Executives that Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link) has spoken to estimate that Suns guard Chris Paul could get a deal in the three-year, $60MM-ish range if he were to decline his $44MM player option this summer. A previous report, which stated that Paul would likely turn down that option, suggested that he’d likely be seeking a three-year contract worth about $100MM.
In actuality, Paul’s new deal could end up landing somewhere in between those two estimates. One possible route would be for him to pick up his $44MM option and negotiate a two-year extension with the Suns at a much lower rate. That would still allow the veteran point guard to secure a significant guarantee this offseason, while making him a little more affordable for Phoenix in a year or two when many of the team’s younger players are up for new deals.
Here’s more from around the West:
- Initially listed as doubtful for Game 2, Clippers center Serge Ibaka has since been ruled out, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. The big man, who missed most of the second half of the regular season due to back problems, returned briefly at the end of the season and start of the postseason, but hasn’t played since Game 2 of the Dallas series.
- Nuggets head coach Michael Malone didn’t mince words in criticizing his team’s effort in a Game 2 loss vs. Phoenix on Wednesday, as Nick Friedell of ESPN details. Malone said Denver had “a lot of guys play really bad tonight” and said he felt the club “quit” in the second half. “I saw one team that wanted to be here, that played with a purpose and urgency, and one team that did not want to be here and played with no urgency,” Malone said. We’ll see how the Nuggets respond to Malone’s harsh assessment in Game 3 on Friday.
- Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link) identifies Micah Nori as a name to watch as a potential addition to Chris Finch‘s Timberwolves coaching staff. Nori has spent the last few years with the Pistons on Dwane Casey‘s staff.
Lol at rumors about a potential assistant coach hiring, Doogie’s working hard as usual
CP3 is what a real PG can do for a team. Game management is one of the most unappreciated things about a PG who does it. Rondo, CP3, They do it the old school way. Use their teammates and their strengths. Work the clock and the mismatches. Plays both ways as a team. Suns have bought in and it’s a good match. They are playing to their strengths and playing well. Chris deserves a lot of credit. But Suns too cause they do have talent. To me they are playing the best as a unit, A Team. They could go all the way.
Suns looking pretty good right now and it’s all CP3 leadership. If they dispatch the Nuggets that would be huge for them and a giant step. They are in unfamiliar territory right now but it looks like they’re up for it.
Opting-out and signing for 60M+/3 years sounds about right for CP3, at this stage in his career.
It’s a win for both CP3 and the SUNS. They get to continue this small-window of contention.
I’m not sure about the 3 years. 2 years sounds about Max for this guy unless they do the Creative thing mentioned in the article. Keep the 44 million next year then add two smaller annual salaries which would total 60 million over three years. That makes a heck of a lot of sense.
Remember when Tillman Fertitta told Daryl Morey to dump Chris Paul because he had “the worst contract in history,” or whatever? And then Morey did, picking up Westbrook’s deal, which eventually became John Wall’s deal?
I bet ole Tillman wishes he had a do-over, LOL.
Good for Chris Paul. I hope he makes Sarver pay, but I’m guessing Paul will be signing elsewhere this summer. Sarver is too cheap and too shortsighted to keep this team together.
How is not re-signing a 36-year old player to a multi-year deal being short-sighted? OKC and Phoenix both got lucky the last two seasons with Chris Paul missing just two games for each team after he missed an average of 23 games in each of the previous three seasons (not including the games he missed in the playoffs, which cost his team the championship in 2018).
Why would anyone only see the bad side. Missing 23 gms. Means he played 59 gms. Suns are not playing for the past. They play for next gm. The glass is always half full. Their gamble on Chris is paying off. You think they care about the Rockets woes. Boo Hoo
If it means winning a championship, what’s Paul worth Wally?
He has made the WCF only once in his entire career. And that was with a 65-win team which would have won it all if he had managed to stay healthy. Why spend that kind of money on someone who will be lucky just to get his team to the WCF? CP3 isn’t winning a ring.
Righttttt the CP3 less Rockets shot 4/293 in G7 but let’s blame CP3 because you’re fat jesus couldn’t make a shot when it counted down the stretch.
Remember when the rockets were full strength and the warriors lost kd to his “calf strain” and Steph and klay still sent the rockets home. Do you remember wallywood?
Hindsight is 100% correct. I don’t think anyone expected CP3 to be relatively healthy the past 2 seasons.
It’s a no-brainer, even for someone like Sarver. They’ll try to lock-up CP3 for the new few years – SUNS are winning, they actually have a small window of contention now.
I would practically guarantee that if you ask Chris Paul about his favorite season in the NBA, this would be it. He’s been given the reins and total control on the floor over a young team and they’ve been very successful.
This is something a guy like Chris Paul dreams about. He doesn’t have to score 25 a game or be all NBA which he’s done in the past. But leading a young team to success and being a huge huge reason for it with on the court leadership is probably his most gratifying time of his career.
CP3 isn’t going to opt out of a 44 mm deal to go to the FA market to see what’s there. If he opts out, it’s because extension talks fell through and its over in PHX. Reports of him likely opting out at this point are just about his agents letting PHX know he wants an extension. 95% he’s in PHX next year under his existing contract with an extension.