Despite having one of the most impressively constructed rosters in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder weren’t able to defend their championship last season. And they knew it was their last chance with this particular roster setup, because massive paydays were kicking in for certain players, and the second-apron payroll threshold was looming.They knew they’d have to make tough decisions this summer, and it looks like they’ve just made the final one of this offseason. The Thunder are sending Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a salary dump. Oklahoma City will receive three second-round draft picks. The Dallas Mavericks are also involved in this trade, sending Ryan Nembhard to the Hawks and receiving 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher.ESPN first reported the trade. The Thunder have now completed their salary shedding (for now), the Mavs roll the dice on a No. 1 pick, and the Hawks pick up one of the best defenders in the NBA. What does it all mean? Let’s bust out the red ink and slap some grades on this trade.Thunder acquire 3 second-round picksThe NBA seemed to assume for months that Dort was not going to remain on this roster, so his being moved for second-round picks isn’t exactly a surprise. When you look at what the Thunder have done this summer, they’ve sent out Dort, Isaiah Joe (to Detroit) and Aaron Wiggins (to Atlanta in a different trade) while receiving seven second-round picks in total. The Thunder also drafted Aday Mara (12th) and Bennett Stirtz (16th).If you believe in second-round picks being highly valuable assets, then you’re fine with this haul. If you think the hit rate on second-round picks is too low to value them as good commodities truly, then you won’t be as high on the moves they made in shedding more than $200 million in payroll and tax penalties. This move should put them roughly $9 million under the second apron and about $4 million into the first apron. If they want to do some extra finagling before the trade deadline to get under that, they can.NBA Player Tiers 2026: Who is in Tier 5?Law MurrayUnfortunately for OKC and other successful NBA teams, this is the cost of doing business and of being good at constructing a roster. You eventually have to duck out of the second apron so the restrictions don’t hammer you, affect your future draft picks or take away methods for altering your roster. The Thunder have navigated it solidly by acquiring second-round picks, but they still lost three good role players in the process. Dort is the biggest of them as one of the best defenders in the NBA. And the Thunder will have to likely extend minutes for Alex Caruso and hope someone steps into a bigger role as they try to get back to championship status.OKC still has one of the best rosters in the NBA. That hasn’t changed. But it’s not nearly as good as it was a few months ago.