The top player on the top team in the Western Conference plans to make a long-term commitment to the franchise.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters on Wednesday that he doesn’t want to play anywhere else. He’s not interested in going to a bigger market, as many of the league’s stars have done in recent years.
“I can only speak for myself. I love Oklahoma City and I can’t see a world where I’m not in Oklahoma City,” he said, as relayed by The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd. “I’m comfortable where I am. I like where I am. I love the people in the organization, love the people around me, and those are the things that matter. I go to work every day with a smile on my face.
“Me personally, the market doesn’t matter. The money doesn’t matter to a certain extent. But as long as I enjoy what I’m doing at a very high level, I love the people that I’m around doing it.”
Gilgeous-Alexander signed a maximum-salary rookie scale extension in 2021. He’s currently in the third season of that five-year, $179.3MM contract.
SGA met the performance criteria to sign a designated veteran (ie. super-max) extension worth 35% of the salary cap when he made All-NBA teams in 2023 and 2024. However, he was ineligible to ink that extension last summer because seven seasons of NBA service are required. This is his seventh season, meaning he’ll be able to sign it in July 2025.
It’s a virtual lock that the franchise will offer him that super-max, which projects to be worth up to about $314MM over five years.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s statistics this season are closely aligned with last season’s numbers, when he made the All-NBA First Team and finished second in MVP voting. He’s averaging 31.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks per game for the Thunder, who are 30-6 despite losing their showdown with Eastern Conference-leader Cleveland on Wednesday.
Every player has the right to decide what’s best for them but it certainly makes me happy to hear this. The league is way more interesting when every team has a real chance.
Why would he want to leave being on a team that cold be a champion and lots of upside. As long as they give him a max there is no reason for him to leave.
Yeah everyone loves their situation when they’re winning lol. What’s he gonna say, “okc stinks I want to play somewhere else.” Even Steph Curry could change his hometown tune by February “golden state has been wonderful but I always wanted to X” “yeah playing Charlotte could be cool” it’s all just games in basketball…
Curry’s family is too rooted in the bay for him to want out. He saw what happened to Jordan when he left Chicago.
Lets not play poor OKC…their path hasn’t exactly been very prideful …lose lose lose get lucky on SGA
2k will call it a vision, probably even build Presti a statue some day, but really there’s not much to commend here
Silver SHOULD be capping the amount of draft picks teams can have at one time to contradict this silliness but he’s got a fondness in his heart for losers that ill never understand.
Having the first rd picks all congested in the tankers is hurting the sport, hurting the trade deadline, and hurting NBA games night after night
Agreed. Presti has spent almost half his career trying to lose. Maybe that should be on then plaque under the statute. The other ping pong ball whisperer of this generation (Popovich) at least won championships with the generational talents he was gifted.
Silver supports small market franchises and their owners at every turn. It’s on principle; the principle being that these franchises are the reason he still remains commissioner.
equalisation measures are good for fan interest and good for the league, unless you’d like to see all of the talent (and therefore all of the titles) concentrated in the wealthy, big market teams. don’t stress about the picks being concentrated, they’ll be redistributed when the rebuilding teams decide to cash in their chips.
If SGA wants to win championships, he’ll leave enough on the table so the team can use the non-taxpayer midlevel exemption. Players who are actually serious about championships will do that. I don’t think too many are willing to do that.
Except he has left some money on the table. He sat out most of the early OKC seasons due to “injury” they were tanking. He was not able to get on All Star teams, All NBA, or defense due to limited games. His current rookie max could have been more with those percent increases. They also have loads of picks so they are going to have depth pieces when he gets max. The max isn’t the problem it is organization trading picks to create a super team and thinking ring chasers on minimum are enough. Okc will have developed guys like Mitchell and Dillion on lower deals.
No way they leave 15 + under apron 1 once JW and Holmgren are upped
He would be taking high 20’s mid 30s if so …isnt happening
They can have all the picks they want. Success for a smaller market team isn’t sustainable. If Silver was playing favourites with smaller markets, they’d be able to spend just as much as Gokden State, L.A etc but they can’t. Thunder will need those picks to stay relevant.
