Ahhhh, it seems like only yesterday that Twitter was full of rumors of Oklahoma City shopping their young superstar, Shai Gilgious-Alexander.
In reality, the Thunder had planned on getting an extension done with SGA this offseason. Shai was eligible to sign his rookie extension as of 11:00 PM CT. That didn’t stop the Woj Bomb from coming at 10:58.
The money doesn’t stop at $172 million. Wojnarowski reports that Shai can earn up to $207M with a 30 percent escalator should SGA be voted into any of the three all-NBA teams. Woj adds that “the deal does not include any early termination options“, so the assumption, at the moment, is that there are no team/player options in the last year.
Per Bobby Marks (ESPN) the breakdown of Shai’s contract goes like this:
22/23- $29.75M
23/24- $32.13M
24/25- $34.51M
25/26- $36.89M
26/27- $39.27M
Look, I don’t even know what a person would do with $207 million dollar bills. Me? I’d at least try to get a gumball machine full of Chickfila chicken nuggets in my mansion. SGA is rich rich. And as good as this news is for Shai, it is pretty great for the Thunder organization and its fans as well.
For OKC, they get their franchise cornerstone for the long haul. A promising, deserving young player wants to play in Oklahoma. That, in itself, is great news. Fans no longer have to worry about the rebuild happening without Gilgeous-Alexander. Yes, you can buy a #2 jersey now without the fear that it might be a throwback in the next few months.
The news comes after the Thunder inked fan-favorite, Mike Muscala, to a two-year deal during the early-evening frenzy of free agency. Many key free agents are off the board, but the Thunder have been rumored to be willing to throw offers out this offseason. Regardless of what happens during the rest of the free agency, the SGA signing is a win for Shai and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
