2026 NBA Season

[happybitcoinph]

Business. If they manage to win back to back championships with that lineup then it's definitely worth it. There are so many ways an NBA team/franchise can earn that money back for their organization. You can simply Google or ask any AI like ChatGPT how they're able to afford paying players that much or ask why they’re willing to pay that such amount.

It's not about business. If that's business, they can just let go of him, hunt a good role player on the free agency, or trade him, and follow the original contract. They will have a wide salary cap if they do that, even though they have already granted SGA a max contract.

It's just that Chet is "eligible" on that rookie max contract extension allowed for him since they got the Championship, that's why his camp asked for it, and OKC approved it without any doubts, since what I mentioned earlier, they want to keep their championship lineup next season.

[OgNasty]

Ben McLemore is being sentenced to 8 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. He was a good up and coming player and now his life is ruined. Sad to work your entire life to reach the NBA and then just throw it all away because you can’t control yourself. With the money he was making you’d think he’d have women on the payroll before he’d be out raping them.

[terrific]

That's true, I remember that last year. When the Boston Celtics got their chip, their hype being the champs was quickly gone during the draft.
And that's because all eyes were on Bronny James being drafted by the Lakers and not even the first and second pick. Who were the first and second pick, last year?
They were even forgotten and no longer known by most fans because the highlights of the media is really depending on who's getting more the attention.

Yeah right, those folks was forgotten though I still recall who got th ROY award during that season a back to back award for San Antonio Spurs after Wemby won the 2024 then  it was Castle after, just like what you've said it was the media that will put up the news and whatever and whoever they are hyping the attentions will be converted and the fans and all those who are interested with the topic will surely got hook and begin to share their opinions.

Yeah, they're not able to last long with the hype for their championship title. But I guess that they know that it's the business that keeps on going.
So, they're all good with the title and it is the thought of having, 'what's next?' for them.
And so, they're focusing to what might be good to their careers and also to the players that have got enough and think they can get max contract.

[TravelMug]

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Chet Holmgren for 5 years and 250 million dollars max.
It's really unbelievable money. I still don't understand how they pay these money to these players. I don't think he deserves this contract.
Let's see how long we will see such big contracts.

Business. If they manage to win back to back championships with that lineup then it's definitely worth it. There are so many ways an NBA team/franchise can earn that money back for their organization. You can simply Google or ask any AI like ChatGPT how they're able to afford paying players that much or ask why they’re willing to pay that such amount.

But to answer your question simply: it's because owning an NBA franchise is a business.

Yes, it boils down to business, and we all know that NBA owners are Billionaires, and so by that maybe they could get a chunk from their own money. And then they have TV deals, or even sponsorship, and obviously ticket sales. There are a lot of ways that NBA owners can raise revenue for them to be able to pay their players with max contract, just like in this case.

And for me Chet Holmgren really deserves that contract. Chet Holmgren > Wemby.

He plays a vital role in their championship run, although he might be push by heavier center, Chet was always there for them as he is a two way player. And as fans of basketball, we are happy to see this players getting paid but hopefully they can still perform high level and will not be that confident but lacking the game play just because of their huge contract. So it comes with responsibility as well.

[OgNasty]

Booker’s contract will have him making just under a million dollars per game in his final year. I had suspected previously that Luka would be the first player to make a million per game, but that may not be the case now that Dallas didn’t opt to give him the supermax. I suspect Giannis will likely be that guy now. Whoever he does his next deal with will end up giving him more than 82 million in his final year.

Grok says Giannis could make 87 million in the 2031-2032 season…

Michael Jordan made 90 million in his entire career.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Booker’s contract will have him making just under a million dollars per game in his final year. I had suspected previously that Luka would be the first player to make a million per game, but that may not be the case now that Dallas didn’t opt to give him the supermax. I suspect Giannis will likely be that guy now. Whoever he does his next deal with will end up giving him more than 82 million in his final year.

Grok says Giannis could make 87 million in the 2031-2032 season…

Michael Jordan made 90 million in his entire career.

And it's like every year, the bar is being set high and for sure NBA will have to adjust their salary cap as players are now getting ridiculous and insane amount of money. So I wouldn't be surprised if players like Giannis will get a super max contract or maybe there will be more than what SGA is now getting or Booker.

For Jordan, very hard to compare, different era and if I'm not mistaken, the biggest he got with the Bulls is just around $6 million per year. But we all know that he is one of the richest basketball player because of his brand shoes.

