Source: Diaw agrees to five-year, $45 million extension

[ducks]

Source: Diaw agrees to five-year, $45 million extension
Source: Diaw agrees to five-year, $45 million extension

By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer
October 19, 2006

PHOENIX (AP) -- Boris Diaw has agreed to a five-year, $45 million contract extension with the Phoenix Suns, a source told The Associated Press on Thursday night.

The team would not confirm the signing but scheduled a 4 p.m. EDT news conference on Friday.

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The deal was finalized on Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identified because the team was not scheduled to officially announce the extension until Friday.

The agreement will keep the 6-foot-8 forward under contract through the 2011-12 season. It was first reported by Phoenix radio station XTRA Sports late Thursday afternoon.

Diaw declined to comment before Thursday night's preseason game against Sacramento.

The 24-year-old Frenchman came to the Suns as part of the trade that sent Joe Johnson to Atlanta a year ago and responded with a standout season that earned him the NBA's Most Improved Player award. He moved into the starting lineup in place of injured Amare Stoudemire in the preseason and averaged 13.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists in the regular season.

Diaw's season included four triple-doubles. In 20 playoff games, Diaw's scoring average climbed to 18.7 with 6.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists.

He scored a career-high 34 points, including the game-winning turnaround jumper, in a 121-118 victory at Dallas in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

In his first two NBA seasons with Atlanta, Diaw had averaged 4.6 points per game, and he was considered little more than a throw-in when Johnson asked to be traded to the Hawks. Coach and general manager Mike D'Antoni has acknowledged that he had no plans to make Diaw a regular until his skills became apparent last preseason.

Eventually, the offense ran through him more often than not because of his ability to pass and see the court as well as score. He had 16 assists at Golden State on April 14.

Diaw was captain of the French national team that finished fifth at the world championships this year in Japan.

He is the second rising young Suns star to get an extension this year.

Leandro Barbosa signed a five-year, $33 million extension in August, a deal that also keeps him under contract through 2011-12.

[ATX Spur]

Good signing. Diaw will continue to grow.

[ducks]

is amare now the one on the block?

suns do not want to pay the tax

[1Parker1]

is amare now the one on the block?

suns do not want to pay the tax

My guess would be Marion, not Amare...

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

here comes the 'How can we get Marion' threads :lol

How much does he make a year anyway?

[ATX Spur]

here comes the 'How can we get Marion' threads :lol

How much does he make a year anyway?


$15,070,000 next year. $16,440,000 the following year, and then the next $17,180,000.

[willie]

so much for 2008

[Bruno]

$45M/5 years is a reasonable contract when you look at Howard/Butler/Prince/Nene/Dunleavy contracts.

As a french, I'm happy that Boris sign an extension this year : he won't be a FA next summer and playing with the french NT won't be a problem for him.

[ChumpDumper]

That's a coup for Phoenix. Another good year and Diaw would make himself a max player.

[Zunni]

Marion is on a 6 yr/$79M contract that paid him $13.7M last year and goes up from there. That's franchise money for essentially a pumped up role player. No thanks. His nuts seem to retract every year in the playoffs.

[ChumpDumper]

They aren't under the cap, and they'll be way over the tax threshold next season unless they jettison someone like Thomas or Marion.

[Trainwreck2100]

They aren't under the cap, and they'll be way over the tax threshold next season unless they jettison someone like Thomas or Marion.

THey should call Isiah

[MrChug]

Diaw's amazing. Better Frenchie than TP :D.

So where does he start? Will that take him to the 4 and finally put Marion at a 3 where he belongs?

[Rip-Hamilton32]

i don't see diaw being as good as he was last year if amare comes back 100% or close to it

[AFBlue]

i don't see diaw being as good as he was last year if amare comes back 100% or close to it

I actually agree with this one. As much as I like Diaw, I think he benefited from playing as a C when he could clearly take advantage of his quickness. Now that Amare's returning, I think he'll have to adjust his position as well as his game (Amare being #1 offensive option). I don't think he'll revert to Diaw the Hawk, but I think his scoring and rebounding #'s will suffer. His assists might go up though.

