Speculation began to grow on Friday that San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama might be willing to take a discounted contract to help give the team further financial flexibility to build a winner around him.
That is what he ended up doing, even if it still results in him getting a $252 million extension over five years.
Victor Wembanyama’s contract extension still helps Spurs even if it is a rookie max deal
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Friday, Wembanyama’s deal is a maximum rookie-scale contract extension that includes a player option in the fifth year.
While it might be hard to wrestle with the idea of a $252 million max contract being some sort of a favor to the Spurs, it kind of is.
Potentially a significant one.
According to Charania’s report, Wembanyama could have taken the 30% supermax escalators in his contract, potentially pushing its total value to $303 million. He instead opted to take the 25% maximum.
It is the third-largest rookie extension in NBA history, trailing the matching $269 million contracts signed by Cade Cunningham with the Detroit Pistons and Evan Mobley with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The contract also helps the Spurs avoid the luxury tax over the next two seasons, and they could still delay the tax clock by trading De’Aaron Fox before then.