Disagree we just saw Den and Mil be pretty compelling
No reason why OKC cant spend money when the time has come. I don’t buy into it
both of those teams struck gold with their best players and both are struggling to sustain their success. they are the exceptions that prove the rule.
SGA is a professional. His most important job is to make money and then to win… it’s OKC’s job to find ways to win and make a very competitive roster. If you only depend on stars leaving money on the table to build a team it means you have a very bad front office and a recipe for not winning.
SGA must get paid to the full & OKC must find a way to build a championship team around him… each one has their own unique job to do.
SGA says money does not matter to a “certain extent”, huh!? OK, OK…
It is what he said a certain extent he is not going to take way below the worth. He is also a new dad, kids are expensive if he wants more and to set them up it takes money. Sga is also Canadian so the money conversion and if he has to pay for taxes and things there with US taxes too matters.
Yes kids are expensive, but he’s good for 180M with more on the way, so those kids will be fine. Argument is stronger for the parent who makes 50k a year with a 2% raise that doesn’t even cover inflation.
“Kids are expensive” brother, you are talking about like $40M to $50M. After like $500,000, money isn’t an issue and you can have unlimited kids.
Why are you talking like its normal people, under $100k, non-NBA wages? SGA’s life will not improve at all past a certain amount, its usually like $5M. He just wants to keep raising the max, as max talent players -have- to do that or else the owners would pocket more of the profits. Weird take.
The sports media tends to have a collective perspective that’s about 20 years behind the times. In any event, it’s been about that long since a player’s desire to go from a small market to a big market could be rationally tied (at least principally) to making more money. If it is, it’s very player specific and about post-career opportunities. During a superstar NBA career, salary (and security) is maximized (mostly) by staying put/ extending early, and off the court opportunities are almost exclusively determined by success and prominance within the league, as promoted and sanctioned by the league. Sports apparrel companies, who hand out the biggest checks for off the court things, strictly follow the league’s parameters. In recent times, players sometimes pass up a lot of other opportunities, particularly international players. Their higher salaries have likely raised the bar for it to be worth their time.
> During a superstar NBA career, salary (and security) is
> maximized (mostly) by staying put.
That’s not the view of agencies or current superstars, and you needn’t look hard to find their statements to the contrary. The advantages of being in LA or NYC are enormous at any stage of a superstar’s career, including afterward. Agencies constantly pressure their clients to move to larger cities if the player doesn’t naturally feel that way.
The mega stars are doing business year-round, with stakes in multiple kinds of businesses, across entertainment, real estate, social media, etc, etc. Steph Curry or LeBron have past and future wealth that could not be built in OKC, Minneapolis, New Orleans, etc. The big goal is to set yourself up during your career, when your name opens doors, to continue to build much greater wealth after your career.
Shoes/apparel are a fraction of a mega-stars income while playing, but go away once a player retires.
Even in a digital world, the entertainment advertising and financial industries are built on personal relationships, and those are about physical proximity.
Every superstar’s situation is unique (especially the 2 you mentioned), but views and statements only matter if they’re supported by actions. The only real evidence of what and who any group actually believes is their actions as a whole (not the statements of a few, and certainly not those of agents made or leaked to the public).
If your claims are valid, why isn’t it common practice (as it was for most of the NBA’s free agency era) for star free agents to move from small to large market teams in their prime? The free agent market is not a secret, it’s right there and designed for this purpose. Not only isn’t it common practice, it’s becoming a non-option, and its for financial reasons. There is almost no star level free agent market at all any longer. What remains consists of older players past their primes. Universally, free agents on all levels go where they get the highest salaries, not where they might enhance their brand. Maybe you should send the next potential free agent class a memo on your views (and cite the statements of the players and agents you’re referring to). Because, apparently, they’re missing something (unless you are).
