Suns re-sign Josh Okogie for two years, $16 million

Suns re-sign Josh Okogie for two years, $16 million

The Suns have re-signed wing Josh Okogie on a two-year deal worth $16 million, NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic was first to report Thursday evening. The second year of the deal is non-guaranteed, per Charania.

Free agent F Josh Okogie has agreed on a two-year, $16 million deal to stay with the Phoenix Suns, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Okogie's agent, Calvin Andrews of Klutch Sports, has been negotiating the new contract with Suns officials. pic.twitter.com/95Jifwr2m4

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 12, 2024

Since the Suns sit atop the league in active payroll, exceeding $215 million–way beyond the $188.9 million second apron–they are very limited with what they can do this free agency. Though they owned Okogie’s early bird rights, allowing them to offer anything up to roughly $13 million (105 percent of the projected league average salary)–far more than the minimum that they can only offer to other free agents–to bring back the 6-foot-4 wing.

Okogie, 25, has spent the last two seasons with Phoenix after spending his first four seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In two seasons with the Suns, he’s averaged 6.1 points and 3.1 rebounds on 40.0 percent shooting, including 32.6 percent from 3-point range and 73.1 percent from the free-throw line. He saw a decrease in opportunity in 2023-24, posting 4.6 points and 2.6 boards in just 16.0 minutes.

Okogie opted out of his $3.0 million player option ahead of the offseason. His new deal will be more than double that amount, starting at $7.7 million, per Spotrac.

According to HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan, Okogie’s new deal increases Phoenix’s luxury tax penalty a whopping $47 million!

The second year non-guarantee makes Josh Okogie's salary this year good for a potential trade, although they can't aggregate him and can only decrease payroll in a trade.

Phoenix Suns increase their luxury tax penalty by $47 million.

Payroll: $223.1 million
Tax: $205.4 million https://t.co/2HdVuMStqd

— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) July 12, 2024

They’ve been desperate to find wing defenders who were better complements to Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal–hence why it drafted Ryan Dunn–but who was Phoenix competing against for Okogie? Mat Ishbia’s shown no willingness to “spend spend spend!”, but that’s an awfully steep luxury tax penalty for a role player barely cracking 15 minutes a night.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

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This is a developing news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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