NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has made a deal for a four-year, $285 million super maximum contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the reigning champions.
This agreement will keep him with the team until the end of the 2030-31 season, according to sources that spoke to ESPN on Tuesday.
This contract gives him the highest annual salary ever seen in league history.
Since joining the Thunder in 2019, he has now signed two contract extensions, reinforcing the strong partnership and trust between him and the team.
Gilgeous-Alexander had an impressive regular season, averaging a league-high 32.7 points per game, and scored 30.3 points during the NBA Finals. He became part of a rare group of players who have won both the MVP award and Finals MVP in the same season.
The only other players to achieve this are Michael Jordan (four times), LeBron James (twice), Larry Bird (twice), Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Willis Reed.
At 26 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 to win both a scoring title and an NBA championship in the same season. The only other players who have achieved this feat are Michael Jordan (six times), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, George Mikan (twice), and Joe Fulks.
Besides Gilgeous-Alexander, the only other players to win the scoring champion title, MVP, and NBA championship all in one season are Michael Jordan (four times), Shaquille O’Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Thunder acquired Gilgeous-Alexander after his rookie year as the main player in the trade for Paul George with the LA Clippers in the summer of 2019. This trade also brought in a remarkable number of first-round picks, one of which helped Oklahoma City land co-star Jalen Williams.
As Oklahoma City rebuilt its team around him, Gilgeous-Alexander became a reliable leader for the franchise. He stayed committed and believed in the team even during tough seasons where they won only 22 and 24 games.
Over the past three years, the Thunder made significant progress each season, culminating in this year’s impressive 68-win record and their journey to winning the championship.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring average during the regular season of this championship year was the highest ever for a player who won the title that same year, surpassing Jordan’s average from 1992-93 by just one-tenth of a point, as reported by ESPN Research.
He scored a total of 3,172 points, including both regular season and playoff games, which is also the most since Jordan achieved that in the same season.
This season, he managed to score 20 or more points in 72 consecutive games, marking the fourth-longest streak in NBA history for a single season. Additionally, his +918 plus-minus rating was the best in an NBA season since Stephen Curry of the Warriors in 2016-17.
