MVP money: SGA could net $890K-per-game contract; Luka, Jokic up for raise, too

Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is eligible for the NBA’s most valuable contract this offseason.
Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, became “supermax” eligible with the Oklahoma City Thunder by earning All-NBA honors in consecutive seasons, and the numbers are something to behold.
SGA could sign a four-year, $293.4 million pact with an average salary of $73.3 million, which equates to almost $900,000 per game in the regular season. He can sign the record-setting agreement as early as July 6.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in scoring at 32.7 points per game in the regular season and has the Thunder in the NBA Finals.
In the unexpected event of Gilgeous-Alexander opting to hold off for one more season, his July 2026 contract would become a five-year, $379 million deal.
The 2025 extension season involves other big names who could be rewarded with guaranteed money despite having multiple seasons left on their current contracts.
Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic is eligible for a three-year extension worth over $210 million from the Denver Nuggets. He can sign a new contract between July 6 and Oct. 21, but with two seasons and a player option for another remaining on his existing contract, Jokic might not rush into anything.
Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers have a hold on a maximum extension of four years, $229 because he was traded. Doncic can’t sign a four-year contract until August under terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement but can take three years and $160 million next month if he’s eager for the guarantee to get done.
Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young is eligible to sign a $229 million extension for four years in July. The Hawks and Mavericks exchanged the draft rights of Doncic for Young on the night of the 2018 NBA Draft,
Gilgeous-Alexander was chosen 11th in that draft by the Charlotte Hornets after his Kentucky teammate, Kevin Knox, went ninth to the New York Knicks. Gilgeous-Alexander was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers for Miles Bridges, who was picked 12th.
Stunningly traded by the Mavericks during the 2023-24 season, Doncic averaged 28.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game in 450 games over his first seven seasons.
The top two picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans) and Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies) represent interesting cases in contract leverage. Neither has consistently been available to his team for multiple reasons, but both have been dominant for stretches and are younger than SGA.
Williamson played 30 games last season, the third time in five years he failed to play in fewer than half of the Pelicans’ regular-season games, and also is facing off-court legal issues.
Williamson turns 25 on July 6, the first day he can sign a two-year extension worth up to $128.4 million.
Morant, 25, is eligible for an extension of the same value. Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson, chosen between Doncic (third) and Young (fifth) in 2018, is also extension eligible.
There are also two-year, $150 million extensions available to the Knicks with Karl-Anthony Towns and the Phoenix Suns with Devin Booker.