From the moment Victor Wembanyama arrived in the NBA, he has been one of the league’s most fascinating figures. At 7-foot-4, with the mobility of a wing, the scoring touch of a star and the rim protection to average 3.5 blocks per game, he has lived up to the “alien” nickname fans gave him. Add in a reliable three-point shot, and it is easy to understand why the basketball world still treats him like something it has never quite seen before.
Wembanyama entered the 2023 NBA Draft as the clear-cut No. 1 pick, and the San Antonio Spurs were the franchise fortunate enough to land him. Now, after a run to the NBA Finals, San Antonio has made sure its franchise centerpiece is not going anywhere anytime soon.
The Spurs and Wembanyama have agreed to a five-year max rookie-scale contract extension worth $252 million. It is a staggering figure for a player just three seasons into his NBA career, even if those seasons have been as impressive as advertised. The number also highlights just how dramatically NBA money has changed over time. LeBron James’ first extension paid him about $20 million per year, while Michael Jordan earned roughly $93.8 million across his entire NBA career. Wembanyama is set to surpass that total in just two seasons under this new agreement.
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What makes the deal even more notable is that Wembanyama left a massive amount of money on the table. He was eligible for a 30% supermax extension that could have been worth around $303 million, but he chose not to include the escalators that would have pushed the contract to that level. As a result, his agreement ranks as the third-largest rookie extension in NBA history, behind the five-year, $269 million deals signed by Detroit’s Cade Cunningham and Cleveland’s Evan Mobley.
Wembanyama confirmed the news in a message to fans on social media, writing: “Spurs family, I’m here to stay. Whatever it takes.”
The extension comes after the best season of Wembanyama’s young career. He averaged career highs of 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game while helping the Spurs defeat their rival, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to win the Western Conference. San Antonio then advanced to the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks, but the series ended in disappointment as the Spurs fell in five games despite holding double-digit leads in every contest.
That Finals run marked the first postseason experience for much of San Antonio’s young core, including Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. Julian Champagnie, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Carter Bryant were also making their playoff debuts. Even De’Aaron Fox, the veteran guard acquired from the Sacramento Kings the previous season, had entered last year with just one prior playoff series on his résumé.
Wembanyama and the Spurs both know how difficult it can be to keep a young team together. When players are on rookie contracts, there’s more salary cap flexibility, but those deals don’t last forever. By saving about $10 million per season in cap space over the next five seasons, Wembanyama is putting winning above maximizing his potential earnings.
Of course, he’s still signing a contract worth north of a quarter-billion dollars. And he’s quickly becoming one of the best players in the league and will likely be the face of the NBA for the next decade or more. The off-court earnings he’ll make will trounce the $50 million he’s giving up in this deal.
Wembanyama has already accomplished plenty in his relatively brief NBA career thus far. He’s hoping to add a few more trophies to the mantle before too long.