So the breaking news in the last 24-48 hours is about Booker and Chet's big contracts.

[sana54210]

Haliburton has also opted out of the 2025-2026 season. The Indiana president said, "We can't sacrifice Haliburton next year. Haliburton will rest next season because he fears his basketball career will be over if he plays before his injury is fully healed. He had successful surgery.

I hope this injury doesn't end his basketball career early. Everyone has shown how important he is to Indiana this year."

Which makes sense, because we have seen plenty of people who came back early and then caused them to play much worse. Taking a full year out, would mean that he will not be playing for about 15 months or so at least. He won't play this summer, then all season, then next summer, so it should be something around 15 months, maybe even 16 months. That would be not only enough for him to heal, but then it would be great for him to rehab, and at that point we are going to see him be better than ever.

Plus, he could take this time to take care of his body, he could work out ,and be in better shape. What many do not see is that these players do not have this much time, all the way until they retire, they play as kids, and then they play at High school, and then one year of college, and then a whole NBA career. They don't get much time off, Haliburton, given 15 months, with recovery and working out, could actually be even better physically after this injury.

[Yaunfitda]

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Chet Holmgren for 5 years and 250 million dollars max.
It's really unbelievable money. I still don't understand how they pay these money to these players. I don't think he deserves this contract.
Let's see how long we will see such big contracts.

I understand your issue and feel the same. There's also a report that Jalen Williams might have received a good contract extension offer from the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's just clear that OKC wants to lock in their championship core lineup and instead of looking for players on the free agency or accepting proposed trade offers, they want to stick with their core championship lineup next season.

I think that will be the best option for them, to lock in their core. But we all know that sooner or later it might give them a problem as their luxury tax as over the roof. So sooner or later it's either one of them will have a pay cut or will be completely trade if their next season will be very bad for them. And maybe history repeats itself, KD and Russ and then James Harden in OKC before. Although they didn't win a ring, but it could have been close if they stayed together. But then again, Harden has a break out year and so they can't make him a offer because of the luxury ceiling. But for Chet, yeah, his young career has taken off because he was in good team as compare to Wemby and he is improving so for now let's say he deserved that kind of money.

[Dave1]

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Chet Holmgren for 5 years and 250 million dollars max.
It's really unbelievable money. I still don't understand how they pay these money to these players. I don't think he deserves this contract.
Let's see how long we will see such big contracts.

Business. If they manage to win back to back championships with that lineup then it's definitely worth it. There are so many ways an NBA team/franchise can earn that money back for their organization. You can simply Google or ask any AI like ChatGPT how they're able to afford paying players that much or ask why they’re willing to pay that such amount.

But to answer your question simply: it's because owning an NBA franchise is a business.

And for me Chet Holmgren really deserves that contract. Chet Holmgren > Wemby.

And during their fight for the rookie of the year, I thought that Chet has some edge on him. Nevertheless, Wemby is their favorite to I guess that's it. But then Chet is happy with it and just improved his game thru last seasons and although they didn't make it to the finals, but this season was different, they lead the NBA again and then finally won their first ring together.

So maybe there will be some critics that will same that Chet doesn't deserved that huge contract, but then again, who would? We've seen Booker's contract that is so huge, but did he bring a championship in Phoenix? Despite having KD or even CP3 before. Yes, they go into the finals against the Bucks, but after that, when the management didn't sign Ayton then they didn't replicate their success.

[Russlenat]

So maybe there will be some critics that will same that Chet doesn't deserved that huge contract, but then again, who would? We've seen Booker's contract that is so huge, but did he bring a championship in Phoenix? Despite having KD or even CP3 before. Yes, they go into the finals against the Bucks, but after that, when the management didn't sign Ayton then they didn't replicate their success.

Chet, being a young and highly competitive player, looks like someone the management is really banking on for the future. Physically, he might still develop similar to how Giannis bulked up, and if that happens, combined with his ability to shoot from the outside, he could become unstoppable. Right now, one clear edge Chet has over Wemby is that he already has a championship, and that kind of pride and confidence is hard to take away.

[dwyane36]

Haliburton has also opted out of the 2025-2026 season. The Indiana president said, "We can't sacrifice Haliburton next year. Haliburton will rest next season because he fears his basketball career will be over if he plays before his injury is fully healed. He had successful surgery.

I hope this injury doesn't end his basketball career early. Everyone has shown how important he is to Indiana this year."

