New NBA Rumors on Victor Wembanyama 'Considering' Spurs Pay Cut in New Contract Extension

After losing the NBA Finals to Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks, Victor Wembanyama could follow his lead on his next contract to help the San Antonio Spurs maintain some cap flexibility in the future.

After Wembanyama seemed to indicate on Friday that he will be signing an extension, NBA insider Jake Fischer noted there have been rumblings the Spurs star is "considering" signing for less than the $251 million max he could get on a new deal.

The total value of an extension for Wembanyama could climb up to $301 million over five years if he were to hit certain designated player incentives, like winning MVP or making the All-NBA team.

Considering Wembanyama will enter every season for the foreseeable future as the frontrunner to win Defensive Player of the Year, it's not hard to imagine a scenario in which he could fully max out that deal if he wanted to.

However, one thing that has stood out in the NBA's apron era is teams are more cautious with how they spend than ever before.

It was just days after the Knicks beat the Spurs to win the NBA Finals that governor James Dolan had to pour some cold water on the party by saying in no uncertain terms he would never spend into the second apron.

"I'll write as big of a check as possible," Dolan said, "but I can't write a check that goes into the second apron."

The Boston Celtics have spent the last two offseasons breaking up the core of a championship team, including trading away Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown, in large part due to the second apron.

One team that stands out as an anomaly in this era is the Knicks because Brunson opted to extend in the summer of 2024 on a four-year, $156.5 million deal, despite being eligible for a five-year, $269 million contract if he had waited until 2025 to sign.

By giving the Knicks a discount, Brunson allowed the team to trade for and sign OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. Brunson will only be the third-highest-paid player on the team next season, behind Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns.

It's unclear what kind of a discount Wembanyama would give the Spurs, but they are approaching a point when their roster will get very expensive.

De'Aaron Fox's four-year, $221 million extension kicks in with the upcoming season. His 2026-27 salary will be $49.5 million before going up to $53.4 million in 2027-28, which would be the first year of Wembanyama's extension.

Stephon Castle becomes extension eligible next summer, followed by Dylan Harper in the in the summer of 2028.

Even though there is some runway for the Spurs to figure things out with Castle and Harper, it's not as long as they would like given that they made a huge bet on Fox last offseason.

Wembanyama is on a path to becoming the best player in the NBA, so it would seem likely the Spurs will be happy to pay him whatever he wants and figure out the rest.

The 22-year-old finished third in MVP voting last season, averaging 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game in 64 appearances. He has led the NBA in blocks per game in each of his first three seasons.

San Antonio won 62 games in the regular season, made the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.