Whom do you give a supermax extension right now, with only the goal of winning?

[FultzNationRISE]

Forget the eligibility technicalities, say every player is eligible to take up a supermax chunk of salary for the next five years. Assume your only consideration is winning a chip, not ticket sales n so on.

And dont pick guys just to hang on to them long term. Pick Zion if you feel he’s a max guy on a title team in the next five years. Not necessarily with their current rosters, but on a hypothetical team where you dont know who the teammates will be.

Take injury history, psychological fitness (Kyrie) and all that into account.


The indisputable choices:
Lebron
Giannis
Jokic
Embiid
Doncic
Curry

Less clear cut but I would still take them:
Trae
Zion

I’m completely 50/50:
Tatum
KAT

Missed the cut for various reasons:
Durant
Morant
Lillard
Booker
Butler
AD
Kawhi
And everyone else I didnt already list, obviously


How bout ju?

[MrFonzworth]

Forget the eligibility technicalities, say every player is eligible to take up a supermax chunk of salary for the next five years. Assume your only consideration is winning a chip, not ticket sales n so on.

And dont pick guys just to hang on to them long term. Pick Zion if you feel he’s a max guy on a title team in the next five years. Not necessarily with their current rosters, but on a hypothetical team where you dont know who the teammates will be.

Take injury history, psychological fitness (Kyrie) and all that into account.


The indisputable choices:
Lebron
Giannis
Jokic
Embiid
Doncic
Curry

Less clear cut but I would still take them:
Trae
Zion

I’m completely 50/50:
Tatum
KAT

Missed the cut for various reasons:
Durant
Morant
Lillard
Booker
Butler
AD
Kawhi
And everyone else I didnt already list, obviously


How bout ju?

:roll::roll::roll:

[FultzNationRISE]

:roll::roll::roll:


Is there a problem, slick?

[2ball]

LeBron has been super extended below the waist for a while now

[Sulico]

Only Curry. He is the only guy who's proven he can win getting paid supermax.

[Kblaze8855]

Outside a cap jump situation like 2016 that let a champion also have massive cap room any team that had one of those players wouldn’t also have enough talent to win a title without them so….all of them. If the choice is pay or they make some other team better while mine is looking for a star to replace them?

Im not winning if they walk.

Thats one of the main problems of the “You can’t win with him” argument. You don’t tend to win without them either. If the only goal is winning soon you pay up for any of them because you have already accepted defeat if you don’t.

It doesn’t matter if it feeeeeels like Booker should get 60+ million in 2026. If they want to potentially win they give it to him because the alternative is hoping he takes a team friendly deal like an idiot after you show him you don’t value him like teams value lesser players or that he walks and you instantly suck so bad you can draft a Duncan or Bird like day one savior after a year. Even then you still need to build a title team in 3 seasons.

Way more unlikely than merely having a top 5ish team that just gets lucky with matchups and health at the right time.

Any team that can make a conference finals is the right 2 ankle turns from winning the title.

You just shoot to be in the mix. And signing all those guys helps you be in the mix more than them walking and you winning 28-40 games.

[Full Court]

Well definitely not the guy that led a superteam to the lottery. I mean, if your goal is actually winning.