Victor Wembanyama signed the richest contract in San Antonio Spurs history, a five-year extension that could top $250 million if his player option is picked up in his final season, a person familiar with the negotiations said Friday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the financials were not disclosed to either party. The Spurs, who reached the NBA Finals last season with the NBA center and unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, announced the signing of Wembanyama, simply saying the two sides had agreed to a “multi-year contract extension.”
“Spurs family, I’m here to stay,” Wembanyama wrote on social media on Friday. “Whatever it takes.”
The agreement is provided at a discount; Wembanyama could have agreed to a deal that would have been worth more than $300 million over five years, but opted for a lower figure to give the Spurs flexibility to move forward with their young core and in anticipation of the contracts some of those up-and-coming stars will be eligible for in the coming years, the person said.
And that was the only detail that the parties really had to work out. Vembanyama, 22, is already regarded as one of the most dominant players in the game and it was a no-brainer that Spurs would extend his contract. The only question was whether Vembanyama would agree to a deal that started with him earning 25 percent of the salary cap, or whether he would wait to see if he could earn 30 percent of the salary cap initially.
ESPN was the first to report the agreement.
Vembanyama will earn about $16.8 million in the upcoming season, the last on his rookie contract. The newly signed deal begins the 2027-28 season and the salary will start at around $43.5 million and continue to rise from there.
The seven-foot-four center from France will have a $57.5 million option for the 2031-32 season.
Wembanyama was the Western Conference Finals MVP last season, finished third behind Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokic in overall season MVP voting and has led the league in blocks per game in all three of his NBA seasons so far.
He averaged 25 points and 11.5 rebounds last season, leading San Antonio to a 62-20 record, the No. 2 seed in the West and a berth in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. The Spurs lost the series in five games.
“It hurts. It hurts,” Vembanyama said minutes after the finale ended. “But I don’t run from it. I use it to fuel myself. … I’m not satisfied that I didn’t win. But like I said, it’s the biggest lesson of my life. There’s no better experience for a team than what we just went through.”