team can afford to have 3 max a players that aren’t actually max players

I mean they got their best player in a trade lol.

This isn’t a team of day one guys

No, it was intended to make things more even. Should the spurs get to keep everyone they drafted w/o worrying abt the cap, just bc they lucked into three picks? That would be awful. Too bad. It’s just hard in a different way now; good front offices can build great teams if they strategize correctly. Draft success is too dependent on luck for this to be reasonable whatsoever. The players they drafted/traded for may not be able to stay. Too bad. Now other teams have a better chance and super teams can’t exist. If that were how it worked, the best free agents or stars demanding a trade could team up w a team that got lucky in the draft— which would be an unstoppable super team. It’s better this way

I don’t think it would need a huge adjustment either. Just a little nudge. Something like guys with with 6+ years on the same team have their cap number reduced by 3-5 mil. Incentivize keeping fan favorite role players on the team. Guys like Dort should be franchise fixtures, IMO.

Nah. The salary cap is operating exactly as it should. You guys can obviously keep your big 3 together.

SGA, Caruso, and Hartenstein were not drafted by OKC and will be taking 50% of the Salary Cap this season and 60% the following 2 seasons.

Teams aren’t forced to trade or sign free agents that push them into the first and second apron.

Every team, including OKC can keep all of their drafted players together. Even if you want to consider SGA a home grown star, OKC can still keep their big 3 together. They just lose the depth and GM’s don’t want to do that.

I dont think its wrong that if you have 3 players commanding a max that one of them has to go. Even if you developed them

One of the deepest roster in the league too.

Straight up. Wemby is on track to be the best player in the league for years. He already is top five and might have been the best player in the playoffs if not top three. Who isn’t going to have a problem against that?