{"id":148272,"date":"2025-07-01T15:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148272"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:02:11","slug":"sga-extension-with-okc-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/01\/sga-extension-with-okc-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"SGA Extension Deal Shocks NBA World with Historic Signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/26\/the-art-of-rebuilding-how-the-thunder-healed-a-city\/\" target=\"_self\">Thunder fans may have wept one more time<\/a> today with the news of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>&#8216;s extension. They knew how it felt to see their former franchise star <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a> walk away from the team in 2016. It was full of suspense, only to see him sign with a rival they lost to in the previous playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>The NBA world is buzzing as the SGA extension has blown experts, critics, and fans away as the 2025 MVP made a historic signing with OKC. While many said that stars don&#8217;t want to be in Oklahoma City, SGA was trying to make a statement.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148323\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148323\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-large wp-image-148323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26549206_168414264_lowres.jpg 1593w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148323\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) holds up his NBA Finals Bill Russell MVP trophy at the end of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals after defeating the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has agreed to a four-year, $285 million super maximum contract extension with the championship Oklahoma City Thunder through 2030-31, sources tell ESPN. This is now the richest annual salary for a player in league history. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eptbVjUo6j\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/eptbVjUo6j<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1940048256999870518?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>SGA Extension Deal Shocks NBA World with Historic Signing<\/h2>\n<p>After all, who would want to leave a team when you&#8217;ve just had one of the best individual seasons in NBA history? Gilgeous-Alexander knew that this was going to be a challenging path to a title, and his patience paid off. He wasn&#8217;t selfish throughout the journey, but he is now deserving of the big bucks.<\/p>\n<h3>SGA Makes History &#8211; Again<\/h3>\n<p>Trolled by some as a free-throw merchant &#8211; Gilgeous-Alexander is definitely a history merchant, too. He just wrapped up a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/23\/okc-2025-champions-takeaways-nba-finals-game-7\/\" target=\"_self\">historic 2024-25 campaign<\/a> to begin with. The Thunder star <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/21\/shai-gilgeous-alexander-named-the-mvp\/\" target=\"_self\">finished as the regular season MVP<\/a>, the scoring champion, the Western Conference Finals MVP, the Finals MVP, and most of all &#8211; an NBA champion.<\/p>\n<p>If you are not impressed, there are his massive individual feats, such as <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/nba-averaging-most-points-in-a-title-run\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">averaging the most points in a title run<\/a> at 32.7 per game. SGA also scored 3,172 points this season + playoffs, with both feats being the most by a player since <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a>. He is also the first player to win the season MVP, scoring title, and Finals MVP in a single run in 25 years. All sorts of history done by that man.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SGA scored 3,172 points this season + playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>That&#39;s the most by a player since Michael Jordan. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/46BKpxrGjd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/46BKpxrGjd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; StatMuse (@statmuse) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/statmuse\/status\/1936982319870468441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SGA is just the FOURTH player in NBA history to accomplish this in the same season \ud83e\udd2f <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8mUheS7eTy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/8mUheS7eTy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YahooSports\/status\/1936983996086235276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>So when the news about the SGA extension came, it was shocking too due to how much it was worth. It was historic, and it is definitely sending a strong message. Gilgeous-Alexander just agreed to a four-year, $285 million deal with the Thunder. That is slated to keep him with the team through the 2030-31 season at the very least.<\/p>\n<p>That supermax deal with Oklahoma City sees him earning slightly more than $71 million per year &#8211; the most in NBA history as well. In a span of four seasons, the 2025 Finals MVP would have earned thrice the career earnings of Jordan. Historic, right?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: SGA just secured the bag AND cemented his place in NBA history.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder star has agreed to a 4-year, $285 million super max extension\u2014the highest average annual salary ever.<\/p>\n<p>(via <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/spotrac?