Got all that? Good. As the Thunder have neither paid the tax nor gone above the second apron yet, this means they are still four taxpaying seasons away from the repeater penalty and three second apron seasons away from seeing a first-round pick drop to No. 30 overall. This begs the question of when that cycle will actually start for them.

The Thunder announced its 2025-26 preseason schedule on Friday, but OKC will not play its usual game in Tulsa due to scheduling obstacles.