[Shams] OKC Jalen Williams agrees to 5 year max extension

[ROballer]

Thunder will be fine. They had so many dudes they couldn't develop because of their depth it's ridiculous.
Too many picks can be a curse at some point.

Or a blessing in this instance. They'll be forced to integrate some of new picks now, when inevitably their salary payroll will be too big.

I mean they got rid of Giddey, Pokusevski, Tre Mann, Dillon Jones. Ousmane Dieng is next. Topic and Sorber won't play much if at all either.

All of these guys were 1st rounders. All of those who were already gone couldn't even sniff 3 seasons on the roster.

[greekman]

if he's worth $60m a year I'll happily stick with the raptors 'overpaid' players.

If he doesn't make All NBA this season he won't even make 60 million a single season during his entire contract, let alone per year.

Also, you stick with those players. I wouldn't want any player on your team to replace Jalen Williams.

honestly I'd rather have a healthy ingram. he won as the sidekick to the best player in the world. at one time so did murray, irving, klay thomson, siakam, jalen brown also did.

[ChumboChappati]

Knew it was coming after Chet got his. Welcome to second apron hell OKC.

OKC is not as good as their management thinks. They will regret these huge contract

[lethalizer]

if he's worth $60m a year I'll happily stick with the raptors 'overpaid' players.

If he doesn't make All NBA this season he won't even make 60 million a single season during his entire contract, let alone per year.

Also, you stick with those players. I wouldn't want any player on your team to replace Jalen Williams.

honestly I'd rather have a healthy ingram. he won as the sidekick to the best player in the world. at one time so did murray, irving, klay thomson, siakam, jalen brown also did.

You really would rather have a healthy Ingram over Jalen Williams? I mean good for you obviously but lol.

Also good for you to include health in there, considering Ingram missed 146 games over the past 4 seasons.

Seems like we're both happy in this equation in all honesty.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Williams and Paolo have the higher max because they've made the All NBA team.

you need to make it in both your 2nd and 3rd (only Luka ever did it) or in your 4th year to qualify.
All these contract are "up to 287m", assuming the guy makes it. But for, for some reason, for Chet the wording was "up to 250m"

Best I can tell they all have the same base deal of 5/239, but Chet agreed to lower escalators.

What I suspect is that Chet has no escalators, but the agent is trying to somehow embellish the contract adding some random stuff in. Most likely assuming a 10% increase of the cap and not the 7% the League is projecting

[Ryoga Hibiki]

The new CBA was made to prevent big 3s and keep guys from leaving their team .However I don't think teams who draft their own guys should be penalized for drafting them.

Sadly even though this 3 guys are amazing they are not winning it all without Dort/caruso/Wallace ect.. you can replace some of the guys but not all.

You can keep big 3s, as long as they are actually big.
if the third one is actually just a sub allstar I am not sure it works out

[Chuck Everett]

if he's worth $60m a year I'll happily stick with the raptors 'overpaid' players.

If he doesn't make All NBA this season he won't even make 60 million a single season during his entire contract, let alone per year.

Also, you stick with those players. I wouldn't want any player on your team to replace Jalen Williams.

honestly I'd rather have a healthy ingram. he won as the sidekick to the best player in the world. at one time so did murray, irving, klay thomson, siakam, jalen brown also did.

This is quite the cope. Are you trolling?

[Wolveswin]

What is crazy is OKC could have 4x draft picks in 2026 draft 1st round. Most likely 3x with Jazz falling into protected range. But…

If old LAC (Harden and Kawhi) get hit by injury bug in gauntlet that is West, could have a top 10 pick easy (unprotected).

If in Philly Embiid (and Paul George) are cooked, another top 10 (top 4 protected).

I mean, not far fetched to see OKC have say #6 and #9 plus what becomes of Rockets 1st.

[Devilanche]

if he's worth $60m a year I'll happily stick with the raptors 'overpaid' players.

Rapters have a higher payroll than OKC next year. Brandon Ingram makes a lot more than JDub in the next 3 years! Scottie Barnes makes the same over the next 5. Enjoy!

the contract he signed is much much higher than ingram. that's what i'm referring to.
3 years 120 million is what he's worth
5 years 273 million for a guy putting up irving numbers is insane.
5 years 224 million for a 23 year old being groomed into a franchise role is his worth.

take sga off the team and it doesn't even make the playoffs.

SGA extended too in case you missed the news.

[slick_watts]

well deserved. it stinks that okc fans have to root against him making all-nba next year. thunder salary sheet is about as clean as possible considering the talent on the roster. can't ask for anything better.

[Jadoogar]

The JW disrespect is unreal. I just got into a big thing with people on Reddit where people were taking Paolo over him. Through his age 23 season, he’s:

-Made all-NBA
-Made all-defense
-Led the league in 4th quarter scoring
-Was top 20 in both EPM and BPM
-Scored 40 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals
-Was the second best player on a champion

What’s not to like? He literally does it all. Excellent scorer, passer, and defender who’s getting better every year. I think he’s easily a top 10 player for the upcoming season.

It's not hating to say a 23 year old, second option is not a top 10 player in the league.

Why would his age or being a second option matter?

because he's playing an easier role?

[Saints14]

I'm very interested in what Williams' eventual ceiling will be, because he does so many things at a high level already and has only improved since entering the league. Not that I'm banking on it but if you told me in 3 years he was an MVP level guy I wouldn't be shocked, many recent MVPs including his teammate SGA were simply good but not elite young players that took a leap in their mid-20s to superstardom. But even if he only marginally improves from this season he's worth this contract to OKC, though with their now 3 max-level guys they really need that to be a legit big 3 to remain in contention for the rest of the decade

[cupcakesnake]

They should drop Dort not Wallace if there is a salary cap issue later. I don't watch a ton of OKC but it sure seemed like Wallace was the cleanup guy when Dort started having issues.

