Oklahoma City Thunder All-NBA star and champion Jalen Williams agreed to a five-year maximum rookie contract extension that could reach $287 million, agents Bill Duffy and Justin Haynes of WME Basketball told ESPN.

After becoming the second-youngest team in NBA history to win a title, the Thunder now have long-term commitments from their big three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26), Williams (24) and Chet Holmgren (23) to play together and compete for championships through the rest of the decade.

Gilgeous-Alexander officially signed a four-year, $285 million supermax Tuesday, and Holmgren reached a five-year, $250 million max Wednesday — with the three new extensions totaling up to $822 million.

Williams suffered a complete tear of the scapholunate ligament in his right wrist April 9 and played through the injury after missing two weeks in March due to a strain in the wrist. Williams detailed on YouTube his experience playing the rest of the season with the serious injury to his wrist, which was heavily taped. He received treatment such as pain-killing and anti-inflammatory injections.

He underwent surgery to repair the wrist after the Thunder’s Finals victory.

Williams, the Thunder’s No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft, earned All-NBA and All-Defensive Team honors after a stellar third season in Oklahoma City. He had a career year, averaging 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists on 48.4% shooting from the field.

New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones agreed to a three-year, $68 million contract extension with the franchise, representatives Mark Bartelstein and Kieran Piller of Priority Sports told ESPN.

Jones now has a total of five years and $97 million on his Pelicans deal, with a new player option in 2029-30.

The 26-year-old has risen from a second-round pick in the 2021 NBA draft to a two-way stalwart for the Pelicans, being named to the 2023-24 All-Defensive first team.

COLLEGES

The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools saying it had rejected deals between players and donor-backed collectives formed over the past several years to funnel money to athletes or their schools.

Those arrangements hold no “valid business purpose,” the memo said, and don’t adhere to rules that call for outside NIL deals to be between players and companies that provide goods or services to the general public for profit.

The letter to Division I athletic directors could be the next step in shuttering today’s version of the collective, groups that are closely affiliated with schools and that, in the early days of NIL after July 2021, proved the most efficient way for schools to indirectly cut deals with players.

Since then, the landscape has changed yet again with the $2.8 billion House settlement that allows schools to pay the players directly as of July 1.

Already, collectives affiliated with Colorado, Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia and others have announced they’re shutting down. Georgia, Ohio State and Illinois are among those that have announced plans with Learfield, a media and technology company with decades of licensing and other experience across college athletics, to help arrange NIL deals.

Outside deals between athlete and sponsor are still permitted, but any worth $600 or more have to be vetted by a clearinghouse called NIL Go that was established by the new College Sports Commission and is being run by the auditing group Deloitte.

In its letter to the ADs, the CSC said more than 1,500 deals have been cleared since NIL Go launched on June 11, “ranging in value from three figures to seven figures.” More than 12,000 athletes and 1,100 institutional users have registered to use the system.

But the bulk of the letter explained that many deals could not be cleared because they did not conform to an NCAA rule that sets a “valid business purpose” standard for deals to be approved.

The letter explained that if a collective reaches a deal with an athlete to appear on behalf of the collective, which charges an admission fee, the standard is not met because the purpose of the event is to raise money to pay athletes, not to provide goods or services available to the general public for profit.

The same would apply to a deal an athlete makes to sell merchandise to raise money to pay that player because the purpose of “selling merchandise is to raise money to pay that student-athlete and potentially other student-athletes at a particular school or schools, which is not a valid business purpose” according to the NCAA rule.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The committees for men’s and women’s Division I basketball met this week to discuss possible expansion of the March Madness tournaments, but made no immediate decisions or recommendations.

“The still viable outcomes include the tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expanding the fields to either 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2026 or 2027 championships,” Dan Gavitt, the NCAA senior vice president of basketball, said in a statement.

NFL

Chargers running back Najee Harris sustained an eye injury after a fireworks mishap at a July Fourth event, his agent Doug Hendrickson told ESPN. Hendrickson said the injury was “superficial” and that Harris is expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.

Harris signed a one-year deal with the Chargers in March to play a key role in rebuilding the Chargers’ rushing offense. If Harris were to miss any time, the Chargers would have to lean heavily on first-round rookie Omarion Hampton.

Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers this spring, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge stemming from his arrest last November when he was with the Rams.

Robinson was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $390 fine plus penalty assessment and to complete a series of programs, including a three-month alcohol program and a hospital and morgue program, and not to drive any vehicle with any measurable amount of alcohol, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

CHP officials indicated that the 30-year-old suspect was driving at more than 100 mph.

Officers observed what they determined to be “symptoms of alcohol impairment” and arrested Robinson on suspicion of driving under the influence, and Robinson was subsequently “released to a responsible party,” according to the CHP.

In two seasons with the Rams, Robinson caught 57 passes for 876 yards and 11 touchdowns. Last season, he finished with 31 receptions with career highs of 505 yards and seven touchdowns.

In March, Robinson signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal, with $6 million guaranteed, with the 49ers.