Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has agreed to a record-setting four-year, $285m extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder, a deal that will see him earn the highest single-season average salary in NBA history. The agreement, confirmed by a person with knowledge of the terms on Tuesday, is expected to be formally announced once the league’s moratorium on most offseason signings is lifted on Sunday. ESPN was the first to report the news.
The timing of the announcement, coinciding with Canada Day, is a fitting tribute to the 26-year-old from Ontario, who is fresh off one of the most dominant seasons in recent NBA memory. Based on current salary cap projections, Gilgeous-Alexander is set to earn around $63 million in the first season and nearly $79 million during the 2030-31 season. The exact numbers will not be finalized until June 2027.
This translates to an average payout of approximately $1m per regular season game, solidifying his place at the pinnacle of NBA salaries.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s remarkable season saw him lead the Thunder to their inaugural NBA championship and the league’s best regular-season record. His individual accolades were equally impressive, as he swept most major awards, including regular-season MVP, NBA Finals MVP, and the scoring title. This supermax extension, while monumental, was widely anticipated, with the only question being the timing, as he could have secured an even higher total value next summer.
His journey to superstardom was not preordained. Drafted 11th overall in 2018, Gilgeous-Alexander was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Thunder after his rookie year. Since then, his career has been on a consistent upward trajectory, a progression that Thunder general manager Sam Presti believes will continue. "He’s gotten better every single year," Presti said. "His mindset has allowed him to take these steps and also not — I don’t feel like his progress is, like, volatile. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I don’t feel like it’s built on things that can’t be repeated and built up again."
Presti lauded Gilgeous-Alexander as a "basketball artist," highlighting his emotional intelligence and ability to deploy his diverse talents. "I just think he’s got left and right brain working, and I think when you think about people that are extremely successful in what they do, they can’t operate all on one side or the other," Presti explained. "People have to have — to me, the great people in life, business, sports, any industry, have to be able to access both sides, a creative side and then also a very objective side."
With their cornerstone player secured long-term, the Thunder are poised to remain contenders for years to come. All their key players are under contract through at least next season, and Presti’s strategic accumulation of draft picks from previous trades provides further flexibility for the franchise’s future. Reflecting on the team’s potential after their Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers, Gilgeous-Alexander himself noted: "We definitely still have room to grow. That’s the fun part of this. So many of us can still get better. There’s not very many of us on the team that are ‘in our prime’ or even close to it."
