Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Complete Four-Year Super-Max Extension
July 8: Gilgeous-Alexander’s lucrative new four-year mega-deal is now official, the Thunder confirmed in a press release.
July 1: The Thunder and reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have agreed to a four-year, super-max contract extension, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The contract will begin in 2027/28, adding four years to the two left on Gilgeous-Alexander’s current deal and locking him up through at least the ’29/30 season, with a player option for ’30/31, per Charania (Twitter video link).
While Charania refers to it as a $285MM payday for the Thunder star, the exact value of the contract will depend on where the 2027/28 salary cap ends up — Gilgeous-Alexander’s super-max extension will start at 35% of that season’s cap, with 8% annual increases from there. Charania’s projection assumes a 7% cap increase for next year, as projected by the NBA on Monday, followed by a 10% increase in 2027.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who will turn 27 later this month, is coming off one of the most successful seasons in NBA history. He racked up 32.7 points per game on a shooting line of .519/.375/.898 while also contributing 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 block per contest.
He followed up that regular season performance this spring by averaging 29.9 PPG during the postseason and leading the Thunder to their first title in Oklahoma City.
Those performances earned Gilgeous-Alexander MVP honors in both the regular season and the NBA Finals, making him the 16th player in league history to win both awards in the same year. It hadn’t happened since LeBron James pulled off the feat during the 2012/13 season.
Gilgeous-Alexander actually met the performance criteria for a super-max contract (also known as a “designated veteran” deal) in 2024 by making an All-NBA team for a second straight season, but wasn’t permitted to sign his extension until this summer because he hadn’t yet met the service-time criteria.
A player with between seven and nine years of experience typically has a maximum salary of 30% of the cap, but can qualify for 35% by being named MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, or All-NBA in the most recent season or in two of the previous three seasons.
Gilgeous-Alexander had the option of waiting another year to sign his super-max extension — at that time, he could’ve added a fifth year, increasing the total projected value to nearly $370MM. However, it doesn’t come as a surprise that he opted not to leave this sort of payday on the table for another year.
The Thunder will now shift their focus to two other key extension candidates, as both Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are eligible this offseason for rookie scale extensions as they prepare to enter their fourth year in the NBA.
Nuggets To Hire J.J. Barea As Assistant Coach
The Nuggets are adding former NBA guard J.J. Barea to their coaching staff as an assistant under new head coach David Adelman, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Barea will be a front-of-bench assistant in Denver, Charania adds.
Marc Stein first reported the Nuggets’ interest in Barea, who had been coaching the Guaynabo Mets in his native Puerto Rico over the past couple years before being let go in May.
Barea, who turned 41 last week, played in the NBA from 2005-19, spending the majority of those 14 years in Dallas and winning a title with the Mavericks in 2011. Following his retirement, he spent a year as a player development coach for the Mavs in 2021/22.
As Tim MacMahon of ESPN notes (via Twitter), Adelman was an assistant coach in Minnesota when Barea played for the Timberwolves during the only non-Mavs stint of his career from 2011-14. Adelman reached out to Barea to recruit him for the role, MacMahon reports.
The Nuggets have also reached an agreement to hire Rodney Billups, the younger brother of Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, as an assistant, agent Andy Miller tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Rodney worked on his brother’s staff in Portland from 2022-24 before spending this past season as a Nets scout.
Denver is also said to have interest in Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley for a role on Adelman’s staff. While the Nuggets were granted permission to speak to Dudley, there has been no word yet on whether or not he’ll leave Dallas for Denver.
Lakers Rumors: DFS, Ayton, LeBron, Wiggins, LaRavia
After Dorian Finney-Smith turned down his $15.4MM player option for the 2025/26 season, the Lakers offered him a new contract, but it only covered two seasons, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic. The veteran forward instead agreed to a four-year, $53MM deal with Houston.
As Woike explains, the Lakers want to maintain as much future cap flexibility as they can in order to be able to pursue a star-level player to pair with Luka Doncic following LeBron James‘ eventual retirement.
That point has also been made by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who writes that the Lakers want to preserve 2027 cap room in the hopes of landing a maximum-salary player, and by Shams Charania, who discussed the subject on SportsCenter late on Monday night (Twitter video link).
“They are really prioritizing two-year contracts right now,” Charania said. “They want to have max-salary space in 2027.”
How that stance affects the Lakers’ search for a center remains to be seen. While Brook Lopez committed to the Clippers on Monday and Clint Capela agreed to a deal with Houston, it’s Deandre Ayton who has been the team’s top priority, according to Woike, who points out that Ayton and Doncic share the same agent (Bill Duffy).
It sounds like the Lakers are unlikely to offer more than two years to Ayton, so if there’s a rival suitor willing to put a longer deal on the table, that could be problematic for Los Angeles. However, I’d be a little surprised if that’s the case after his time in Portland ended via buyout.
