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Speculation began to grow on Friday that San Antonio Spurs<\/a> superstar Victor Wembanyama might be willing to take a discounted contract to help give the team further financial flexibility to build a winner around him.<\/p>\n That is what he ended up doing, even if it still results in him getting a $252 million extension over five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Friday, Wembanyama’s deal is a maximum rookie-scale contract extension<\/a> that includes a player option in the fifth year.<\/p>\n While it might be hard to wrestle with the idea of a $252 million max contract being some sort of a favor to the Spurs, it kind of is.\u00a0<\/p>\n Potentially a significant one.<\/p>\n According to Charania’s report, Wembanyama could have taken the 30% supermax escalators in his contract, potentially pushing its total value to $303 million. He instead opted to take the 25% maximum.<\/p>\n It is the third-largest rookie extension in NBA history, trailing the matching $269 million contracts signed by Cade Cunningham with the Detroit Pistons<\/a> and Evan Mobley with the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The contract also helps the Spurs avoid the luxury tax over the next two seasons, and they could still delay the tax clock by trading De’Aaron Fox before then.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nVictor Wembanyama’s contract extension still helps Spurs even if it is a rookie max deal<\/h2>\n