Crazy luxury to be able to theoretically drop Dort and have multiple other guys who could play his role.

Dort is probably the best pure POA defender in the league. Cason isn't a big drop off though, and he was way more potential 2-way versatility. I think the Thunder are hoping Cason is a long term piece, though I think it's more likely Cason becomes pretty expensive. It's really plain to see how good Cason is, especially if there's some offensive growth. I doubt he's one of these guys the Thunder can sign to a team friendly deal.

[cupcakesnake]

Excuse me?

Unless you meant top 10 player on the Thunder, then, yes, I agree. Could be a typo as well, because he is definitely a top 100 player.

The JW disrespect is unreal. I just got into a big thing with people on Reddit where people were taking Paolo over him. Through his age 23 season, he’s:

-Made all-NBA
-Made all-defense
-Led the league in 4th quarter scoring
-Was top 20 in both EPM and BPM
-Scored 40 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals
-Was the second best player on a champion

What’s not to like? He literally does it all. Excellent scorer, passer, and defender who’s getting better every year. I think he’s easily a top 10 player for the upcoming season.

It's not hating to say a 23 year old, second option is not a top 10 player in the league.

Just the fact that it has become an argument whether or not J.Dub is a top 10 player is a huge deal.

I think he's borderline. Anyone who values defense highly should have J.Dub above most comparable stars. His scoring is still a question mark, and him playing with a torn wrist the whole playoffs muddied the waters on that question.

I had J.Dub as the 11th best player in the NBA this year. (Luka and Wemby would have been above him if healthy, so more like 13th). I think there are better scorers and shooters than J.Dub, but his defense and versatility is simply becoming arguably the best in the NBA.

[web123888]

Excuse me?

Unless you meant top 10 player on the Thunder, then, yes, I agree. Could be a typo as well, because he is definitely a top 100 player.

Maybe top 15 depending how you rate post prime guys like KD.

Jalen Williams just made All-NBA and All-NBA defense in the same season while being the 2nd best player on a championship team. He is one of the best defenders in the league while being a really good scorer and playmaker. Top 100 is wildly underrating him.

Yes, that was a sarcastic remark to emphasise my surprise at your statement. Jalen Williams, top 10? I am quite certain even Jalen Williams wouldn't agree with that assessment. Could you name me the players that you think are better than Jalen Williams? I am really interested in hearing so.

Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Luka, Edwards, Brunson, Curry, LeBron, Davis, Wembanyama, Mitchell.

Healthy Tatum, Embiid, Haliburton are removed as they are not in the picture currently or for next season.

Essentially have him just outside the top 10 and inside the top 15, around 11-13 or so.

[slick_watts]

jalen williams' defensive impact is being underrated.

[pepe1991]

If he doesn't make All NBA this season he won't even make 60 million a single season during his entire contract, let alone per year.

Also, you stick with those players. I wouldn't want any player on your team to replace Jalen Williams.

honestly I'd rather have a healthy ingram. he won as the sidekick to the best player in the world. at one time so did murray, irving, klay thomson, siakam, jalen brown also did.

You really would rather have a healthy Ingram over Jalen Williams? I mean good for you obviously but lol.

Also good for you to include health in there, considering Ingram missed 146 games over the past 4 seasons.

Seems like we're both happy in this equation in all honesty.

That was typical "tell me you don't know much about ball without telling me you know much about ball".

Ingram is definition of empty stats.

His offense isn't efficient enough to justify career 26% usage rate.
He neither raises team floor nor ceiling.
And his defense is definition of mediocrity.

Guy is modern day Kevin Martin. His counting look so much better than his actual on court value.

I don't even care is Ingram is healthy or not, he simply isn't winning basketball player. Career 227-268 record, ofc it's all on him, but fact that Pelicans got rid of him as soon as they were sure Trey Murhpy III is real deal tells you a lot about Ingram as player.
And from health pov, his toothpick frame will always be problematic.

[falcolombardi]

jalen williams' defensive impact is being underrated.

Yeah, he is arguably the best wing defensively in the league currently

[the sea duck]

OKC is doing what I expect them to do. I'm good with the contracts given to those players. That being said, soon they will be a second apron team just by fielding a decent starting 5. It's just the reality of things. Maybe the owners realize what a special thing they have and will pay. History makes me skeptical of that. And if they fail to win more titles, due to injury or otherwise, everything will feel as bad as the worst skeptics make it seem right now.

[Bucks4005]

Knew it was coming after Chet got his. Welcome to second apron hell OKC.

OKC is not as good as their management thinks. They will regret these huge contract

They already got a championship. They rewarded the core that got them that, why would they regret anything? Like, what else is what they’re doing for if not that?

I mean, what’s the other option exactly? Trade Holmgren or Williams for cheaper players who “might” win you a championship after the Williams/SGA/Holmgren core already won you one and looks good going forward? “We just won a championship, but looking forward, we’re gonna break up the core because they might not win it again?” Like, if your comparing odds, what do you think are the odds “this core stays good” vs “trading for a cheaper fit will give me a better chance”

I’d take “already won championship core” as the safer bet every time to win another one. I feel like RealGM is looking at this like Family Guy Peter looks at the mystery box.

“A boat’s a boat, but the mystery box could be anything! It could even be a boat!”