The Thunder have a MASSIVE decision looming...

Kaysen Wallace and the Thunder have had all offseason to discuss a contract extension, and now only a week remains, and once that clock hits zero, there is no going back. If the Thunder cannot find a contract value with Kaysen Wallace, he will become a restricted free agent next offseason, and there will be a high possibility the Thunder cannot retain their young two-way guard out of Kentucky. Obviously, the man led the league in steals last year without even being a full-time starter, and he has talked ad nauseum about wanting to be a full-time player in this rotation and it's all but confirmed that come season opener on October 20th Kaysen Wallace will be in that starting five alongside the rest of the group but is a starting spot just enough to show that overall future confidence and reliability in your player? Obviously not because now here we are with less than seven days until that deadline and the Thunder have still not found a way to keep their young guard in the Thunder's franchise for the long term. I've made numerous videos on this topic all off season long, but none of them are gonna be quite as insightful as this one right here because we have some updates to tell us that Kaysen Wallace and the Thunder are actively engaging in contract negotiations as we speak. We know that that deadline is gonna be at six o'clock Eastern time on October 19th. And we also know that they're starting at a $25 million annual value between the Thunderfront office and the Case and Wallace camp. But how far off are they in their potential numbers? How have the rest of the guard extension market potentially impacted this extension? And just how valuable is Case and Wallace really? All questions that we're going to go over here in today's video. Before we do so, we have the season starting in eight days from now, the day after that extension deadline hits. And if you want to hit the subscribe button and get yourself ready to go for a whole season's worth of content, now is the time to do it. With the season opener being around the corner, we're going to have a ton of live streams. We're going to have reaction videos, breakdowns, analysis, all of the things that you could possibly ever want as a Thunder fan and supporter. So this is the place to be, and the subscribe button is the button to hit right now. We've got a lot to discuss, so let's get into it after this quick word from our sponsor. If you're anything like me, then you'll understand that frustrating struggle of finding the perfect belt to go with a great outfit. And that's exactly why I'm excited to have Anson Belt and Buckle as the sponsor of today's video. 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It's an exclusive deal that you will not get anywhere else. So click that link, scan that QR code, build your set, and upgrade your belt game today. Trust me, your wardrobe will thank you. All right, so the looming question, will the Thunder reach an agreement with Case and Wallace? That question has the largest long-term ramifications on the franchise of any of the possible questions that they could be answering. and we know exactly where those conversations are beginning, and that is in the $25 million annual value range. That starts from our reports that we've got to dive into here on the channel, and those come to us from NBA insider Mark Stein. He was on his podcast yesterday, on Sunday, and he let us know the talks between Case and Wallace's camp and the Thunder have started, and they're in the $25 million range in annual average value. and that honestly goes pretty much hand in hand with exactly what I've been talking about on the channel all offseason long the reports being Thunder want this to be at 25 million dollars if they can do that then you'd be at 4.3 over the second apron you'd have to shed just under five million dollars the Thunder can do that pretty easily next offseason you've got the potential options of guys like Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber, you've got Jared McCains to figure out as well and then you also have a massive contract that you've got on your hands for another couple of seasons from outs caruso who's going to be making 20 plus million dollars a year so that's another one that is going to be out there for if you've got to keep one of your young guys around the thunder have some options to try and do it but things do get significantly more complicated if things go on the higher end of that potential market value in the 32 to 33 million dollars a year range if that happens the Thunder are at nearly a dozen million dollars above the second apron and if that is the case it's going to be a lot harder to figure that whole situation out and we do know that there have been several potential reports of outside interest from teams next off season Brett Segel reported this on October 6th that at least two different teams have told him that they'd be prepared to offer Case and Wallace a deal that exceeds 30 million dollars a year in annual value. And the guard extension market has kind of been all over the place. The best direct comparison from a skill set standpoint would be Dyson Daniels, who got a $25 million a year contract earlier this offseason. Massar Thompson, who is seen as probably a more impactful player for the Pistons, getting $31 million AAV. And then most recently this weekend, Brandon Pajimski signing a five-year $110 million contract, starting at a base pay of $18 million and expanding on up from there rounded out to around 22 million dollars per year and we do know that along with that Keontae George also signed a contract this past offseason up in Utah and those two guys Keontae George and uh Kaysen Wallace lifetime longtime friends childhood friends and Kaysen even shouted out Keontae George in his intro press conference where he also discussed that all of these negotiations that are going to be happening between now and that deadline are entirely between him between Sam Presti and Kaysen's agency and between the two paths that he could potentially go under here with Oklahoma City agreeing to an extension by the 19th or not honestly I wouldn't be surprised at all if his representation opts more for path number two which is the path of major discomfort for the Thunder because if you wait on a potential extension you don't sign one before that deadline this is essentially a prove-it year contract year where you can show the thunder and you can also show other teams that may be interested just how valuable you can be as now a full-time starter and prove your worth as an offensive player so obviously the one end being security now you get to sign a long-term extension you get to lock in a set price and you both are kind of giving up sides and options for your future to get that locked in right now but then you're kind of getting that little carrot dangled in front of right if your case is agent saying man there's a couple teams that could be interested in us for 30 plus million dollars a year next year and that's even without showing our improvements as an offensive player well why not just test the market next summer you can show that you are worth even more money than what the thunder may have thought