Thunder fund

Right now, the Thunder is looking at a $300 million bill for salaries and luxury tax.

Now that we know the answer to the Thunder’s biggest question of the offseason — what will Paul George do? — a new query has emerged.

How the heck are they gonna pay for all this?

Late Tuesday night, the latest piece of the Thunder puzzle fell into place when Raymond Felton agreed to return to the team. The reserve point guard’s one-year, $2.93 million deal is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but it marks a very significant milestone.

It pushed the current combined bill for Oklahoma City’s salary and projected luxury tax to $300 million.

If that seems eye-poppingly, jaw-droppingly high, it is. No team in the history of the NBA has ever paid that much for a season’s salaries and taxes.

Remember, too, that the Thunder was purchased for $350 million. That was only a decade ago. Today, the franchise is on the hook for nearly that much in salary and tax.

Now, before you hyperventilate and/or rush to your bank account to make sure your Thunder season-ticket payment don’t suddenly contain a mysterious $1 million surcharge, take a deep breath.

The Thunder isn’t going to pay $300 million in salary and tax next season.

Won’t happen.

Just because that’s the total bill now doesn’t mean that’s what the Thunder is going to have to pay at the end of the season. Teams have until the trade deadline essentially to determine what their final bill will be — and to reduce it if they so desire.

And the Thunder so desires.

I can’t tell you exactly how Sam Presti is going to do it, but the Thunder general manager will cut down the bill. He has plenty of options at his disposal even now.

Bobby Marks, ESPN’s excellent front-office analyst, reports that stretching the $28 million contract owed to Carmelo Anthony alone would reduce the tax bill by more than $100 million.It would go from $150 million to $49 million in addition to the savings that such a move would have on the team’s total payroll.

If the Thunder wanted to keep Carmeloand stretch Kyle Singler, it could save $20 million in luxury tax.

There are several other moves that could cut that total bill, and while they are lesser savings, they are savings nevertheless.

Needless to say,the Thunder has options.

All that said, this is still going to be an expensive team. Well more than a hundred million in salary. Tens of millions in taxes.

So much for that theThunder-is-cheap narrative.

I never really bought it anyway. I know lots of folks point to the James Harden trade as all the evidencenecessary to apply the tight-wad tag. But the Thunderoffered The Beard a deal that felt riskyat the time— had he agreed to it, the team in the league’s third-smallest market would’ve faced some fairly stiff penalties under what was then a new, more punitive collective bargaining agreement.

So, why run head long

into such taxes now but not then?

For starters, the Thunder has now been around for a decade. Then, it had only played four seasons.

Now, it is also valued at more than $1 billion.

All that is said to explain not validate the Thunder’s actions. You can totally question the decision not to offer Harden a max deal just as you can totally question why OKC would spend so much for a team that, on paper, doesn’t really look better than it did a year ago.

This roster is essentially the bunch that won 48 games last season and lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Is that worth $300 million?

I’m sure folks inside Thunder Headquarters would argue that this roster never really reached its full potential a year ago. Prior to Andre Roberson’s injury, OKC had a starting lineup among the league’s best combos, according to a variety of metrics. But when the defensive specialist was lost for the year, the effects were as startlingly wide ranging as they were unexpectedly crippling.

Roberson’s return may well be as transformative as his injury was detrimental.

But even if it is, does anyone in the league believe thisteam can win the title?

Probably not. Golden State continues to be the heavy favorite— adding Boogie Cousins only makes it seem even more of a foregone conclusion that the Warriors will win again— and that makes OKC’s heftypayroll and massive tax bill all the more perplexing.

But here’s the truth of the matter, the reason for a team in one of the league’s

smallest markets spending like the Knicks, the answer for a payroll so rich that a monocle ala Rich Uncle Pennybags may soon replace Presti’s designer glasses— this is now the worldwe live in.

It’s a world where the money is now astronomical, thanks to the cap spike a few years ago. It’s a world where a 73-win team can go out get the second-best player on the planet. It’s a world where teams simply can’t compete without being over the cap and at least pushing the tax line if

not soaring above it.

“Scared money don’t make none,” Presti said recently.

He didn’t used to quote A Tribe Called Quest the same way the Thunder didn’t used to spend like a trust-fund kid.

It’s the new normal, my friends. Best get used to it.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/ JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.