Thunder star opens up on future with team

The top player on the top team in the Western Conference plans to make a long-term commitment to the franchise.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told Cleveland.com’s Jimmy Watkins that he doesn’t want to play anywhere else. He’s not interested in going to a bigger market, as many of the league’s stars have done in recent years.

“I can only speak for myself. I love Oklahoma City and I can’t see a world where I’m not in Oklahoma City,” he said, as relayed by The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd. “I’m comfortable where I am. I like where I am. I love the people in the organization, love the people around me, and those are the things that matter. I go to work every day with a smile on my face. Me personally, the market doesn’t matter. The money doesn’t matter to a certain extent. But as long as I enjoy what I’m doing at a very high level, I love the people that I’m around doing it.”

SGA signed a max rookie scale extension in 2021. He’s currently in the middle season of that five-year , $179.3M contract.

SGA is already eligible to sign a designated veteran/super-max extension (at 35% of the team’s salary cap) this summer because he made All-NBA teams in 2023 and 2024. However, he was ineligible to ink a super max extension last summer because seven seasons of NBA service is required. This is his seventh season.

It’s a lock that the franchise will offer him that super max, which projects to be worth up to $314M over five years.

His statistics this season are closely aligned with last season’s numbers, when he made the All-NBA First Team. He’s averaging 31.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks for the Thunder, who are 30-6 despite losing their showdown with Eastern Conference-leader Cleveland on Wednesday.