Phoenix Suns realize they drafted two players well, decide to keep them
The Phoenix Suns picked up the team option for the third year of two bright young stars they drafted in 2018, a stark change to draftees of years past.
Shams Charania of the Athletic reported the Phoenix Suns have picked up the team option for both Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges guaranteeing them a third year of their rookie contracts.
After releasing or trading previous lottery picks Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss, and Dragan Bender, the team decided to mix things up and keep some of the players they drafted on the team a while longer.
The Phoenix Suns haven’t been known for their stellar drafting skills in recent years. Valley of the Suns recently did a re-draft of 2016 and 2017, considering no one selected those years remain on the team. Oh, what might have been.
2018, however, was different.
The Suns drafted Deandre Ayton, second runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting last year and Mikal Bridges, who had a solid rookie campaign in his own right, even though he was snubbed for the All-Rookie team.
Each player signed a rookie contract with a team option for a third and fourth year.
For the NBA contract naïve, if the Suns felt the players were doing well enough, they could keep them on the cheap an extra season or two before they hit free agency where they could become substantially more expensive.
The Suns, after realizing they drafted players who are actually worth it, picked up the third year on both Ayton and Bridges before their second season even began.
Ayton’s now-exercised third year will pay him a shade over $10 million. He also has a fourth year team option for the 2021-2022 season that would pay out a little over $12.5 million.
The same goes for Bridges who now gets $4.3 million his third year, and team has the option to keep him through 2022 for an extra $5.5 million.
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The Phoenix Suns have been bitten by bad contracts and bad draft picks more than the average team. Picking up the team options for Ayton and Bridges shows they are confident in these selections and will be able to use them as a core moving forward.
Cheers to the two young stars. Drinks are on them.