During his exit interview on Monday, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke about how the team has the 2023 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations circled in their calendar as an important date due to the outcome a potential new deal would create massive ramifications on how the team operates. The current CBA deal is set to expire after the 2032-24 season, but to avoid a potential lockout, a new deal could be agreed upon next summer if both the NBA and NBPA decide to opt-out of the current deal in December 2022.
“When you’re at the stage where we are, like you said, going into our second draft, we reposition the team financially on and off the floor, but the thing that really shapes everything in every sport is what are the rules that are governing the CBA essentially,” said Presti. “The CBA, and obviously that could change in 2023, revenue sharing is tied to that, digital media deal could be a factor. Those are things that — they really drive so much of the league.”
The Thunder could potentially eye the 2023 summer as when to start focusing on winning again as the team will have a clean slate in terms of its payroll as the dead money of Kemba Walker and potentially Derrick Favors will be off the books. The only contracts on the books should be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s max extension along and rookie deals. This gives the Thunder a ton of flexibility in terms of how much money they can spend in the offseason to improve the team.
It’s smart foresight for the Thunder to wait and see what the new CBA is so that the team can avoid accidentally hurting themselves by operating under the current rules. It is better to wait until the team officially knows what they’re working with and how the CBA rules will change before making any significant decisions.
“But I would say what we can’t have happen is to be mid-stream, which has happened, and a brand new bouquet of rules is introduced that is not advantageous to where you are in your building process. One time, okay; two times, hmm; but not happening three times. So we have to be eyes wide open on what that really means,” said Presti. “Like I said, if I was a fan right now I’d shut my ears because this is not interesting, but if you’re trying to run an NBA franchise in 2022 and beyond, in 20 of the 30 cities, you’re going to be tuned into CBA, revenue sharing and TV deal. Those things really set the cast for how you operate.”
Presti noted that he doesn’t want to set a tangible deadline for the rebuild to end as he wants the team to naturally develop into a contender, but it sounds like the 2023 offseason might be the earliest projection someone could give in terms of when the Thunder could add winning pieces and try to start contending once again.
