OKC Thunder Secures Big Three With Massive NBA Deals

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00:00a big payday for Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the third and final piece of OKC's

00:07young core of their big three that led them to their first NBA championship in 17 years in

00:13Oklahoma City. He is next up to get the bag, signing a five-year rookie max extension worth

00:19up to $287 million. But it's not just J-Dub getting paid. It was Shet Holmgren earlier this week,

00:28five-year rookie max extension worth up to $250 million in Shea Gilgis Alexander on a four-year

00:36deal. But up until Devin Booker got paid a few nights ago was the richest annual average value

00:42in NBA history, $71.25 million that at the end of his deal to end out this decade will look closer

00:50to $80 million. A lot to spend in Oklahoma City. The reward of winning an NBA championship

00:58in the investment of hunting down a second straight Larry O'Brien trophy.

01:03Yeah, so you have the core back here. That's exactly important. That team won championships

01:06for you. That team is young here. That team's up for extensions and they're all getting them

01:10and rightfully so. We saw that graphic pop up on the screen. I do find it interesting.

01:14Like if you are a, I don't know, contract negotiations in Major League Baseball, like

01:19everybody hates Scott Boris. If I'm a player, I want Scott Boris because I know one thing.

01:23He's so ruthless that I probably am going to get every single penny I can earn, which means

01:27he's worth his weight in gold when I have to pay him his commission on the contract that

01:31I get. Same thing in the NFL. It's like there is no max contract that you can get in the

01:35end. Like, okay, I played three years. Here's what my money is going to be. So it's very important.

01:39They have a great agent. It gets you the bonuses. It gets you the guaranteed money. But as

01:43you see there, it's like, hey, Bill Duffy and Justin Haynes negotiated that. What

01:47do they negotiate? Like a really good player gets a max contract. You can't get any more

01:51any less at this point. So why are you giving away your money to any NBA agents ever if that's

01:56exactly what you are going to get? So, I mean, that's a side piece of the talking points that

02:00we're seeing here with Oklahoma City. This team is really good, but also the Celtics were

02:04really good. They hit that same threshold. Everybody gets paid. You are one injury away from

02:10blowing the team up because you can't afford to pay anybody else and cover a $75 million

02:15contract and be competitive. Not saying it's going to happen, but we're in a high stake

02:19game now of almost like chicken. Like, okay, really good team, really young team. Oh, no,

02:24we got to pay them hundreds of millions of dollars. And if anything goes wrong, we might not be able

02:28to compete. And we're looking to trade guys just to get out from under some of those contracts

02:33to be competitive the following year, like the Celtics. Basically, through the rest of the

02:38decade in Oklahoma City, Jen Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Shea Gilgis, Alexander are all

02:44inked up to the tune of a ton of millions of dollars. $822 million up to that value combined

02:51between Oklahoma City's big three. It is a lot to spend. And to Donnie's point, for a young

02:58core where most of them, their key significant contributors were on rookie deals, they were

03:04getting a discount on those paydays, not any longer, which is fine, right? Before you really

03:09get into that first apron, in the second apron, and then ownership needs to back up the talk

03:15of spending all of those bucks. But you do have a limited window based on where the aprons and the

03:20thresholds are now in the NBA to contend for championships. And God forbid, significant injuries

03:28happen, like we saw to Jason Tatum this last postseason. It can alter the vision of your

03:33franchise, trading away Drew Holiday, trading away Kristaps Porzingis. Not that the Celtics will

03:39not be a contender with Tatum back in healthy probably the following season, but to Donnie's

03:44point, it doesn't take a ton for this vision of what your future holds in Oklahoma City to change

03:50drastically. Plus 260 is the price on the thunder to win an NBA championship this upcoming season,

03:56DRS. It is still nearly a third of the 29 other teams in the association. Denver and

04:03Cleveland, some reshuffling in the market, co-favorites or co-second favorites, I should

04:08say. Time for that second best price at plus 750. Yeah, exactly. And by the way, just getting

04:14back to the contract status at this point, like the guaranteed money is crazy and it is

04:18there. And these players absolutely deserve that money. So, oh, Donnie's just being here.

04:22No, he's not. Like you need to get as much money as you can in a short window. It's just

04:25kind of interesting how like certain like dynasties were built in the past or even now.

04:30It's usually like, okay, Shea gets his extension this year. Oh, Holmgren's up next year. And

04:34then Williams is up the year after almost like staggered. It's just kind of astounding that

04:38like all three of these contracts just hit it one time. It's like, okay, yes, we love

04:42it. And if we're healthy, we're going to compete for years to come. But even as an ownership

04:46group, you're saying like, man, we're winning championships. Like I'm in a small market.

04:50I'm not even making a profit at this point. If I sell out now and what my franchise is worth

04:55because we're champions, let me just get out now at the right time. It's just interesting

04:58that the optics come down where deserved players getting paid the money that they are owed

05:02and rightfully so, but it almost looks like now like, all right, we're all in what you

05:07want to be all in. Like you want these players and you want a championship run, but boy, that

05:11financial like restraint that you're going to have now over the next couple of years where

05:14you have to thread the needle if you want to win championships. Otherwise you just bottomed

05:19well out with multiple injuries at massive contracts.

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