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.

Two down, one to go. The Oklahoma City Thunder checked off another item on their busy offseason. They signed Chet Holmgren to a five-year, $250 million extension. There are some wrinkles in the deal, but the 23-year-old is under contract with the NBA champion through the 2030-31 season.

The Thunder made three lottery selections in the 2022 NBA Draft: Chet Holmgren at No. 2, Jalen Williams at No. 12 and, one pick before J-Dub, Ousmane Dieng at No. 11.

Alexander's contract extension sets up a complicated calculus the Thunder, the youngest roster in the NBA, must navigate.