CJ McCollum Dishes on New CBA, 'Teams Shouldn't be Punished for Drafting Well'

It has been a summer of spending for the Oklahoma City Thunder as the franchise dished out three max contracts with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren all inking multi-year pacts with OKC.

With these signings comes a firestorm of hot takes surrounding the viability of the incoming tax bill for Oklahoma City in future seasons due to the money being shelled out this summer.

The Thunder will be the first real case study for the new CBA bargined by the owners and NBA Players Association headed up by veteran guard CJ McCollum. That new agreement includes a second apron that restricts teams financially once they hit a payroll threshold in an attempt to curb big spending clubs from buying their way to the top.

On surface level, it appears that second apron will make it hard for Oklahoma City to keep the band together even after these July extensions. However, Sam Presti was quick to point out at his exit interview that the Thunder will not be in the repeater tax of the second apron until the two sides are onto a new CBA.

Both the Players union and owners have an opt. out date that follows the 2028-29 NBA season. On a podcast, the Young man and the three, McCollum was peppered with questions about this current agreement which he touched on the OKC Thunder's situation.

"Like if you draft well, we have seen some teams be really fortunate in the draft, and now you get to that position that Oklahoma City is going through right now, where you gotta pay a lot of players who are really good and you drafted them," McCollum explained. "You shouldn't be punished for drafting well. You should be able to pay, and keep and retain the players that you drafted. When you have those windows where you really have a chance to compete and win a championship you shouldn't have such severe restrictions. But those are things that the league and players union will have to continue to figure out."

While everyone would've liked for the President of the players association to have this foresight at the time, hearing this come from the players side should encourage fans that in the new negotiations the two sides will be able to work out mechanisms that count contracts issued to drafted players differently against the salary cap restrictions.