Even the supposed exceptions, for the most part, actually prove the rule. For instance, the two examples you chose to highlight. LeBron spent the first 15 years of his career in CLE (ranked in the high teens in market size) and MIA (mid-teens). Going to LA, where he essentially already lived, did nothing more than help him look after his business interests, it didn’t enhance his brand nor did he expect it to. Curry spent his entire career with GSW (SanFran area is only about 10th in market size, and the GSW was never considered a big market franchise before the championships). Of course, both won 4 champtionships. They were highly promoted by the NBA across all the markets the NBA serves, including international markets. That success and the NBA marketing machine created their brands, not any of the markets they played in. Durant is an example here too. He certainly didn’t go to GSW to increase his brand. It was to (finally) win a ring. Durant was also a guy who “might have” been pushed to NY by his business partner to enhance his brand (although again, he did it well past his prime, and he indicated it was mostly about teaming up with his buddy). Of course, it had no impact he could see, and, once his buddy was dealt, he wanted out as well.
Listening less to what people say, and paying more attention to what they do, generally results in a better understanding of their landscape.
DXC, I wasn’t able to follow your reasoning of “prime” vs “not prime”. Regardless, the facts are that superstars tend heavily to move from small to big markets, not big to small, especially as they grow older.
LeBron from Cleveland to LA
Kahwi from Cleveland to LA
KD from GS to NYC
Kyrie from Boston to NYC
KD from OKC to Bay Area (3rd best place for a pro athlete, after NY and LA)
BTW, your read on Curry and the Bay Area (population ~7 million) is false. It’s, by far, the most affluent area in the country (the combined market cap of high tech countries dramatically exceeds the value of the finance industry in Manhattan), and Curry is connected to the greatest wealth in the country via the VC’s who own the Warriors. Durant has a number of investments in Bay Area based tech, as well as being an LP in various funds. Durant had all this in mind from the get-go.
As for LeBron and his business activities, your facts are off there as well.
Aristole- How do you explain the Lakers Knicks and Nets not even being able to even get an interview in the mid 2010’s?
You don’t know what an athlete’s “prime” is? It is, among other things, when a player would build his brand. It’s the period of a career when a star (or most of them) would move from a small market to a large market if that mattered in building their brand. Few have, because it doesn’t have a major impact on it.
Market cap on high tech countries? Durant’s LP investments? Curry’s connections via GSW’s ownership? Best place for a pro athlete? LOL. All complete irrelevancies in determining market size, and almost anything else discussed.
Yes, GSW, which plays in a moderate size market area, is a very attractive place for a basketball player right now. But if you’re expecting an under 30 superstar to play out his contract and sign there as a free agent to enhance his financial future, then you’ll have a long wait.
That’s a novel definition of “prime”. More generally, business seems to be an area with which you’re not familiar?
It’s not nearly so much about “brand” (although it starts there) as building wealth through a range of investments and relationships. That’s why as superstar athletes mature, they tend to move to the larger, more affluent cities.
KD moved to the Warriors at 28 yrs old, and the Nets at 31. He had a Nike deal at 24, he became broadly invested across industries by 29, and he continues to expand his portfolio, which extends far beyond his “brand”.
Steph and LeBron have similarly been accumulating broad portfolios, with relationships outside basketball since their mid-20’s.
I’ve never said that the Bay Area is a favored destination for young basketball players. But it’s the most affluent area in the country , the center for technology, social media, and for venture capital. Pro athletes and entertainers are heavily invested there. Depending on how you measure it, the greater Bay Area has from 7.5 to 9 million people.
Why even ask these questions and report them? Literally all players under 30 say they love the team who is currently paying them. It’s the over 30’s who already have secured the bag who do all the complaining.
The over 30’s are indeed at a different stage of life.
They’ve had a decade of learning about money, agents, and financial advisors. Most have become parents & husbands.
Maybe “complaining” is responsible adult behavior.
SGA is major. We all should learn from him. No one thought he’d be this good. This is what happens when 19yr olds are drafted. All the hype about ANtman. When SGA is the guy they should be pushing. He’s a 2Way player. And a team guy. At 26 is clearly one of top guys now. Good for OKC
Al, I agree that SGA is more worthy than Ant. Not as charismatic, though, which makes a big difference in the ad world.