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

[Saul Goodman]

I think OKC is uniquely positioned to keep this train rolling even with the contracts. Depending on how he develops they can get 2 future 1sts for Cason Wallace from a team who fancies him as a star on his own team, and a haul for Dort if need be. Let Hartenstein walk after next year after a probable 2nd title and you’re left with



Shai/caruso/williams/chet/sorber/topic/wiggins/joe and an obscene amount of picks.

[pcbothwel]

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

Lol... They wont be in the 2nd Apron anytime this decade unless they want to be. They MIGHT be in 26/27with Hartenstein, Dort, Joe, and Wiggins making ~$70M, but I assume they will move them before then as they have 3 1st in the 2026 draft.

[Kineto]

What percent of the cap are these 3 taking up in a couple years?

SGA : 35%
Chet and JDub : 25% each

so 85% of salary cap.


second apron is around 135% of salary cap. (so around 50% of salary cap to fill the roster if they want to stay under)

[knicksstuff]

the funny thing is they might not even have to go into the second apron at all depending on how all their draft picks work out. Theyll probably have to not pick up Ihart team option and sign him to a longer but smaller per year dollar value etc. Caruso 20 million contract after next year porbably started making them think a little But they are really set up nicely as long as they hit on their late draft picks.

[Rafael122]

Rough math, based on projected cap/luxury tax: above the 1st apron in 2026-2027, above the tax in 2027-2028 but that's assuming Dort and Wallace are not extended which will probably push them to the 2nd apron.

At the very least, they probably have a 2 year window before they start making decisions.

I was wrong, had no idea Dort's last year was a club option. Kenrich Williams also has an option, so no, they won't hit the tax in '26-27.

2027-2028: they have options on Joe and and Jaylin Williams. I'm assume those won't get picked up, so they're under the tax, and may stay under the apron with a Wallace extension.

2028-2029: $200 million in guarantees, but Topic would be up for an extension, Wiggins has a club option.

So yeah, they have a 3-4 year runway here.

[ThunderBolt]

Oh my god. Okc is doing exactly what everyone knew was going to happen for the last two years. It’s clearly over for the reigning champions.

[falcolombardi]

Good

[Patches Perry]

Predictable and deserved. He is a top 10 player at this point.

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.

[CelticSooner]

The 2nd apron clock begins. They won a title early, gives them 2 to 3 years before hard decisions come up. Those picks will come in handy.

[Lakers In 5]

Predictable and deserved. He is a top 10 player at this point.

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.

[longfellow44]

The key is going to be OKC continuing to hit on their draft picks. If their future drafts don't go as well it might be hard to field a good enough roster after they have to start selling off all of their other young pieces. But if they continue to draft as well as they have then they can be competitive for a long time.

[littlerock2277]

Other teams should be watching OKC roster closely in the future. Might definitely be able to snatch some of their role players in future Wallace, wiggins are still young could also get a lot of money from a team in the near future.

[OriginalRed]

Welp, the clock starts now. Gotta win as many championships as they can before the owner starts off loading guys.

[jowglenn]

Jalen Williams is the poor man's Jayson Tatum. He's a modern cross between Danny Granger and Luol Deng. Maybe he's got room to improve and take next steps and become a top 10 player. Maybe.

Is that enough for $57 million a year? We'll see!

[Dadouv47]

sorry to bring this up but shai's contract extension won't start before the 2027/2028 season so we should be fine (probably will have to trade either Caruso or Hartenstein so still need Presti to draft well).

[Dadouv47]

The 2nd apron clock begins. They won a title early, gives them 2 to 3 years before hard decisions come up. Those picks will come in handy.

so you are telling me we have 3 seasons under Shai's prime before we have to make some difficult decisions when he will be 29 years old? that's fine to me.

[benson13]

They gave Holmgren too much money in my opinion, but Jalen Williams would have gotten paid by somebody if it wasn't the Thunder. So this was a no-brainer. Plus, this core just had a historically good season that ended with an NBA title. They have the whole team returning next season, and they're under the tax threshold. The following seasons, they're going to lose a lot of flexibility and pay some hefty tax bills, but it's very much a possibility that they repeat and possibly win three in a row.

If, at that point, ownership decides things have gotten too expensive they can deal with it then, and that's probably something they'll have to do because the Thunder are in the lower half of the league in terms of revenue, but watching your team win titles is so memorable and fun. Ask any Jazz fan if they'd trade the 20 years of contention with Stockton and Malone for one NBA title and a bunch of miserable seasons, and they'd all say yes.

[Castle Black]

NBA money is just nuts now. You know these old heads are watching this stuff in disgust. They helped build the game to its popularity today and these young cats are getting like 4x what they made now because of it

For example: Tim Duncan was the best player in the world in 2003 coming off an NBA Championship and his 2nd straight MVP Award.

He signed a 7-year $122M deal that Summer. That's $17.4M/year for reigning 2x MVP in his prime Tim Duncan.

J-Dub is now making $57M/year as the 2nd or 3rd best player on his team (!!). Inflation impacts this too obv but still nuts.

Read on Twitter

[morosis]

damn. OKC is paying three guys ~60% of what A-Rod and co just paid to buy the entire freaking T-Wolves franchise.

[Dadouv47]

Other teams should be watching OKC roster closely in the future. Might definitely be able to snatch some of their role players in future Wallace, wiggins are still young could also get a lot of money from a team in the near future.

We could lose Cason Wallace if a team is willing to give him an incredible contract that we aren't able to offer him. I think Wiggins is safe because is contract is so cheap that it doesn't make any sense to trade him.