Phoenix Suns Unignorable Storylines: Deciding Who Gets Extensions
The Suns have until the 2021-22 season’s start to provide rookie extensions for Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton. That surely strikes as their front office’s top priority at this time, but while paying Booker and Paul too, doing so might become tricky for the team, especially with Cameron Johnson‘s extension eligibility also coming into play next summer.
Suns trying to fit in Cam Johnson's extension next summer after Mikal Bridges' and Deandre Ayton's this summer pic.twitter.com/mNsr7Y65zB
— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) June 29, 2021
With all this financial clutter coming Phoenix’s way, how they navigate around it remains something to keep tabs on.
Ayton and Bridges certainly come first, so if either player indeed reaches an extension agreement with the Suns, then the first domino for this story will fall within the next two weeks. But if not, Phoenix might need to mix some things up if they hope to sign both players as restricted free agents, and extend Johnson next summer.
Although he joins this team a less important player to re-sign, Landry Shamet also becomes a restricted free agent next summer. If he puts together a career season at just 24 years old, the Suns might want to lock him up for the future as well, making things even more complicated.
Luckily, the Suns have James Jones, the league’s reigning Executive of the Year Award winner as their captain, looking to guide them through fiscal storm brewing in the future. But keeping this young and talented group assembled into the future still resembles a tall task, and this year, the Suns must start addressing it.