The Thunder agreed to sign a defensive mood Cason Wallace to a five-year, $139 million rookie scale extension, Shams Charania reports for ESPN (via Twitter).
The move will take place a day before October 19 deadline for rookie expansion and represents a major investment in the 22-year-old guard, who will likely inherit the starting lineup spot that was vacated when the team traded Lugentz is there to the Hawks.
Although Wallace’s scoring increased slightly last season, from 8.4 ppg as a sophomore to 8.6 ppg as a sophomore, he solidified himself as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, leading the NBA in total steals (150) and rebounds (339), while ranking third in steals per game (1.9).
For his efforts, Wallace was named to the All-Defensive Second Team and finished seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Wallace is also shooting a career-high 37.4% from three-point range and should help provide spacing for the Thunder’s offensive creators, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. Although Dort was a longer range shooter, his percentages were more erratic from year to year than Wallace, who never had a 3PT% below .351 in a season.
Oklahoma City now has all five starters locked in to multi-year deals with key reserves such as Alex Caruso, Bennett Stirzand Marr’s candidate also signed for at least the next three years. Of the Thunder’s 14 players on the standard roster, 13 are under contract through 2027/28 with guaranteed salaries or team options.
The thunder that pelted Dorth Aaron Wigginsand Isaiah Joe as part of spending cuts this offseason, plan to work above the second tax apron in 27/28 and face huge taxes if they don’t take more salary cuts down the stretch, as detailed by Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (via Twitter). Still, Wallace’s extension keeps him off the open market, where he would likely draw significant interest from competing suitors, and removes a possible source of off-court distraction.
When we ranked the expansions on the beginner scale from least likely to most likely earlier this monthwe ranked Wallace No. 3 on this list and noted that he’s unlikely to match or exceed the five-year, $155 million deal signed by other defensive aces Ausar Thompson but should be better than a four-year, $100 million contract Dyson Daniels received last fall. Wallace’s average annual value of $27.8 million on his new deal is about halfway between Daniels’ $25 million and Thompson’s $31 million.
Wallace is the sixth player from the 2023 draft to agree to a rookie extension before Monday’s deadline, joining Victor Wembanyama, Keyonte George, Brandin undergroundand the Thompson twins (Ausar and Amin Thompson).