Which makes sense, because we have seen plenty of people who came back early and then caused them to play much worse. Taking a full year out, would mean that he will not be playing for about 15 months or so at least. He won't play this summer, then all season, then next summer, so it should be something around 15 months, maybe even 16 months. That would be not only enough for him to heal, but then it would be great for him to rehab, and at that point we are going to see him be better than ever.

Plus, he could take this time to take care of his body, he could work out ,and be in better shape. What many do not see is that these players do not have this much time, all the way until they retire, they play as kids, and then they play at High school, and then one year of college, and then a whole NBA career. They don't get much time off, Haliburton, given 15 months, with recovery and working out, could actually be even better physically after this injury.

I don't know if there are statistics or not, but it seems to me that the Achilles injury is one of the most insidious in NBA history because it has ruined so many careers of promising players.
As for Hali, I doubt that he will be able to fully recover and perform better than before the injury, even if he has 15 months to recover.

[avp2306]

Which makes sense, because we have seen plenty of people who came back early and then caused them to play much worse. Taking a full year out, would mean that he will not be playing for about 15 months or so at least. He won't play this summer, then all season, then next summer, so it should be something around 15 months, maybe even 16 months. That would be not only enough for him to heal, but then it would be great for him to rehab, and at that point we are going to see him be better than ever.

Plus, he could take this time to take care of his body, he could work out ,and be in better shape. What many do not see is that these players do not have this much time, all the way until they retire, they play as kids, and then they play at High school, and then one year of college, and then a whole NBA career. They don't get much time off, Haliburton, given 15 months, with recovery and working out, could actually be even better physically after this injury.

I don't know if there are statistics or not, but it seems to me that the Achilles injury is one of the most insidious in NBA history because it has ruined so many careers of promising players.
As for Hali, I doubt that he will be able to fully recover and perform better than before the injury, even if he has 15 months to recover.

This is the 10 players recover from Achilles injury https://clutchpoints.com/nba/nba-stories/10-nba-players-who-recovered-well-from-an-achilles-tendon-injury

Before this is career ending injury but now when technology evolves together in medical industry they find some ways to give solution on this kind of injury gotten by some players.

Also Haliburton is young so for sure he have a good chance for recovery. Also its good that Indiana understand his situation and for sure 1 year recovery is enough for him to get back on his shape. But let see what will be the result of this since there are players suffered from this injury like Durant manage to recover and still a dominant player in the league.

[LogitechMouse]

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Chet Holmgren for 5 years and 250 million dollars max.
It's really unbelievable money. I still don't understand how they pay these money to these players. I don't think he deserves this contract.
Let's see how long we will see such big contracts.

Overpaid for me. Your value if you won a title and had a great contribution to that run will increase, but not to this extend in my opinion.

TBH, I'm afraid that they will be going the route that Boston did where they didn't care about the luxury tax and will just go to the 2nd apron just to retain their players. Remember when the Celtics went all in on their roster 2 years ago. They did got a title though, but didn't get a draft pick, and now they're unloading some of their players because it doesn't make sense paying tax when you aren't competing for the title next season. I'm not saying that this will happen to OKC as well, but this will be a huge risk for them. If they can pull this out, I will not be surprised if they will win another title with this roster especially they're young as well.

SGA got a huge contract, Chet also got one as well. Let's now wait for JDub to get his as well. I wonder how much of their whole salary cap will be going to these 3 players alone.

[danherbias07]

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed Chet Holmgren for 5 years and 250 million dollars max.
It's really unbelievable money. I still don't understand how they pay these money to these players. I don't think he deserves this contract.
Let's see how long we will see such big contracts.

Overpaid for me. Your value if you won a title and had a great contribution to that run will increase, but not to this extend in my opinion.

TBH, I'm afraid that they will be going the route that Boston did where they didn't care about the luxury tax and will just go to the 2nd apron just to retain their players. Remember when the Celtics went all in on their roster 2 years ago. They did got a title though, but didn't get a draft pick, and now they're unloading some of their players because it doesn't make sense paying tax when you aren't competing for the title next season. I'm not saying that this will happen to OKC as well, but this will be a huge risk for them. If they can pull this out, I will not be surprised if they will win another title with this roster especially they're young as well.

SGA got a huge contract, Chet also got one as well. Let's now wait for JDub to get his as well. I wonder how much of their whole salary cap will be going to these 3 players alone.

