Thunder @ Suns Wednesday game thread 12-29-2021

[mjb21aztd]

Great bounce back after heartbreakin l

Good gm by book cp3

Yup and green hit to w

 

[Carolinacacti]

Book must felt right at home in this game. Booker did it for years with these Suns crappie teams. Sad thing is with two starters out this team is better then the one 4 or 5 years ago.
Bad luck for the Suns, they tried to hide Smith from the league but were forced to play him. might have to pay him now.

 

[Mainstreet]

Unfortunately the Suns didn't pick up Smith's option so if another team wants him, they can pay more than the Suns.

 

[Mainstreet]

Devin Booker and Ty Jerome exchange jerseys after the game.

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[Mainstreet]

Suns are definitely missing Jae Crowder and Deandre Ayton on defense.

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[Mainstreet]

Devin Booker cracks a joke about hitting 10,000 career points.

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[Yuma]

I hope Stix can keep this up. He will be a luxury in the playoffs if he can.

I can see Stix getting resigned by us. Just not at the rate the extension would have cost us.

 

[elindholm]

Smith's third-year option was for $4.7 million and his fourth-year option was for just shy of $6 million. Is anyone really worried that he'll command better than $11 million over the next two years on the open market, even if he does end up showing some degree of improvement over what's left of this season?

Per Larry C00n (the proper spelling of his name is censored), the Suns cannot re-sign Smith to a contract greater than these amounts this coming summer. So they do risk losing him to a team that is willing to overpay at MLE numbers (if the Suns want to keep him at all, that is). And Smith could also decide that his feelings are hurt and leave for that reason. But in all likelihood, Smith will still be there for the Suns next season if he can demonstrate that he might have long-term value.

 

[Phrazbit]

I can see Stix getting resigned by us. Just not at the rate the extension would have cost us.

I would be shocked. I cannot think of a single occasion where a team declined a draft pick's option and then retained them. It would require a huge amount of humility by Stix to take less than what his option would have been worth, his agent certainly would be pushing for him to go somewhere that gives him more of a chance.