Want more from Front Office Sports
in your search results?
NBA free agency just started at 6 p.m. ET on June 30, but the scene has already started to quiet. The biggest names remaining are restricted free agents (Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey, and Quentin Grimes) and aging veterans (Chris Paul, Al Horford, and Russell Westbrook).
However, contract extensions are the next focus of the NBA’s offseason. Some of the league’s best are eligible for nine-figure extensions, similar to the four-year, $285 million deal that 2025 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander agreed to Tuesday with the Thunder.
That includes three-time MVP Nikola Jokić, who can sign a three-year deal worth more than $200 million. That deal would start in 2027–28, with the first year replacing the player option on his current supermax deal. He has three years, $177.1 million left on that deal.
Jokić has little incentive to sign the extension, as he can wait for next summer to sign a four-year extension in the ballpark of $300 million. In the last few days, however, the Nuggets have made significant changes—trading for Cam Johnson and Jonas Valančiūnas and signing Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr.—that could incentivize their star to lock into his extension early.
“We’re definitely going to offer it. I’m not sure if he’s going to accept it or not because we’re also going to explain every financial parameter around him signing now versus signing later, ” Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke said last week about Jokić’s extension.
Atlanta’s Pitch for Trae
The Hawks are another franchise that has made significant offseason changes to bolster the team around its extension-eligible star, Trae Young. Atlanta added Kristaps Porziņģis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Luke Kennard, and still has the flexibility to add another piece.
Young has about $95 million left over two years, but could sign a four-year, $229 million extension that would start in 2026–27. By replacing the $49 million player option that year, Young would effectively have a five-year, $275 million deal.
Around the NBA
Several other players are also available for extensions, including Suns star Devin Booker, who NBA insider Marc Stein reported is in talks on a two-year, $150 million extension ($75 million average annual value). The deal would keep him in Phoenix until the 2029–30 season.
Other notable extension candidates include:
- Kevin Durant, Rockets: The recently traded forward is eligible to sign a two-year, $111 million extension, though the trade can only be finalized by July 6.
- Luka Dončić, Lakers: If the 26-year-old waits until Aug. 2, he can choose to sign for three years, $165 million, or four years, $229 million.
- Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, Thunder: Gilgeous-Alexander’s championship running mates are both eligible for rookie-scale max extensions worth close to $250 million over five years.
Aside from Gilgeous-Alexander, the players who have already agreed to extensions include Kyrie Irving (three years, $119 million) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (five years, $240 million). Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, the team announced Tuesday, a day after news of his extension, that Jackson suffered a turf toe injury that will require a procedure to repair.
Download the FOS App
The business of sports, in your pocket.
Scan the QR code to get the app now.