They try to move Marion and I see Diaw as a better passing, worse shooting, worse rebounding version of him for $6-8 mil a year less.

[JamStone]

Who would want Shawn Marion at that price? And, of those teams, which ones have something that the Suns would want in return in a package of quality players, expiring contracts, and/or draft picks?

[ducks]

In the East Valley Tribune: "With [Leandro] Barbosa and [Boris] Diaw playing out the final year of their base NBA contracts this season (a combined $3.4 million), the Suns will be able to limbo just under the league’s $62.5 million tax threshold. That, by itself is a $20 million jump in the years since Sarver purchased the team. But when the new deals — Barbosa signed a five-year, $32 million extension in August — kick in next season, Phoenix will have 10 guaranteed contracts totaling more than $76 million on the books for 2007-08. That will be well over the threshold, even if there is a substantial hike in the level. Sarver has previously indicated he would shy away from paying the tax, leading to speculation that one big piece — or more than one complementary piece — would have to be dealt away after the season to keep the budget under the threshold."

[ducks]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...1suns1021.html

Success changes Sarver's mind on luxury tax

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 21, 2006 12:00 AM


The Boris Diaw contract negotiations were so amicable that both sides think they won.

But in keeping Diaw for $45 million over five years, was it a Pyrrhic victory now that Suns salaries will be piling high above the luxury-tax threshold for the 2007-08 season?

The Suns' 2007-08 payroll projects to be nearly $78 million with the 10 current players whose deals are guaranteed for that season and three 2007 first-round picks to potentially add. That would be $9 million to $11 million above the luxury-tax threshold, depending on who is projecting. advertisement




The Suns would have to pay that excess as a tax and lose the money that every team - with the likely exceptions of the Suns and Dallas - would receive as a luxury-tax payout.

"As long as we're creating success and we're winning and we keep improving and the fans keep supporting us, there's no hard and fast line that says how much you have to spend or what you can't spend or will you spend the tax or will you not spend the tax?" Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver said. "To me, it's more about the success we're creating and about doing it the right way with good contracts. I don't have any preconceived notion now that says we have to do this or we have to do that. We'll see how the season goes."

In summer 2005, the Suns made it clear that a high-priced player - maybe Shawn Marion - would have been dealt if they had given Joe Johnson a five-year, $70 million deal. There is none of that talk this time, even with extensions for Leandro Barbosa (five years, $33 million) and Diaw changing their combined salary-cap number from about $3.5 million this season to more than $14 million next season.

Marion, Amaré Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Kurt Thomas and Diaw will make about $58 million next season. But at least Howard Eisley finally comes off the books in the summer.

Because the Suns' business side with sponsorships and ticket sales has been so strong, the front office no longer flinches at the price tag.

"Our situation moving forward is one that's going to be dictated by our results and success," Suns Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin said.

The luxury threshold is not taxed until the February trade deadline. If Phoenix needed to move a player, it would not have to do so for another 16 months. Thomas already surfaced in trade talks. He - with an $8 million salary - would be a candidate due to a contract that expires next year.

Dealing with the idea of Johnson's contract, front-loaded with a $20 million payment last November, is certainly different from the current scenario. It seems like a championship, or at least an NBA Finals trip, would cure all.

"We're in a solid state financially," Sarver said. "I think we've made some good moves. Most importantly, we've put our money in people that we have a lot of confidence in. We have good contracts. To me, it hasn't been so much about the total amount of money we spend. It's, 'Are we spending it in the right place, do we have the right contracts, do we have some flexibility and do we have the ingredients that together can win us a championship?' "

[AZLouis]

Marion is on a 6 yr/$79M contract that paid him $13.7M last year and goes up from there. That's franchise money for essentially a pumped up role player. No thanks. His nuts seem to retract every year in the playoffs.

20 games
42.4 mpg
20.4 ppg
11.7 rpg
1.6 apg
1.8 spg
1.1 bpg
49% fg
31% 3fg
88% ft

Not many role players do that. :rolleyes