The OKC Thunder head into Thursday night's Game 6 with an opportunity to clinch their first championship since relocating from Seattle, as they're up 3-2 in this best-of-seven NBA Finals series against the Indiana Pacers.
One win is all that it will take to not only have them claim the 2025 Larry O'Brien Trophy as their own but also kick off what many believe will be a dynastic era for Oklahoma City basketball.
Of course, in order to achieve such an enviable status, GM Sam Presti must lock down the club's core trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren for the long haul.
Win or lose, ESPN's Tim MacMahon recently revealed that two of the aforementioned three ballers are believed to be in line for lucrative, multi-year contract extensions this coming offseason.
Thunder expected to extend Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren this summer
Per sources, rival executives strewn across the association are under the impression that both Williams and Holmgren will put pen to paper on new deals following the conclusion of the NBA Finals.
Considering the former's career-best campaign that saw him set league history with his individual accolades and statistical accomplishments, and the latter's incredibly underrated contributions in this year's championship round, this report should come as little surprise.
Of course, with their statuses as established and rising studs, respectively, the expectation as far as salary figures should be that both Williams and Holmgren will receive somewhere within the max-level range with their forthcoming paydays.
According to ESPN's cap expert Bobby Marks, said range will be in the ball park of $246 million through up to a five-year span, with a possibility for the fiscal number to increase to a whopping $296 million if they add All-NBA, MVP, or Defensive Player of the Year provisions into the mix.
What's perhaps most staggering about this expected $492 million decision the Thunder will presumably make this summer is that, following his MVP-winning 2024-25 campaign, Gilgeous-Alexander is now eligible for an even more ridiculous five-year, $380 million extension that can be signed during the summer of 2026.
While Oklahoma City has reaped the rewards of its youth-filled roster being predominantly attached to rookie-scale salaries over these past few years, its current status of boasting the seventh-lowest payroll is only bound to increase exponentially following the signing of these well-deserved extensions.
Fortunately, it seems this front office has positioned themselves in the best way possible to seamlessly navigate through such financial burdens.