The Oklahoma City Thunder have nailed down another of their NBA championship victors – and have forked out another massive sum to do so.
The freshly-crowned NBA champions have signed Chet Holmgren to a new staggering contract extension, just one week after agreeing a blockbuster deal with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Holmgren has inked a staggering five-year maximum rookie contract extension that could reach $250 million, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The 7-foot-1 forward’s deal is guaranteed for $239m but contains clauses that could see that sum rise to $250m.
The 23-year-old missed three months of the season after suffering a broken pelvis in November but shortly before the All-Star break in February to help lead Oklahoma City to its first-ever NBA title.
He went on to play all 23 games of the Thunder’s title push and finished the season averaging 15 points, eight rebounds and 2.2 blocks while shooting 49 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from 3-point range.
Chet Holmgren has signed a five-year maximum rookie contract extension with the Thunder
The 7-foot-1 forward was part of the core group that led Oklahoma City to an NBA title
Holmgren is a key member of the Thunder’s youthful core, which the franchise hopes will be in Oklahoma City for seasons to come.
The deal comes after Holmgren’s superstar teammate, Gilgeous-Alexander, agreed to a four-year, $285million super-max extension that keeps him with the team through the 2030-31 season.
After becoming the second-youngest team in NBA history to win a championship, the Thunder have now locked down both Holmgren and Gilgeous-Alexander for the long run and are reportedly expected to turn their attention to All-NBA superstar Jalen Williams.
Gilgeous-Alexander will now be paid an average annual salary of an astounding $71.25million per year – the fifth biggest contract by AAV in the history of sports.
‘SGA’ averaged a league-high 32.7 points in the regular season and dropped an average of 30.3 points per game in the NBA Finals.
He became the 11th player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP and MVP in the same season – joining Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Larry Bird (two times), LeBron James (two times) and Michael Jordan (four times).
It comes after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, agreed to a four-year, $285m super-max extension
Additionally, Gilgeous-Alexander became the sixth player in NBA history to win a scoring title and a championship in the same season. He was the first to do so since O’Neal in 2000 and joined Jordan (six times), Abdul-Jabbar, George Mikan (twice) and Joe Fulks.
SGA came to the Thunder in the now-infamous Paul George trade which netted OKC the guard and a hefty total of first-round picks, one of which led to the selection of co-star Jalen Williams.
The Thunder’s choice to build around him paid off – as Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC to its fifth conference title in franchise history and the second title in franchise history, having previously won in 1979 as the Seattle Supersonics.
