by Chet Holmgren has agreed a five-year contract extension worth nearly $ 240 million to stay with the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, a person with knowledge of the deal on Wednesday said.
The person spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the signing has not yet been announced. ESPN, who reported the deal for the first time, quoted agent Bill Duffy, said it could eventually be worth $ 250 million because of various contract plates.
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It is the second important extension for the Thunder since winning the NBA title last month. The other went to NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP and reigning scoring champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who received an extension of four years, $ 285 million.
And soon the Thunder Jalen was able to expand Williams – another large part of the title team – and lock up their young core for years.
Holmgren will earn $ 13.7 million this next season, the last year of his Rookie deal, before his salary jumps to around $ 41 million before 2026-27 and the start of the extension.
He was the number 2 Pick behind Orlando’s Paolo Bancero in the NBA design of 2022 and then missed the whole of what his first professional season would have been with a foot injury. He played all 82 games in 2023-24 to help the Thunder make the second round of the play-offs and was then limited to 32 games last season after a hip injury.
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Holmgren was for the whole of the Thunder Playoff-Run, on average 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds in 23 Postseason matches covered by Oklahoma City who dropped Indiana and won the NBA final in a seven-game thriller.
The way in which Holmgren came back from the injury is one of the stories that the most seemed to keep at Thunder General Manager Sam Presti during the title run.
“They went through a considerable amount of adversity during the season,” Presti said last month at the end of the season with reporters. “In reality, much of that adversity has forged us in the team that we were, played different line -ups and are without players and that players then get back, and the selflessness and humility that the players who came back to fit into a team that really cooked without them is an example of that, but we had many others.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
