The Oklahoma City Thunder Are Giving Chet Holmgren A Contract That Could Reach A Quarter-Billion Dollars

ByJoey Heldon July 10, 2025inArticles›Sports News

Running an NBA team is often a fickle thing. Back in 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder had just come off a terrific season, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since the team had moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City. Yet the Thunder were unwilling to go deep into the luxury tax to pay their core, and they traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets. Today, Oklahoma City is facing a similar situation, and the team appears to be moving in the opposite direction.

Funny how winning a championship can change your perspective.

Since the NBA’s free agency period began on June 30, the Thunder signed MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a four-year contract extension worth $285 million. They also re-signed Chet Holmgren to a rookie max extension. Holmgren’s deal is worth at least $239 million over five seasons, and could reach up to $250 million.

Joshua Gateley/Getty Images

Holmgren will get the bonus money if he makes an All-NBA team or wins Defensive Player of the Year, or the league’s MVP. He missed three months this season with a hip injury, though he was a key piece to the team’s success once he returned, particularly on the defensive end. Winning DPOY isn’t out of the question, assuming he can stay on the court for more games.

The Thunder are the second-youngest team ever to win a title, and they want to secure their star players for the long run. It’s going to be costly. The new contracts for Holmgren and Alexander are worth a collective $535 million, though those both don’t kick in until the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons, respectively. In the meantime, the two players will make nearly $93 million until those extensions begin. That means the Thunder have a combined $628 million dedicated to two guys over the next six seasons.

And that’s before the team offers Jalen Williams a long-term extension, which will presumably be close to the max, as well. The Thunder could very well be handing out about $900 million to their three-star players, likely encountering tax and apron issues across multiple seasons.

Perhaps the organization learned from 2012, when it led Harden to walk instead of trying to run it back with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook . While keeping this lineup together will be costly, the team did bring the franchise its first-ever championship and is poised for another strong run this upcoming season. That kind of longevity is worth a pretty penny.

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• The 10 Highest Paid NBA Stars Will Each Earn $40+ Million Next Season
• Russell Westbrook Just Signed The Richest Contract In NBA History
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Could Score The First $80 Million Salary In NBA History

The 10 Highest Paid NBA Stars Will Each Earn $40+ Million Next Season

ByJoey Heldon September 2, 2021inArticles›Sports News

The frenzy of NBA free agency is behind us, and teams are now starting to look toward the upcoming season. Before things tip off, every team is buzzing with excitement; even the worst squads in the league have hope when the games haven’t yet been played.

Players will be excited to get back on the court, and some are more amped than others. That’s because, for the first time in NBA history, the league’s top stars are all going to be making huge dollars. Ten players will take home at least $39.3 million with their contracts. Paired with possible incentives, endorsement deals, and other perks, they’ll all easily clear $40 million.

Here’s a look at the league’s highest-paid players for the 2021-22 season, with salaries rounded to the nearest $100,000:

Steph Curry , Golden State Warriors — $45.8 million

If you think Steph Curry makes an absurd amount of money, you’re not wrong — but the Warriors likely consider it payback for the beginning of his career, when he was wildly underpaid. Curry was on a four-year, $44 million contract that kicked in during the 2013-14 season. That means he was making just $11 million per year during the Warriors’ first championship run, the season they went 73-9, and their second championship. He signed a four-year, $215 million extension this summer, which will pay him just under $60 million during the final season of the contract.

John Wall , Houston Rockets — $44.3 million

The second-highest-paid player on this list, Wall also may be the most fragile. He suffered an Achilles injury during the 2018-19 season which forced him to miss 50 games that year, the entirety of the following season, and 42 games this past season. But he’s looking for a second chance at stardom in Houston, which could land him another lucrative deal after this one’s up (though it likely won’t be worth nearly as much). Wall has a player option next season for more than $47.3 million — it would be absolutely shocking if he turns that down.

James Harden , Brooklyn Nets — $44.3 million

James Harden started last season with the Rockets — where he signed an extension worth $228 million in 2017 — before being traded to Brooklyn. Harden has a player option for the next season worth $46.8 million, though he may decline it to sign a longer deal with the Nets. His first season on his new team didn’t go nearly as smoothly as he’d hoped. He missed games during both the regular season and playoffs due to injury, and he enters this year still searching for his first-ever NBA title.

Steph Curry (L) and Kevin Durant (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Russell Westbrook , Los Angeles Lakers — $44.2 million

In acquiring Wall, the Rockets traded one $40+ million man for another. Westbrook signed a massive deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and since inking that extension he’s moved on to the Rockets, the Washington Wizards, and now the Los Angeles Lakers. It’ll be fascinating to see how he fits alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis . But one thing’s for sure: the team is going to have a ton of guys that aren’t afraid of taking over a game.

Kevin Durant , Brooklyn Nets — $42 million

Durant came one toe on the line away from sending the Nets to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they likely would have been favorites to win the NBA title. He’ll get another crack at it this year, though he’s hoping he has a healthy surrounding cast, including Harden and Kyrie Irving . On top of next year’s salary of $40.9 million, Durant can also earn $1.1 million in likely incentives. He may be the best player in the NBA right now and just inked a long-term deal to stay in Brooklyn through the 2025-26 season.

LeBron James , Los Angeles Lakers — $41.2 million

James has had a rollercoaster of a career in Los Angeles since joining the Lakers back in 2018. He suffered an extensive injury his first year as the Lakers missed the playoffs entirely, but bounced back to capture his fourth NBA championship and Finals MVP in the NBA Bubble. This past year, the Lakers made the play-in tournament, defeating the Golden State Warriors to earn the seventh seed. They were eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, but are back to being among the title favorites heading into this season. James is also perhaps the most popular player across the world; with the revenue and number of fans he brings to the league, he’s arguably wildly underpaid .

Giannis Antetokounmpo , Milwaukee Bucks — $39.3 million

The reigning Finals MVP has been living the good life in Milwaukee. He helped end the city’s 50-year championship drought and re-upped to stay in town for the long run. With an extremely likable personality off the court, Antetokounmpo will likely add on quite a bit to next year’s salary with new sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.

Paul George , Los Angeles Clippers — $39.3 million

Though George may not have fully shaken off the “Pandemic P” nickname during this year’s playoffs, he did help lead the Clippers to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals while his teammate Kawhi Leonard sat out with a knee injury. George and Leonard joined the Clippers together back in 2019. The former signed an extension before the start of last season while the latter just agreed to a four-year deal this summer. Both of the Southern California players are set on one thing: winning a championship in front of their hometown fans.

Kawhi Leonard , Los Angeles Clippers — $39.3 million

Leonard is probably the best two-way player in the league, though he comes with the caveat that he’s going to miss several games every year. Whether through load management or an injury, Leonard has sat out 73, 22, 15, and 20 games during the past four seasons. He’ll likely miss most or all of this upcoming season while recovering from his latest knee injury, but he offers enough when healthy that the Clippers were comfortable signing him to a massive deal.

Damian Lillard , Portland Trail Blazers — $39.3 million

We know Damian Lillard will make $39.3 million this season. We don’t know if he’ll still be on the Blazers when all is said and done. The team’s star player has expressed frustration with the franchise as they made offseason personnel moves, including bringing in Chauncey Billups as head coach. There have been rumblings of a potential trade request, though it’s unclear how much validity there is to those rumors. Regardless of where Lillard plays, you can bet he’ll have at least one clutch shot that we’re all celebrating at some point this season.

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