This past season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won league MVP, the regular season scoring title, an NBA title and NBA Finals MVP, putting him in the category with legends Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal.
But today Shai did something those icons did not.
Shai and the OKC Thunder agreed to a four-year, $285 million super max contract extension, which keeps him in OKC through the 2030-31 season.
That, per ESPN, is now “the richest annual salary for a player in league history.”
So if you add a $71.25 million annual salary to Shai’s resume, it becomes, arguably, the greatest single season by an individual player in NBA history.
This is the second contract extension the superstar has signed with the Thunder since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2019.
The 26-year-old averaged a league-high 32.7 ppg in the regular season and 30.3 ppg in the Finals. And by winning an NBA title and NBA Finals MVP, he joins another group that includes Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Shaq, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Kareem and Willis Reed as the only players to accomplish that feat.
And now the NBA triple-crown winner just became the NBA’s richest player.
