Why Victor Wembanyama's contract extension could spark NBA trend

Victor Wembanyama’s extension gives the Spurs valuable financial flexibility

It’s hard to keep a team together these days because signing quality role players becomes a hassle with too many maximum contracts on the books. This is where Wembanyama’s new five-year, $252 million contract comes into play, forfeiting more than $50 million in total money to provide the team with financial relief in the future.

This move is likely influenced by Knicks star Jalen Brunson’s decision to sign his extension early a couple of seasons back, leaving more than $100 million on the table, but giving the team flexibility to add Karl-Anthony Towns later that summer, a key contributor in New York’s championship run. Because they had so many players on contracts below the maximum, it allowed them to field a competent bench unit as well, featuring standout guards Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado, to name a few.

Why Wembanyama’s contract discount could create copies around the NBA

After seeing how influential Wembanyama has already been in his career, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other players follow suit.

The expanding salary cap also means that contract figures are increasing, with the maximum amount that any one player can earn quickly approaching $80 million. The Boston Celtics just unloaded All-NBA star Jaylen Brown because they didn’t feel like it was feasible to move forward with two max-contract players any longer, so guys might start taking discounts to help keep their teams together.

Unless the league changes the salary cap rules for the next CBA, teams and players will have to continue getting creative to assemble championship-level rosters. For now, it seems that the best and simplest path forward is for players to take slight discounts to allow front offices to acquire more talent instead of it all being concentrated among a few players.