Woike points to the Bucks as one team to watch for Ayton, noting that they should have access to most of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and lost their starting center (Lopez) on Monday.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- ESPN’s Dave McMenamin spoke on NBA Today on Monday about where things stand with James following agent Rich Paul‘s Saturday statement about evaluating “what’s best for LeBron” as the star forward opted into the final year of his contract. “(Paul) has not had any discussion with the Lakers about wanting a trade, on the back end of this statement,” McMenamin said (YouTube link). “He did say that four teams have contacted him in the last 24 hours wanting to take trades, but Rich didn’t have any substantive conversations with those teams either. Right now, LeBron is focused on playing on a championship-caliber roster. Rich told me there’s no guarantees in building a championship-caliber roster, but we know what it looks like and what it doesn’t look like. And we’ll see if in a week from now – when Rob Pelinka‘s finished doing his work with this roster – if it looks like a winning, realistic situation.”
- According to Jovan Buha (Twitter video link), the rumored trade talks between the Lakers and Heat about Andrew Wiggins haven’t gained any real momentum due to a “pretty high” asking price on Miami’s end. “We’re talking basically everything or close to everything that the Lakers could offer from a top-end asset standpoint,” Buha said. “So I don’t think that is going to happen. I don’t think the Lakers are trading Rui (Hachimura), a first, and Dalton (Knecht) for Andrew Wiggins. That’s not fair value. That’s not a realistic trade. I think Miami’s playing hardball. We’ll see if they soften their stance.”
- League sources tell Woike that Jake LaRavia, who agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal with the Lakers on Monday, was the team’s first call when free agency opened, and that the free agent forward was impressed by the way Pelinka sold the Lakers’ strength and JJ Redick‘s “detailed” plan for how he would be used. One executive who spoke to Woike about the move lauded LaRavia for his toughness, shooting, and burgeoning play-making skills, while another said, “Everyone can use a player like him.”
NBA 2025 Free Agency: June 30 Recap
Even after several of this year’s top free agents – including James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Naz Reid, Julius Randle, and Fred VanVleet – reached contract agreements with their respective teams well before the first day of free agency, it was still an eventful June 30 in the NBA, with news of deals coming in both before and after the free agent period officially got underway at 5:00 pm Central time.
Listed below are all the free agent agreements and other notable news items from the first day of free agency.
Free agent agreements
These deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these agreements sometime after the moratorium ends on July 6.
Note: Some of these salary figures may include options, incentives, or non-guaranteed money.
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Hawks agree to four-year, $62MM contract (sign-and-trade).
- Dorian Finney-Smith, Rockets agree to four-year, $53MM contract.
- Santi Aldama, Grizzlies agree to three-year, $52.5MM contract.
- Luke Kornet, Spurs agree to four-year, $41MM contract.
- Caris LeVert, Pistons agree to two-year, $29MM contract.
- Ty Jerome, Grizzlies agree to three-year, $27.7MM contract.
- Tre Jones, Bulls agree to three-year, $24MM contract.
- Clint Capela, Rockets agree to three-year, $21.5MM contract (sign-and-trade).
- Brook Lopez, Clippers agree to two-year, $18MM contract.
- Kevon Looney, Pelicans agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
- Jake LaRavia, Lakers agree to two-year, $12MM contract.
- Day’Ron Sharpe, Nets agree to two-year, $12MM contract.
- Ziaire Williams, Nets agree to two-year, $12MM contract.
- D’Angelo Russell, Mavericks agree to two-year, $11.7MM contract.
- Nicolas Batum, Clippers agree to two-year, $11.5MM contract.
- Paul Reed, Pistons agree to two-year, $11MM contract.
- Luke Kennard, Hawks agree to one-year, $11MM contract.
- Kevin Porter Jr., Bucks agree to two-year, $10.5MM contract.
- Gary Trent Jr., Bucks agree to two-year, $7.6MM contract.
- Tyus Jones, Magic agree to one-year, $7MM contract.
- Luka Garza, Celtics agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Taurean Prince, Bucks agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Cam Spencer, Grizzlies agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Trendon Watford, Sixers agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Bruce Brown, Nuggets agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Jeff Green, Rockets agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Nigel Hayes-Davis, Suns agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Aaron Holiday, Rockets agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Joe Ingles, Timberwolves agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Mason Plumlee, Hornets agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Jae’Sean Tate, Rockets agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Collin Gillespie, Suns agree to one-year contract.
Other notable headlines
Nuggets agree to trade Michael Porter Jr., unprotected 2032 first-round pick to Nets for Cameron Johnson.- Grizzlies agree to renegotiate, extend Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s contract (five years, $240MM).
- Suns, Hornets officially finalize Mark Williams trade.
- Lakers, Bulls officially finalize draft-night trade.
- Thunder wing Jalen Williams to undergo wrist surgery.
- Mike Brown to interview a second time for Knicks‘ head coaching job.
- Kings expected to sign Dennis Schröder, with a sign-and-trade scenario involving Malik Monk going to the Pistons potentially in play.
- Jazz buy out Jordan Clarkson; he’s expected to sign with Knicks.
- Jazz guarantee Svi Mykhailiuk‘s 2025/26 salary.
- Suns waive Cody Martin.
- Jazz waive Johnny Juzang.
Notably, five of the first 10 players in our list of this year’s top 50 free agents are still on the board as of late Monday night: Myles Turner, Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, Cam Thomas, and Quentin Grimes don’t yet have deals in place.
The full list of available free agents can be found right here.