Thunder’s November 2 option call: why $12.6 million for Nikola Topić and Thomas Sorber could cost $60 million

The Oklahoma City Thunder have until Monday, November 2 to decide whether Nikola Topić and Thomas Sorber are worth about $12.6 million in 2027-28 salary, and, by a math, more than $60 million once the luxury tax is added.

That second number is the whole story. Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon reported Friday that the champions are on course for a 2027-28 payroll near $250 million with a tax bill of roughly $200 million on top, close to $450 million in total before three 2027 first-round picks are signed. With those picks counted, ESPN puts the 2027-28 bill near $500 million. These are reported projections, not team figures, and the Thunder have announced nothing.

The three options on the table

Rookie-scale team options for 2027-28 are due on November 2 this year, because October 31 falls on a Saturday. Oklahoma City has three still open, according to reports tracker:

Windhorst singled out Topić and Sorber, not McCain, the guard Oklahoma City bought from Philadelphia in February with a Rockets first-round pick and three second-rounders. The case against the other two is availability. Topić, the 12th pick in 2024, has played 10 NBA games: a torn ACL wiped out his first season, and he was treated for testicular cancer and then had lower-back surgery in June. Sorber, the 15th pick in 2025, tore the ACL in his right knee in a September 2025 workout and missed his whole rookie year. Both were listed as day-to-day for Sunday’s game.

Why $12.6 million costs $60 million

The luxury tax is charged in $5 million steps above the tax line, and the rate climbs with every step. A team as deep into the tax as Oklahoma City is projected to be pays several dollars of tax for each extra dollar of salary at the top of its payroll, so the last contracts on the books are the most expensive ones. Windhorst’s figure works out to almost $5 in tax for every $1 Topić and Sorber would earn.

The aprons add a second layer. Reports projected that the five-year, $139 million extension for Cason Wallace leaves the Thunder about $26 million over next season’s second apron, the line that blocks salary-matching trades and the taxpayer mid-level exception and eventually pushes a future first-round pick to the end of the round. Trimming $12.6 million would not get them under it, but it would shrink the gap by about half.

Declining is not free either. A player whose rookie option is turned down becomes an unrestricted free agent next July, and his team cannot then offer him a first-year salary higher than the option it passed on. If Topić finally gets healthy, Oklahoma City could lose him for nothing. One rival executive told reporters the Thunder “will not be paying that much,” and that the only question is who goes. Windhorst also listed a team option for Jaylin Williams, reported at about $7.77 million, which is not part of Monday’s deadline.

What comes next

The Thunder host the LA Clippers on Sunday, October 25, at 7 p.m. ET (Game Center). The option decisions are due by Monday, November 2, and every other team’s calls will show on the transactions page. The full payroll is on the Thunder salary page.