Jalen Williams gets $287 million contract from Thunder

The Thunder have locked down their young core for the foreseeable future.

Jalen Williams has signed a five-year, $287 million supermax contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday

It is no wonder that the Thunder have prioritized re-signing their talent, as they are coming off their first NBA title since moving to Oklahoma City.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren make up the three-headed monster that terrorized the league this season, going 68-14 in the regular season.  

Gilgeous-Alexander, the 26-year-old NBA MVP, was recently signed to a four-year, $285 million contract, and Holmgren, 23, was signed to a five-year, $250 million contract.

The total value of the three signed contracts amounts to $822 million.

During his third NBA season this year, Williams earned third-team All-NBA and second-team All-Defensive honors.

The 24-year-old averaged career-highs of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. 

Williams, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, was also a key contributor to the Thunder’s long playoff run. He kept stuffing the stat sheet with nearly identical numbers to the ones he put up in the regular season, averaging 21.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.

He had a standout performance in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, scoring 40 points on 14-for-25 shooting in a Thunder win that put them up 3-2 in the series before they won in Game 7.

The Thunder have made minimal changes to the rest of their roster. This means that the championship window will remain wide open — much to the chagrin of the rest of the NBA.