Fresh off of winning both NBA league MVP and NBA Finals MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reportedly agreed to a four-year, $285 million super maximum contract extension to remain with the Oklahoma City Thunder through the 2030-31 season. With his extension, Gilgeous-Alexander earns the richest contract in average annual value in league history, as well as one of the largest overall.
Per CBS Sports Research, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is now the highest-paid player in the NBA by AAV, with his $71.3 million AAV now $7M richer than Joel Embiid’s $64.3M. Jayson Tatum ($62.8M), Giannis Antetokounmpo ($58.5M) and Anthony Davis ($58.5M) round out the top five.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s contract is also the third-richest in league history, coming in just behind Jayson Tatum’s $313.9M and Jaylen Brown’s $285.4M deals. His contract overtakes Nikola Jokic’s $276.1M and $269.1M deals signed by Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley among the NBA’s richest ever.
Gilgeous-Alexander more than earned his new contract by virtue of his 2024-25 season, which saw him average a league-high 32.7 points in the regular season before putting up a 30.3 average in the NBA Finals. SGA achieved the NBA Triple Crown of league scoring champion, league MVP and Finals MVP, joining Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as just the fourth player in NBA history to have earned that hat trick.