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.
