Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu Dort decisions loom in big offseason for Thunder
Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor is joined by senior NBA writer Tim Bontemps to discuss Oklahoma City ’s next steps after losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
When you look at the fact that the Thunder are coming off this series where they just lost to the Spurs.
Obviously everybody thought pretty, all season we were gonna be back in Oklahoma City again.
so they've gotta try to catch the Spurs, which is the first part of the challenge.
What do they have to do to get better?
And then they have all these massive decisions to make, right?
Obviously, what are they gonna do with Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu- Lou Dort?
Two team options for those guys.
I think there's a pretty good chance they decline Kenneth Williams team option.
Probably get him back on a cheaper deal, maybe a minimum deal.
That saves a few more million dollars.
But right now they're somewhere between $30 and $40 million over the second apron.
If they bring everybody back on their current salaries, they're probably not gonna be 30, 40 million over the second apron.
so what do they come up with for a deal for Hartenstein?
What do they decide to do with Dort?
What do they do on a Cason Wallace extension?
What do they do to try to upgrade this roster to try to take on the Spurs team?
'Cause as you know, the Spurs are young, they're only gonna get better.
They've got a lot of assets, and this crew is all gonna be here, right?
So you know what you're chasing trying to beat Victor Wembanyama.
What are these guys gonna do to get better?
'Cause clearly they weren't good enough to win.
