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The Bricktown Brief · Cap watch

Cap Watch: Oklahoma City's Bill Keeps Climbing

The champions carry $216.2M in salary, clear of both the tax line and the first apron.

$216.2MTeam Payrollclears tax line and first apron
$200.4MLuxury Tax Linethreshold already cleared
$209.0MFirst Apronthreshold already passed
$221.7MSecond Apronnext wall for the payroll
By the Thunder Nightly Desk · Monday, October 5

Oklahoma City's payroll sits at $216.2 million, already past the $200.4 million tax line and the $209.0 million first apron. Five contracts anchor that number, and the sheet only gets heavier in 2027-28 when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's salary rises to $61.0 million.

$216.2M: Team Payroll

Two Thresholds Already Cleared

Oklahoma City's payroll of $216.2 million clears the $200.4 million tax line and sits past the $209.0 million first apron, with the $221.7 million second apron standing as the next wall. The salary cap itself is $165.0 million, a figure the roster left behind long ago. That cap sheet covers 15 guaranteed contracts on a 21-man roster with an average age of 24.3, the price of keeping a championship group mostly intact.

Five Contracts Carry the Group

Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams each sit at $41.5 million, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at $40.8 million, Isaiah Hartenstein at $23.1 million and Alex Caruso at $19.6 million. Those five salaries leave little room beneath the second apron, and the group only grows costlier next summer, when Gilgeous-Alexander's figure rises to $61.0 million and Holmgren's and Williams's each climb to $44.8 million. Below that tier, Jaylin Williams ($7.8 million), Cason Wallace ($7.4 million) and Aday Mara ($5.8 million) round out the next three salaries on the sheet, with Nikola Topic ($5.4 million) and Kenrich Williams ($5.0 million) just behind them.

Draft Equity Tied to Swaps

Oklahoma City's 2027 and 2028 first- and second-round picks are all swaps, leaving the 2029 and 2030 first- and second-rounders as the only picks the franchise owns outright. Ajay Mitchell and Jaylin Williams both carry team options for 2027-28, at $2.9 million and $7.8 million. Thomas Sorber ($4.9 million), Bennett Stirtz ($4.7 million), Jared McCain ($4.4 million) and Christoph Tilly ($1.4 million) round out the cheaper end of the sheet, the kind of inexpensive depth a taxpaying roster needs to stay functional.

How far above the cap are the Thunder this season?

Oklahoma City's payroll is $216.2 million against a $165.0 million cap, already past the $200.4 million tax line and the $209.0 million first apron.

What happens to Oklahoma City's draft picks the next two years?

The 2027 and 2028 first- and second-round picks are all swaps; Oklahoma City owns its first- and second-rounders outright again starting in 2029.

By the Thunder Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.

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