Big Dex got paid.

It was a matter of when, not if, for Dexter Lawrence, the massive, 25-year-old defensive tackle coming off a career season.

The Giants wanted Lawrence long term, and Lawrence, a team captain, wanted to stay.

Both sides knew the way to make this possible was to make Lawrence one of the highest-paid players at his position in the league.

It happened.

Lawrence on Thursday agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $90 million, a source confirmed, with $60 million in guaranteed money.

The per-year average of $22.5 million makes Lawrence the NFL’s third-highest paid defensive tackle, behind just Aaron Donald ($31.6 million average) and Jeffery Simmons ($23.5 million), matching Daron Payne of the Commanders, who earlier this offseason signed a nearly identical, four-year, $90 contract extension.

Lawrence and Payne are represented by the same agent, Joel Segal.

Lawrence, who likes to go by “Sexy Dexy,’’ picked an opportune time to have his best season in 2022.

He established career highs in tackles (68), sacks (7.5), tackles for loss (7.5) and quarterback hits (28).

The sacks and quarterback hits were quantum leaps forward for Lawrence, who revealed a pass-rushing element to his game he had not previously shown.

The production helped him get voted into his first Pro Bowl.

Not long after he was hired, general manager Joe Schoen decided to pick up the fifth-year option on Lawrence for $12.4 million for the 2023 season.

Schoen after this past season smiled and did not see the need to play coy when asked if Lawrence had done enough to warrant a new deal.

“Yeah, I would say Dexter has done enough,” Schoen said, suppressing a laugh. “Dexter played really well. Great person, great teammate, and happy he’s here.”

The Giants selected Lawrence with the No. 17-overall pick in the 2019 draft — a pick they acquired from the Browns in the trade that sent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland.

Lawrence became an immediate starter and an iron man, playing in 16 games in all four years with the team.

It has been an expensive offseason for the Giants, who were one of the NFL’s surprise teams in 2022, going 9-7-1 and winning a playoff game for the first time since 2011.

They secured quarterback Daniel Jones—- a draft classmate of Lawrence — with a four-year deal worth $160 million.

Next up for Schoen could be an extension for running back Saquon Barkley, who has yet to sign his franchise tender of $10.1 million for the 2023 season.

The plan is to build the front end of the defense around Lawrence.

His running mate on the interior of the line, Leonard Williams, is entering the final year of his contract — at a base salary of $18 million — and there certainly are no guarantees he will be on the roster after this season.

Lawrence stayed away from the voluntary offseason workout program this spring, hoping his absence would spark contract negotiations.

There was really no reason for concern.

The Giants had a pecking order for their big-money expenditures, and it started with Jones.

Lawrence was always going to be accounted for, and it is safe to assume he will now show up at the team facility and participate in the program.

The Giants fortified their defensive tackle this offseason, signing veterans Rakeem Nunez-Roches and A’Shawn Robinson, hoping to bolster a run defense that finished 27th in the league in 2022, allowing 144.2 rushing yards per game, despite Lawrence’s contributions.