San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama took the NBA by storm this season, leading his team to 60 wins and an Finals appearance in just his third season in the league. And now, per Shams Charania, the young phenom is taking the NBA to the bank as well. Charania relays the details of a contract extension between Wembanyama and the Spurs, a five-year, $252 million maximum rookie-scale deal with a player option in the fifth season.
The extension doesn’t make Wembanyama the highest-paid player in the league,
but it’s remarkable for a rookie. For perspective, when former Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen purchased the team in 1988, he paid $70 million total. Now, less than 40 years later, a single, rookie-scale player is making 3.5 times the amount the entire Blazers franchise cost back then.
Wembanyama appeared in 55 games for the Spurs last season, averaging 29.2 minutes per. He scored 25.0 points per game, adding 11.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks, winning Defensive Player of the Year in the process.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Wembanyama is borrowing a Bag of Holding from franchise icon Tim Duncan to hold all the loot. We’ll have more on that story as it develops.
