Oh my God…
The Oklahoma City Thunder just gave Jalen Williams a five-year max rookie extension that could reach $287,000,000. This puts their “big 3” under contract for $822,000,000 over the next five years. This has got to be the absolute worst use of money I’ve ever seen in the NBA. I get that they just won a championship, but for that amount of money all three of them better end up in the GOAT conversation.
It's now clear that OKC wants to lock in their championship lineup and fill out their salary cap by retaining their players instead of getting new ones. Maybe OKC is just full of gratitude for what happened on their franchise having their first championship title as an OKC franchise with the help of these young cores, that's why they will continue to bet on them in the next several seasons.
There's also a possibility that if one of these three is improved next season and will enter free agency, they might look at other teams (with a better offer), that's why OKC already locked them up for the next 5 seasons. A gamble but a wise move.