The Oklahoma City Thunder have had an exciting offseason. Following their NBA Finals win a few weeks ago, the team has extended their “Big 3” to a supermax deal, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) being the first to receive it. Meanwhile, Jalen Williams (J-Dub) and Chet Holmgren have also secured massive extensions. With their core locked up for the foreseeable future, what does this mean for the franchise? Will this team be the next dynasty? Lastly, are the contracts an overpay? Let’s dive into these deals!

Oklahoma City Thunder Season Recap

The Thunder are coming off a dominant season. They became the 8th team in NBA History to win 68 games in the regular season. OKC’s superstar SGA was on a tear, leading the league in scoring (32.7 PPG) and securing the regular season MVP award. When it came to the postseason, they weren’t as dominant but still ended up with the ultimate prize. OKC won their first title after defeating the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals! It was one of the most dominant seasons in the history of the NBA.

Thunder’s Stars Rewarded

After winning Game 7, the celebration began! OKC held multiple events, from the championship parade to some chill time at Raising Cane’s. Just 16 days after winning the title, the Thunder gave SGA a four-year $285 million supermax extension! If anyone is worth it, it’s their MVP. However, he is not the only player the Thunder extended.

They also extended their other two young superstars, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. Chet signed a fully guaranteed five-year $250 million extension on July 9th, and J-Dub signed a fully guaranteed five-year max rookie extension worth $239 million on July 10th. J-Dub’s contract could be worth up to $287 million if he achieves an All-NBA team, MVP, or Defensive Player of the Year award this season.

What Does This Mean?

When a team gives out these massive contracts, it is an enormous gamble. This is one of the ultimate ways to “roll the dice.” With all the players still young —SGA is 27, J-Dub is 23, and Chet is 24 —the team is banking on these players to continue to get better and mesh together. All three players’ games complement each other. SGA is the pure scorer, J-Dub is the all-around player with very few flaws, and Chet is a unicorn in the sense of his skill on offense and his length on defense. Let’s jump into the positives and negatives.

Positives

One of the biggest positives for these contracts is that they keep the core together. It keeps the players happy, ha-ha. As previously mentioned, the Thunder are very fortunate that each player’s game complements the other two. We already saw what happens when OKC lets a young star leave. Back in 2012, after making the NBA Finals, the Thunder traded away future MVP and scoring champion James Harden to the Houston Rockets because they didn’t want to go $4 million over the salary cap. Looking back on it, they could have used the superstar, but he might not have turned into the MVP he became.

They won’t make that same mistake twice. With the “Big Three era” of the NBA seeming to die down, the Thunder kickstarted it again. It all depends on how you value and what you believe the trajectory of J-Dub and Chet will be. If they stay healthy, continue to improve, or win another championship between now and 2031, when all their deals are up, it will be a success. Let’s look at some of the negatives.

Negatives

When you have three players combining for $123.4-$184.6 million from 2026-2031, you better hope the salary cap continues to rise. The cap is currently at $154.67, which is a 10% increase from the previous year. The luxury tax threshold is $187.95 million, and the two apron levels are at $195.94 and $207.82 million. What do the luxury tax and apron levels have to do with this? The luxury tax is a penalty for teams that go over the cap; the apron is what you have to worry about.

First Apron:

• Sign-and-trades are not permitted if the player acquired keeps the team above the apron.
• Cannot sign players who were waived during the regular season if their salary was about the $12.2 mid-level exception (MLE).
• Salary matching in trades has to be within 110% instead of the 125% teams in good standing get.

Second Apron

• Includes all the first-apron penalties.
• Cannot have access to the MLE in free agency or absorbing contracts.
• Cannot trade first-round picks from seven years out.
• Cannot use trade exceptions from previous years.
• Cannot use cash in trades
• First-round pick moves straight to the end of the first round if the team stays in the second apron for three of five years.

As you can see, it’s not good to be in any of the apron penalties. That is why the Boston Celtics traded away Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. They had to get under the second apron. Now, for the other big negative for me. SGA and J-Dub were worth the extension. Chet, on the other hand, I would have waited to extend him. You don’t offer a young player who has already dealt with two major injuries: a Lisfranc Injury (a ligament rupture) that sidelined him for his entire rookie season and a right Iliac wing fracture (a pelvic fracture).

If I were the Thunder, I’d be skeptical about Chet’s health. His size is excellent, but his frame is what’s scary. He is too slim for me to offer him a max contract extension, which is fully guaranteed. There is too much of an injury risk this early in his career. Is he otherworldly talented? Yes. However, when you are 24 and have already suffered two significant injuries, it’s a major red flag for me.

Final Thoughts

With the Thunder coming off their dominant season, I expected them to extend their MVP. However, I did not expect them to hand out these massive paydays to their other costars. The expression has always been to pay them early rather than pay them late, but this is an enormous gamble. You only have so much salary cap to go around. These extensions will hamper the Thunder’s ability to put together a team as good as they had last season in future years. OKC is primed to make a run and be the first back-to-back champions since the Golden State Warriors back in 2017-2018.

As always, thank you so much for checking out my recap of the first few days of the NBA offseason! Be sure to check out our other amazing content here at New Leaf News! We hope you’re enjoying your day, and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.