Oklahoma City was unable to defend its championship in 2025/26, having been eliminated by San Antonio on Saturday night in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. No matter how their season ended, the Thunder were going to have to decide what route they wanted to take with Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort and Kenrich Williams.
The Thunder currently project to have a payroll of about $196.2MM in ’26/27 with 12 players under contract. That doesn’t account for the team options for starting center Hartenstein ($28.5MM), starting forward Dort ($18.2MM), or reserve forward Williams ($7.2MM).
There’s technically nothing preventing Oklahoma City from exercising all three of those options as long as ownership is willing to foot the luxury tax bill. Picking up all the options would see the Thunder go soaring past the second apron (projected to be $221.7MM) though, and they could be facing a roster crunch. They control a pair of first-round picks (Nos. 12 and 17) in the upcoming draft, and players selected in the first round get four-year contracts, with the first two being guaranteed.
Williams was straightforward in his desire to stay with the Thunder long term, according to Rylan Stiles of SI.com (Twitter link).
“It’s no secret that I want to be here until I’m done playing,” said Williams. “Just the environment, the culture, the people that I work with every day. This is a job where I can come in and be myself and everybody around me is good people and a good environment.”
Hartenstein was a little more guarded in his response, noting the decision is largely the team’s, but made it clear he loves the franchise, as Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman tweets.
“We just lost yesterday, so at the end of the day, that’s something that will be discussed more at the end,” said Hartenstein, likely referring to the end of June, the deadline for the team option. “I love being here. I love the organization, but it’s a lot in their hands. I think that them and my agent will talk. It’s a business at the end of the day. But whatever happens, I’m truly grateful.”
Dort, the longest-tenured member of the team, said his priority is to stay with the Thunder, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link).
“The conversation hasn’t happened yet. I have a lot of trust in this organization, in (head of basketball operations) Sam (Presti),” Dort said. “Really grateful for all the stuff he did for me to this point. I want to stay here. This organization, this city shaped me as a player. My main goal is to stay here.”
Well, if they let IH go I wouldn’t be surprised if the Knicks and him reacquaint with one another since MR is going to be a free agent.
He will get paid more elsewhere
People are understandably going to want OKC to make moves but honestly, if Mitchell and Jalen Williams were healthy, they would be going to the Finals as favorites. I would be hesitant to do anything major. However, out of these three guys, they should definitely bring iHart back. That’s a lot of money for Dort, probably too much. He’s great defensively but lost some efficiency on offense. They could also probably replace Kenrich with a cheaper option, possibly through the draft.
2 out of the 3 are practically guaranteed to be gone. If anyone stays, it will be Hartenstein. It has been floated that he will take a pay cut to stay in OKC. An extension will give time for Thomas Sorber to grow and eventually take over Hartenstein’s role.