Alexander renewed his contract with an annual salary of 71.25 million yuan. Compared with the "God of Basketball" Jordan, I know how big the gap is

On July 2, 2025, on the second day after the NBA opened free-market players, many people were still talking about the Trail Blazers buying out Ayton and the Rockets "killed crazy", the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had just won the first championship in the team history, released a bombshell, directly snatching the limelight and focus of all teams.

Last season, the Thunder won 68 wins and 14 losses, and the person who led the Thunder to achieve such a record won the regular season scoring champion, MVP, and MVP in the Finals, becoming the fourth player in NBA history to achieve this achievement in a single season after Jordan, O'Neal and Jabbar.

He is Shei Gilgers-Alexander, the leading player of the Thunder. The Thunder's bombshell reached a four-year, $285 million super maximum salary renewal contract with the leading star in advance, directly locking the future of the team and the star.

Someone distorted Alexander's salary of $71.25 million, with a monthly salary of 5.94 million, a weekly salary of 1.48 million, a daily salary of 212,100, an hourly salary of $8,840, a minute of $147.26, and a second of $2.45. In other words, he slept for eight hours at night and woke up with more than 70,000 US dollars in his account.

At the same time, someone has sorted out the record-breaking maximum salary contracts in NBA history. No matter from which perspective, they can almost kill everyone in seconds.

is almost in between. The maximum salary that someone received back then may be a height that Alexander could not reach in his life. This person is Jordan, known as the "God of Basketball".

In the 1997-1998 season, the Bulls, which had already won five NBA championships, aimed at the second team's three consecutive championships. In this season, the Bulls offered Jordan an annual salary of $33.14 million.

From the comparison of numbers alone, Jordan's $33.14 million is nearly half less than Alexander's $71.25 million. Why is it still something Alexander can't reach?

At that time, the NBA's salary cap was only $26.9 million, which also means that Jordan's annual salary alone exceeded 23% of the league's salary cap set.

And that's not the point. The point is that Jordan's annual salary accounted for 58% of the total salary of the team's players back then.

In other words, the Bulls' salary was only more than 57 million yuan that year, while the total annual salary of 14 players including Pippen, Rodman, and Kukoc, except Jordan, was only 24 million US dollars.

In contrast, although Alexander's annual salary of 71.25 million set an NBA record, it is far from the level of Jordan's "carrying half a team by one person" back then. What is more worthy of attention is the age and career stages of the two when they sign this contract. Alexander is only 26 years old now and is at the peak of a player's most golden period. Without major injuries, there will be at least 5-8 years of peak window in the future.

In other words, the Thunder bet on Alexander's future for a four-year, $285 million contract. Once there is a major injury, the Thunder will lose badly.

Look at Jordan again. He signed an annual salary of 33.14 million yuan and was 34 years old. He was transitioning from the late peak of the "God of Basketball" to retirement. After leading the team to win the second three consecutive championships in team history this season, Jordan retired again.

In other words, Alexander's 71.25 million is the Thunder's early lockdown on the "peak of the future"; and Jordan's 33.14 million is the last footnote to the "realized legend". The "gold content" of the two is originally based on different time dimensions.

Of course, comparing two superstars from different eras with simple numbers is itself biased. Jordan's annual salary of 33.14 million is remembered not only because of the amazing number, but also the ultimate interpretation of the "God of Basketball" in the NBA's dominance.

Alexander's 71.25 million indicates the beginning of a new era. The first championship in the team history is also the Thunder's redevelopment around Alexander's reconstruction. The young point guard is writing his own legend in his own way.

From $2.45/second to $147.26/minute, from the "ceiling" of the salary cap to "regular operations", behind the changes in numbers is the evolution of the NBA's salary system, and it is also a microcosm of the soaring influence of basketball in the global reach.

But no matter how the times change, the definition of "legend" is always clear. Jordan used 33.14 million to establish his status as the "God of Basketball". Can Alexander write a new legend with 71.25 million? The answer will be revealed in the future.