The Oklahoma City Thunder made a small trade that saves them a huge amount of money.
Oklahoma City agreed to send guard Aaron Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for two future second round picks. The Thunder will receive Atlanta’s 2030 second rounder and the less favorable of the Hawks’ or Lakers’ 2032 second rounder. That does not sound like much for a proven rotation player, but the value is in what OKC did not have to keep paying.
The Thunder cut their projected 2026-27 luxury tax bill from about $213 million all the way down to roughly $152 million with the trade. That is a $61 million swing on tax alone. When you factor in the salary savings, it is significantly more than that in real cost.
Sam Presti has been navigating the second apron reality with more skill than any other executive in the league. The 2026 offseason was going to be his biggest test yet. Oklahoma City won the 2025 championship. They have a young core all making more money next season. Everyone was going to want to know how Presti handled the cap crunch.
The answer, in part, is trades like this one. Wiggins was a rotation piece who won a title with the Thunder in 2024-25. He averaged 9.4 points per game last season on 43.1 percent shooting. That is useful production, and any team in the league would take that on their roster.
The Thunder just did not have the luxury of paying him and still keeping their entire core intact. Something had to give. Wiggins was one of the easier salaries to move given his contract structure, and Atlanta was happy to take on the deal for a light draft cost.
The Hawks are the winners here on pure basketball terms. Wiggins gives them a wing who can shoot, defend, and slot into rotations at both guard positions. Atlanta has been trying to figure out its post Trae Young era, and Wiggins is the type of veteran rotation piece a rebuilding team needs to raise its floor.
Trae Young himself has been in trade rumors for months. The Hawks have to make some real decisions this summer about which direction they are going. Adding Wiggins does not answer that question, but it does buy them time and versatility.
The Thunder, meanwhile, still have the best young core in the league. Shai Gilgeous Alexander is coming off an MVP season. Jalen Williams is a legitimate All Star. Chet Holmgren is one of the best young bigs in the sport. Isaiah Joe, Cason Wallace, and Ajay Mitchell fill out the roster.
Losing Wiggins hurts. The Thunder relied on him in the playoffs. But when you are chasing back to back championships and staring at a nine figure luxury tax bill, moves like this are the cost of doing business.
Presti has options with the money he just saved. He can look at the buyout market for veteran help. He can make midseason moves. He can bank the savings and set himself up for even more aggressive spending down the line.
The Aaron Wiggins era in Oklahoma City is over. The Aaron Wiggins era in Atlanta begins. And Sam Presti’s chess match with the second apron continues.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
