SGA Extension Deal Shocks NBA World with Historic Signing

SGA Extension Deal Shocks NBA World with Historic Signing

After all, who would want to leave a team when you’ve just had one of the best individual seasons in NBA history? Gilgeous-Alexander knew that this was going to be a challenging path to a title, and his patience paid off. He wasn’t selfish throughout the journey, but he is now deserving of the big bucks.

SGA Makes History – Again

Trolled by some as a free-throw merchant – Gilgeous-Alexander is definitely a history merchant, too. He just wrapped up a historic 2024-25 campaign to begin with. The Thunder star finished as the regular season MVP, the scoring champion, the Western Conference Finals MVP, the Finals MVP, and most of all – an NBA champion.

If you are not impressed, there are his massive individual feats, such as averaging the most points in a title run at 32.7 per game. SGA also scored 3,172 points this season + playoffs, with both feats being the most by a player since Michael Jordan. He is also the first player to win the season MVP, scoring title, and Finals MVP in a single run in 25 years. All sorts of history done by that man.

So when the news about the SGA extension came, it was shocking too due to how much it was worth. It was historic, and it is definitely sending a strong message. Gilgeous-Alexander just agreed to a four-year, $285 million deal with the Thunder. That is slated to keep him with the team through the 2030-31 season at the very least.

That supermax deal with Oklahoma City sees him earning slightly more than $71 million per year – the most in NBA history as well. In a span of four seasons, the 2025 Finals MVP would have earned thrice the career earnings of Jordan. Historic, right?

Shai will now be earning the largest annual salary in league history. Yes, you read that right. Larger than LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, or any other player you can name.

Leaving Money on the Table?

Had Gilgeous-Alexander been all about money, he wouldn’t have agreed to this already historic deal. If he finished the 2025-26 season, the 2025 scoring champion would have been eligible to a bigger offer from the Thunder. Shai would have made $380 million for five years instead of $285 million, leaving around $105 million on the table.

Again, another unselfish act from a team player. Leaving behind such an amount puts OKC on the brink of a dynasty, because it is enough to also negotiate extensions with both Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.

The fact that the Thunder are still not in the luxury tax is such a cheat code. It can be remembered that OKC began the offseason with promising extensions to its key players. Rookie Ajay Mitchell signing a $9 million, three-year deal was good, and so was re-signing Jaylin Williams at $24 million for three years. These moves are mesmerizing for such a small-market team, and it says a lot about their future too.

Keeping the Big Three

If there’s one big takeaway from this SGA extension it’s that Thunder GM Sam Presti has learned from his mistakes. It can be remembered that he first extended Serge Ibaka only to fall short of James Harden‘s demands – leading to the untimely trade in 2012. That ended the big three era for  a budding OKC squad back then.

This time, however, Presti is making calculated decisions. But the biggest game-changer for him was to have SGA on the same page. The 2025 MVP was and is still willing to sacrifice to keep this team running. Being able to sign both young stars in Holmgren and J-Dub means that the Thunder core will be around for the years to come.

Does the pattern seem familiar? Well, the San Antonio Spurs managed to keep its core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili for years – and it led to five championships. The Golden State Warriors kept the core of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, ending up with four titles.

So what can SGA potentially achieve by signing his extension earlier than anticipated? A core that has a championship experience, and of course, more titles to come for Oklahoma City.