This can become a big problem in the long run, but not this season or the upcoming one. They are still hyped, and I bet the OKC management is making a ton of money through sales of different items.
Still, this could not end well for the team if they fail next season. They are young and very aggressive, and I hope they can keep the hunger to win one more and gain a back-to-back win. I think that's what the OKC management is also targeting.

It's also not a bad thing if they have valuable players, and they can trade them for better players if they need to.

[Wapfika]

I don't know if there are statistics or not, but it seems to me that the Achilles injury is one of the most insidious in NBA history because it has ruined so many careers of promising players.
As for Hali, I doubt that he will be able to fully recover and perform better than before the injury, even if he has 15 months to recover.

There’s a lot of Star Players that suffer achilles injury that becomes the turning point of their career. Klay Thompson is the most noticeable and recent best example for this.

He never play like before after suffering this injury. Kobe Bryant, DeMarcus Cousins and many become less effective when they suffer this injury.

It’s high chance that player can’t play fully potential already after suffering this injury. This is one of the worst for NBA player that keeps running and jumping.

[OgNasty]

Oh my God…

The Oklahoma City Thunder just gave Jalen Williams a five-year max rookie extension that could reach $287,000,000. This puts their “big 3” under contract for $822,000,000 over the next five years. This has got to be the absolute worst use of money I’ve ever seen in the NBA. I get that they just won a championship, but for that amount of money all three of them better end up in the GOAT conversation.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Oh my God…

The Oklahoma City Thunder just gave Jalen Williams a five-year max rookie extension that could reach $287,000,000. This puts their “big 3” under contract for $822,000,000 over the next five years. This has got to be the absolute worst use of money I’ve ever seen in the NBA. I get that they just won a championship, but for that amount of money all three of them better end up in the GOAT conversation.

Damn. I man J Will was essential for their success, no question, but this extension really blows up their salary like crazy. I guess they really want to keep the team together for the next years to come, for obvious reasons. I wonder how they will look like salary cap wise, this must definitely have a negative impact on that. If you spend so much money on 3 guys there is no chance to offer anybody else good money for the next years. Hartenstein is like the 4th highest earner I guess and he "only" gets 90mil over 3 years. The NBA has gone crazy with the money, that's for sure.

[Maslate]

Oh my God…

The Oklahoma City Thunder just gave Jalen Williams a five-year max rookie extension that could reach $287,000,000. This puts their “big 3” under contract for $822,000,000 over the next five years. This has got to be the absolute worst use of money I’ve ever seen in the NBA. I get that they just won a championship, but for that amount of money all three of them better end up in the GOAT conversation.

They have their reasons, and I think they’re different from other teams that usually shake up their roster right after winning a championship. This team clearly values that title probably because it was their first, so they’re rewarding their players. Besides, this big 3 is still young, so even if they won’t end up in the GOAT conversation (which I doubt they will), as long as they keep winning more championships, I’d say it’s still a solid investment.

[MK-74]

Devin Booker has agreed to a two-year, $145 million maximum contract extension with the Phoenix Suns.
Devin Booker is under contract through the 2029-30 season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed Jalen Williams. The Thunder have started shelling out money.
I don't think the Thunder will win a championship in the next two or three seasons. My gut tells me so.

[Fredomago]

That's true, I remember that last year. When the Boston Celtics got their chip, their hype being the champs was quickly gone during the draft.
And that's because all eyes were on Bronny James being drafted by the Lakers and not even the first and second pick. Who were the first and second pick, last year?
They were even forgotten and no longer known by most fans because the highlights of the media is really depending on who's getting more the attention.

Yeah right, those folks was forgotten though I still recall who got th ROY award during that season a back to back award for San Antonio Spurs after Wemby won the 2024 then  it was Castle after, just like what you've said it was the media that will put up the news and whatever and whoever they are hyping the attentions will be converted and the fans and all those who are interested with the topic will surely got hook and begin to share their opinions.

Yeah, they're not able to last long with the hype for their championship title. But I guess that they know that it's the business that keeps on going.
So, they're all good with the title and it is the thought of having, 'what's next?' for them.
And so, they're focusing to what might be good to their careers and also to the players that have got enough and think they can get max contract.

Indeed, those folks inside the business especially those players who are concerned about their respective careers they'll just going to move on and take what is next for them, as long as they getting decent compensation and the career still going strong, Media hypes will be followed and be what it may, another season another sets of teams and another trades that will discuss all are part of business.