you can get a year to prove it and you can have potential outside offer sheets raise their price on you next summer obviously that would be the uncomfortable route for all of us and it could also create a very painful dichotomy throughout the course of the season because Cason Wallace in his first three years with the Thunder he has done literally everything you could hope for as a defensive player and he has had some incredible offensive moments the dude was awesome in the postseason started several games in the NBA finals when he won it against Indiana and then he also had an electric game seven against San Antonio obviously it did not matter because the Thunder weren't able to win that game but his shooting efficiencies you can see on that chart right there they have gone down every single year and he has just said you know I'm excited to finally get a bigger role with this team he had even gone in his exit interview before the summer started and said my favorite stretch of the season wasn't our postseason run it wasn't anything having to do with that it was in February when Shea was hurt and when I was a primary guard contributor on this team and you see the run that he went on in mid to late February when he was able to just go off offensively when he was one of the primary creators on this team that's what it stuck with him the most from the entire season and obviously if he is able to do stuff like this all season long the Thunder are going to be in great shape to potentially go back to the NBA championship but at the same time you're going to understand that if case and strings together a bunch of games that are even remotely like this that the Thunder would see that price tag continue to go up more and more and more and more and more as the season goes on so Pajemski got his 22 million dollar extension over the last weekend and you can see those two guys compared side for side Kaysen obviously a way better defensive player Pajemski is a slightly better offensive player but the usage rate isn't really particularly close on those guys he has a larger role in his Warriors offense than what Kaysen does in his Thunder offense but you can see just kind of what those two guys bring to the table right now and i would understand the hesitancy on that potential price tag caution from the thunder front office understanding his below average overall efficiency needing to expand his game as an offensive player and the thunder actually having a better net rating without case and on the court which i don't necessarily view this as an indictment on case and being a overrated player by any stretch of the imagination that's not what i'm saying at all but you see the thunders offensive rating does go up several points when Kaysen is off the floor and you also see that the overall team net rating is better when he is not on the floor either some of the rotations you could say were not super advantageous for Kaysen last year and obviously you had the whole back and forth with Kaysen Wallace and Lou Dort who's the better player who do you want to have out there in important situations and the numbers absolutely did not lie last season Kaysen Wallace was better in quite literally every single way this man mogged Lou Dort on the basketball court and so now we're going to see Kaysen take on that Lou Dort role full-time for the first time in his career which leads us into the last talking point of today's video Kaysen Wallace and maybe kind of weighing the job security and the job market because they are two separate things obviously they do go hand in hand the Thunder would want him to weigh the security option right now Sam Presti has a vision for this team that he created back several years ago when you stockpiled those draft picks where, yes, you use those picks to revolve in and out new high-octane rookies like Adai Mara and Bennett Sturtz. You're going to have Thomas Sorber whenever that man is able to play basketball as another guy that you throw in there as basically an additional rookie. But another part of this vision, and a very important part of this vision, listen to me very carefully when I say this, Sam Presti is hoping that he will have role players take discounts for this team to stay together. Obviously, that did not happen with your big ticket items in SGA, in J-Dub, and in Chad Hillengrin. Those three guys all got the maximum that they could possibly get when they were in their extension window last summer after the championship, and that's going to start hitting into full effect next year when SGA gets his Supermax contract at $60-plus million every single year from then until 2031 and at that point in time you see the second apron you see how far into the red you're going to be in 2027 and in 2028 and that's why even as little as five to six million dollars could change everything with the Thunder's future with this whole Kaysen Wallace contract negotiation Kaysen is going to get every opportunity to show just how good he is in bulk next to Shea Gildas Alexander he's going to get every opportunity to show just how good of a creator he can be on the exterior and on the interior even without Shea on the basketball court the Thunder are going to give Kaysen a larger role this year they're going to hand him keys to a more upgraded car and it's entirely up to Kaysen to do whatever he can with that to prove his extended value if he in fact does want more money but if that happens you already know that a team like the Grizzlies like the Nets like the Bulls are going to be chomping at the bit to go and outbid the Thunder on their third year then at that point will be fourth year guard once it gets to next offseason so as we close out today's video I want you guys to go a little brain blast inside the mind of Sam Presti put yourself into his shoes for a moment and let me know how you would go about this negotiation would you be willing to go higher than 25 million dollars per year on Case and Wallace how much higher would you go where is your absolute ceiling on money and value that you would give to Case and Wallace. Would you be willing to wait it out and get into Restricted Free Agency next offseason? Answer those questions for me down below in the comment section. And one of the things that I'm gonna start doing with this video here today is we are gonna give a comment spotlight on any of our previous videos that we have over the recent couple of days. I wanna do that basically as just a way to continue to shed light onto your guys' good opinions and thoughts down below. So today's spotlight comes from Joel reacting to Mara and Sturtz and how they have shined as a bright star in the preseason and basically I'm going to be doing this for every single video with our recent video that we made I'm going to shout out a comment in the course of the end of the video and while you're at it while you're down there leaving a comment make sure you hit that subscribe button help us hit our subscriber goal getting to 11,000 subscribers before this season begins really excited for this season to get started a little bit anxious on this whole Case and Wallace thing again let me know your guys's thoughts down below we'll see you guys next time peace out and we'll see you then