Victor Wembanyama’s season-ending injury could lead to a historic payday for one of his peers.
On Thursday, the Spurs second-year star was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a blood clot in his right shoulder. The 21-year-old is expected to be ready for the start of the 2025–26 season.
Throughout this season, Wembanyama, was the runaway frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year. He led the NBA in blocks with 176, 72 more than Brook Lopez, who ranks second. And Wembanyama’s 3.8 blocks per game leads the league as he’s established himself as a defensive anchor.
Now, Wembanyama won’t meet the NBA’s 65-game threshold to make him eligible for end-of-season awards, paving the way for someone else to be named Defensive Player of the Year.
Enter Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies star forward, and Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley.
Both players saw their odds shift in their favor to win the award after Wembanyama’s injury news was announced, with Jackson holding a slight edge on Mobley in sportsbooks. Mobley signed a five-year contract extension in July worth $224 million. Should he beat out Jackson, the honor wouldn’t immediately change his contract situation.
Jackson has already won the award before in 2023 and doing so again would make him eligible for a supermax contract extension this summer for five years and $345 million. The deal would top Jayson Tatum’s current extension as the largest contract in league history in total dollars. It is the same deal Luka Dončić was eligible for had the Mavericks never traded him.
Jackson, 25, has another path to the supermax. He could reach it by being named to one of the league’s three All-NBA teams. He was just named an All Star for the second time in his career and is averaging 22.9 points per game, a career-high, for the Grizzlies, who boast a 36–19 record, which is third in the Western Conference.
In 2021, Jackson signed a four-year contract extension with Memphis worth $105 million, which came at a discount because Jackson was coming off a season in which he played just 11 games due to injuries. The contract decreased each season, starting at $28 million for the 2022–2023 season and is currently paying Jackson around $25 million this season. His performance has made it one of the most team-friendly deals in the league.
Jackson has a renegotiation clause in his contract this offseason, allowing Memphis to increase his $23.3 million salary for next season to $36.5 million. He could also be extended on a max contract for four years and $229 million.
All-NBA seemed like the more likely route for Jackson to become supermax eligible, but Wembanyama’s injury has now carved another realistic path. If Jackson loses out on both All-NBA honors and Defensive Player of the Year, he is eligible for a four-year veteran extension worth $147 million, $32 million less per season compared to the supermax.
