Thunder's Updated Salary Cap After SGA's Historic $285M Supermax Contract Extension

The Oklahoma City Thunder made history with their supermax extension for reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gilgeous-Alexander is signing a four-year, $285 million contract extension that will keep him in Oklahoma City until 2031 and pay him the highest average annual salary in NBA history, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

ESPN's Bobby Marks provided a breakdown of how Gilgeous-Alexander's new contract will be paid out:

Gilgeous-Alexander is set to make $38.3 million this coming season, which will take up 24.8 percent of the salary cap, per Spotrac.

His $40.8 million salary for 2026-27 will take up a projected 24.7 percent of the cap that season, Spotrac estimates.

That amount is set to jump to 35 percent of the Thunder's cap when Gilgeous-Alexander's new extension kicks in ahead of the 2027-28 season.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who was selected by the Charlotte Hornets and traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2018, was traded to the Thunder ahead of the 2019-20 season.

He signed his first contract with the franchise in August 2021 with a five-year, $179 million max rookie extension.

That paid off for the Thunder this season, as Gilgeous-Alexander won the regular-season MVP title before averaging 29.9 points in the playoffs while leading his team to the championship.

The Thunder's ability to remain a contender going forward will hinge around their ability to build around Gilgeous-Alexander on his supermax contract.

Oklahoma City currently only has two other players locked in past the start of Gilgeous-Alexander's new extension. Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins are projected by Spotrac to combine for about $29.3 million in salary, or 15.7 percent of the cap, during the 2027-28 season.

Given that all other players either have club options or are currently set to hit free agency by then, that leaves the Thunder currently with just about half of the 2027-28 cap to build their future roster.

The Thunder extended Jaylin Williams on a three-year, $24 million deal with a club option for the third year prior to signing Gilgeous-Alexander.

Oklahoma City may need to focus on building similar flexibility into other signings they make this offseason to keep cap room open for when the percentage of the cap taken up by Gilgeous-Alexander increases in 2027.