Fresh off a historic season, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made a different kind of history Tuesday. He signed a four-year supermax extension that could be worth upward of $285 million, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, which gives him the richest annual salary in league history. In fact, he has the second-biggest active contract of any athlete, trailing only Cristiano Ronaldo's megadeal with Al Nassr.
SGA's new deal won't begin until the 2027-28 season, which gives the Thunder time to brace for the impact of adding his hefty new deal to their books. Their days of skirting under the luxury-tax line are drawing to a rapid close, to say the least. But for the next two years, he'll earn only around 25 percent of the salary cap rather than 35 percent.
Gilgeous-Alexander's record-breaking extension by no means caught the Thunder by surprise. He became eligible for it by making the All-NBA teams both in 2022-23 and 2023-24, so his MVP victory this past season had no bearing on whether he could receive such a deal. SGA could have waited to sign an extension until the summer of 2026, when he would have been eligible for a five-year, $369.5 million deal, but locking in nearly $300 million helps protect him financially in case he suffers a major injury this coming season.
Long-term, Gilgeous-Alexander jumping from 25 percent of the cap to 35 percent will have some downstream effects on the Thunder's roster. But next season, it's business as usual for the defending champions.
What SGA’s extension means for OKC’s cap flexibility
The Thunder entered the offseason with 15 players under contract, plus the Nos. 15 and 24 picks in the 2025 NBA draft. Since teams are only allowed to roster 15 players at the start of the regular season, it was clear that OKC would need to do some trimming this offseason.
They got a head start on that during the draft when they sent the No. 24 pick to the Sacramento Kings for a top-16-protected 2027 first-round pick from the San Antonio Spurs. If Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper stay healthy, there's a non-zero chance that pick falls even later than No. 24 in 2027, but the Thunder didn't have the roster space for two rookies this coming season regardless.
The Thunder continued their purge by trading Dillon Jones and a 2029 second-round pick (via Houston) to the Washington Wizards for Colby Jones, whom they promptly waived. They're now down to 15 players on standard contracts after agreeing to re-sign Jaylin Williams to a three-year, $24 million deal and Ajay Mitchell to a three-year deal worth "nearly $9 million," according to Charania.
Barring a surprise, the Thunder's roster for 2025-26 is now likely set. They have roughly $186.4 million in total salary on their books, which leaves them less than $1.5 million below the $187.9 million luxury-tax line. They're $8.5 million below the $195.9 million first apron, so they could technically use a portion of their $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, although they'd first have to clear a roster spot to do so.
After extending Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder now turn their attention to Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, both of whom became eligible for their own extensions on July 1. If the Thunder can't agree to terms with either or both of them, they'll become restricted free agents in the 2026 offseason, although the odds of that happening are roughly nil.
In all likelihood, the Thunder will sign both Williams and Holmgren to five-year max or near-max contracts in the coming days. The only sticking point in negotiations may be whether to give them player options in the final year of those deals and whether to include designated-rookie language, which would allow their first-year salary to jump to 30 percent of the salary cap if they win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year or get named to an All-NBA team next season.
Both of those extensions will begin in the 2026-27, which is when things will start to get tight financially for the Thunder. Although Gilgeous-Alexander will be heading into the final year of his old contract at $40.8 million that season rather than the $63.7 million he's projected to earn in 2027-28, Holmgren and Williams will go from earning roughly $20 million combined to well above $80 million.
If the 2026-27 salary cap lands at $165 million, as the league is currently projecting, Williams and Holmgren will have a starting salary of $41.25 million if they don't satisfy the designated-rookie criteria, and they could earn as much as $49.5 million if they do. Even if they both start at 25 percent of the cap, those two and Gilgeous-Alexander alone will combine to earn more than $120 million.
That could spell trouble for Isaiah Hartenstein ($28.5 million) and Lu Dort ($18.2 million), both of whom have team options in their contracts for 2026-27. Even if the Thunder plan to retain them, they might do what the Houston Rockets just did with Fred VanVleet—decline their option and then re-sign them to a longer-term deal with a smaller annual salary.
How the Thunder can still add to the roster after SGA's extension
The Thunder already seem to be planning for life after Hartenstein, as they spent the No. 15 overall pick this year on Georgetown center Thomas Sorber. During his one year with the Hoyas, Sorber averaged 14.5 points on 53.2 percent shooting, 8.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals in 31.3 minutes per game.
Sorber measured in at only 6-9¼" barefoot at the combine, but his massive 7-6 wingspan should help him stave away challengers at the rim in the NBA. He and Holmgren might be the Thunder's frontcourt of the future, although the 27-year-old Hartenstein is still young enough to factor into their long-term planning as well if he's amenable to taking a pay cut after next season.
The Thunder also have team options on Kenrich Williams ($7.2 million), Cason Wallace ($7.4 million) and Nikola Topic ($5.4 million) in 2026-27, which they could decline to give themselves extra financial flexibility with Holmgren and J-Dub's new deals kicking in. Of those three, Kenny Hustle is by far the most likely cut candidate. He's been a valuable veteran in OKC for the past five seasons, but he might be more of a luxury than a necessity beyond next year.
Wallace will be the one worth monitoring moving forward. The No. 10 overall pick of the 2023 draft started in 43 of his 68 regular-season games this year, averaging 8.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals in only 27.6 minutes per game. Along with Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort and Alex Caruso, Wallace was one of the perimeter pests who helped give OKC arguably the most hellacious defense in recent NBA history.
The question is, what type of career does Wallace envision for himself moving forward? Is he content with being no higher than the No. 4 option on offense in OKC? Or, like Jonathan Kuminga in Golden State, would he prefer to go somewhere that he might be able to flourish in a larger role?
Wallace will become eligible to sign an extension next offseason, so the Thunder can put that on the backburner for now. That is a looming dilemma that they'll have to solve after this coming season, though. Can they even afford to sign him to a sizable extension if Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren are all on max deals? How far into the luxury tax and into apron territory are they willing to go?
The NBA's current collective bargaining agreement was basically designed to prevent superteams from becoming dynasties, although the Thunder have a better chance than most to survive its draconian restrictions. Their massive stash of future draft picks will allow them to continually replenish their supporting cast with young, cost-controlled players alongside their Big Three in the years to come.
Still, the Thunder won't be immune to the pressures that the CBA seeks to exert on the league's most expensive rosters. They're fine to run back their championship-winning squad this coming season, but after that, they'll start being forced to make the tough choices that teams such as the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks are already wrestling with.