Subscribe
Follow Us
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the verge of making history this offseason. The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar has been so impressive that he doesn't even need to win league MVP or an NBA title this season to do it. The announcement of the All-NBA teams last season made Gilgeous-Alexander (along with Luka Doncic) the first player eligible for a supermax extension.
Thanks to the NBA's new record-breaking 11-year TV rights deal worth $76 billion, Doncic can sign a five-year, $346 million supermax this offseason, earning a maximum of $78 million in 2030-31.
For Thunder star Gilgeous-Alexander, since his supermax extension would kick in a year later than Doncic, he'll get a contract that pays $81.5 million five years down the road. Signing the extension would make him the first athlete in U.S. sports history to secure a big payout from a team.
Why couldn't Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sign extension last season?
Under the NBA’s revised CBA, players only become eligible for a supermax contract if they meet a two-step eligibility process.
Step One:
- Player must be named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season, or two in the last three years.
- Win DPOY in the most recent season, or two in the last three years
- Win MVP in any of the three previous seasons
Step Two:
- Have at least seven years of NBA experience.
- Be on the same team that drafted them or acquired their rookie contract via trade.
From the criteria above, the only reason Gilgeous-Alexander and Dončić were ineligible to sign an extension last year was because neither had seven years of NBA experience. That finally changes this offseason.
How NBA players are taking advantage of the league's growing wealth
The league’s salary cap is projected to increase by at least 10 percent annually. As part of the supermax extension, a player would command 35 percent of the projected salary cap entering each season.
Article Continues Below
ESPN's Bobby Marks details Gilgeous-Alexander's potential annual earnings from contracts alone if he signs the extension:
- 2027-28: $65,684,850
- 2028-29: $70,939,638
- 2029-30: $76,194,426
- 2030-31: $81,449,214
TOTAL: $294,268,128
If Gilgeous-Alexander chooses to wait, he'll become an unrestricted free agent in 2027. Gilgeous-Alexander is currently in the middle of a five-year rookie extension worth $179 million that he signed in 2021. This era of NBA contracts is getting so out of hand, that Gilgeous-Alexander's 2030-31 salary is only $13 million short of what Michael Jordan made over his entire career.
For those who think Gilgeous-Alexander will bypass signing the extension to play for a bigger market, here's what he had to say:
“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. “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.”
Loyalty definitely has its perks. For Gilgeous-Alexander, his loyalty to the OKC Thunder will be rewarded with the honor of becoming the first athlete in American sports history to make $80 million in one year.
With the NBA’s evolving financial landscape and new CBA rules, it's only going to be a matter of time until one player can make $100 million in one season.
