He did qualify it by saying “best players”

Also with players returning from injury and new draft picks, the thunder were out of roster spots. AND the offensive elevation of Ajay Mitchell and defensive prowess of Dort actually had pushed Dort out. If you look at the stats per playing 5 players for the thunder, the lower performing teams of 5 are the ones that include Dort instead of Cason Wallace.

Dort provided a ton of defensive skill and was the enforcer, but it was Casons time

Shai is close with Dort though. They could’ve paid him they just moved off these players to duck the apron which presti even said as much earlier in the offseason. Said the team owners were ducking it now and that he told them they would make these moves with the expectation they would have to pay it in the future idk maybe these guys they moved werent worth the tax but it’s hard to have this sort of quote when they just traded a bunch of rotational players for cap issues this summer