Dream Chasing: Thunder will find it difficult to maintain the existing lineup due to salary issues. We can win the championship thanks to Curry s contract

June 21 In the latest issue of "Green Talk Sports", Zhumeng believes that if the Thunder does not win the championship this year, there may not be a chance to win the championship in the future.

Zhong Meng further analyzes the reasons: "If the Thunder do not win this year, their situation will be very difficult. Because after you win the championship, you will give yourself more chances to win the championship, but if you don't win, you will start to make changes. It's like I'm going to adjust here, I'm going to correct there, these operations may make you drift away from the championship.

"Let's talk about salary issues again. Alexander is expected to sign 80 million yuan a year, Jaylenway's rookie contract is almost over, and so is Chet. So from the perspective of salary structure, you may lose Dortmund, Caruso, and Harten. Now you can maintain this lineup because there are two main players in child labor contracts, which are your top two players.

"This was the case with the Warriors back then. Curry signed a contract of 11 million (annual salary) due to an ankle injury, which allowed us to take the No. 1, Bogut, and David Lee. At the same time, I was still a rookie contract with Clay. Clay was 3 million, and I was only 800,000. We won the championship in that window of the championship, and then continued it because we won the first championship trophy first. Now is the Thunder's chance."

Alexander's salary this season is $35.86 million, and the next two seasons are $38.33 million and $40.81 million respectively.

Jaylen Williams is still holding a rookie contract, and his annual salary in the 2024-25 season is only $4.78 million, which is the third year of his rookie contract. He will enter the final year of his rookie contract in the 2025-26 season ($6.58 million).