Marcin Gortat is already under contract with the Suns through 2014, but it sounds as if he had the opportunity to extend his stay in Phoenix even longer. Gortat told Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic that he turned down a multiyear contract extension offer from the Suns prior to the season.
"We just said we’re going to wait," Gortat said. "I want to finish this contract, and we’ll see where I go from there. It didn’t even bother me or change anything in my attitude or performance. The thing I’m concentrating is coming back to dominating the game and getting back to being a defensive spark."
While Gortat still has an additional year on his contract after this season, he's eligible for an extension because he signed a five-year deal more than three years ago. Still, because extensions for veteran players are limited to four total years, Gortat could only add two new years to his existing contract. Those two years could also only include 7.5% raises on next year's $7.73MM salary. As such, the Polish big man wouldn't be able to sign for more than about $17.2MM over two new years.
That's not an insignificant amount, but Gortat would be in for a much larger payday if he continues to produce anything close to what he did last season (15.4 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 21.2 PER). Assuming he doesn't sign an extension this season or next, the Suns center will be 30 years old when he hits unrestricted free agency in July 2014.