The Oklahoma City Thunder better hope Kevin Durant appreciated the significance of smashing the 67-win San Antonio Spurs and pushing the 73-win Golden State Warriors to the brink of elimination. If a team flying that high—hitting a postseason level maybe a dozen other squads have ever reached—isn't enough to persuade him to stay, well...that's bad news for OKC.
Because the Thunder's avenues for improvement are exceptionally narrow this summer, and many of them are dead ends.
With $65.9 million of guaranteed salaries already on the books next year, Kevin Durant's maximum 2016-17 salary of nearly $26 million, per Kelly Scaletta of Today's Fastbreak, shoves OKC right up against the projected $92 million salary cap. That means the Thunder's only tools to attract free agents may be the mid-level exception or the taxpayer's mid-level exception. At approximately $5.6 and 3.5 million, respectively, those options aren't likely to secure meaningful new pieces.
Even worse, using the full mid-level exception would hard-cap the Thunder at the tax apron. Larry Coon broke down why that's a tough spot to ...
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Article written by Grant Hughes
If OKC Thunder Haven’t Impressed Kevin Durant Enough to Stay, Nothing Will
June 8th, 2016 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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