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@spotrac<\/a>) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AL25PZkaa3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/AL25PZkaa3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Boardroom (@boardroom) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/boardroom\/status\/1940065283495862475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Shai will now be earning the largest annual salary in league history. Yes, you read that right. Larger than <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a>, or any other player you can name.<\/p>\n<h3>Leaving Money on the Table?<\/h3>\n<p>Had Gilgeous-Alexander been all about money, he wouldn&#8217;t have agreed to this already historic deal. If he finished the 2025-26 season, the 2025 scoring champion would have been eligible to a bigger offer from the Thunder. Shai would have made $380 million for five years instead of $285 million, leaving around $105 million on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Again, another unselfish act from a team player. Leaving behind such an amount puts <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/23\/how-the-thunder-should-handle-important-offseason-decisions\/\" target=\"_self\">OKC on the brink of a dynasty<\/a>, because it is enough to also negotiate extensions with both <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chet Holmgren<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thunder last 10 days recap.<\/p>\n<p>6\/22: Thunder win the title<br \/>6\/24: OKC championship parade<br \/>6\/25: Draft Thomas Sorber<br \/>6\/26: Draft Brooks Barnhizer<br \/>6\/27: Trade Dillon Jones<br \/>6\/28: Rookie press conference<br \/>6\/29: JWill &amp; Mitchell sign extensions<br \/>6\/30: Sam Presti press conference<br \/>7\/1: SGA\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrandonRahbar\/status\/1940058214734741598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The fact that the Thunder are still not in the luxury tax is such a cheat code. It can be remembered that OKC began the offseason with promising extensions to its key players. Rookie <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchaj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ajay Mitchell<\/a> signing a $9 million, three-year deal was good, and so was re-signing <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija07.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylin Williams<\/a> at $24 million for three years. These moves are mesmerizing for such a small-market team, and it says a lot about their future too.<\/p>\n<h3>Keeping the Big Three<\/h3>\n<p>If there&#8217;s one big takeaway from this SGA extension it\u2019s that Thunder GM Sam Presti has learned from his mistakes. It can be remembered that he first extended <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ibakase01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Serge Ibaka<\/a> only to fall short of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a>&#8216;s demands &#8211; leading to the untimely trade in 2012. That ended the big three era for \u00a0a budding OKC squad back then.<\/p>\n<p>This time, however, Presti is making calculated decisions. But the biggest game-changer for him was to have SGA on the same page. The 2025 MVP was and is still willing to sacrifice to keep this team running. Being able to sign both <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/29\/fantasy-outlook-chet-holmgren-jalen-williams\/\" target=\"_self\">young stars in Holmgren and J-Dub<\/a> means that the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/12\/best-chance-okc-win-finals\/\" target=\"_self\">Thunder core will be around for the years to come<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OKC REIGNS ON THE NBA\u2019S MOUNTAINTOP \ud83c\udfc6<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder\u2019s new Big Three has cemented their place in history \u26a1\ufe0f <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nsx63auCAx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/nsx63auCAx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1936979738062451045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Does the pattern seem familiar? Well, the San Antonio Spurs managed to keep its core of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duncati01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Duncan<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/parketo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tony Parker<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/ginobma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Manu Ginobili<\/a> for years &#8211; and it led to five championships. The Golden State Warriors kept the core of Curry, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompkl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Klay Thompson<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Draymond Green<\/a>, ending up with four titles.<\/p>\n<p>So what can SGA potentially achieve by signing his extension earlier than anticipated? A core that has a championship experience, and of course, more titles to come for Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: \u00a9 Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thunder fans may have wept one more time today with the news of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander&#8216;s extension. They knew how it felt to see their former franchise star Kevin Durant walk away from the team in 2016. It was full of suspense, only to see him sign with a rival they lost to in the previous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5536,"featured_media":148322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,3,22],"tags":[49579,4292,4609,69,1489],"class_list":["post-148272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-thunder","tag-2025-offseason","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-jalen-williams","tag-kevin-durant","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148272"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148324,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148272\/revisions\/148324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}