The Suns have reached a deal to ink swingman Mikal Bridges to a fully guaranteed four-year, $90M rookie contract extension, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Bridges’ agents at Excel Sports Management, Sam Goldfeder and Jordan Gertler, informed Woj of the news.
Bridges, the 10th pick in the 2018 draft out of Villanova (where he won NCAA titles in 2016 and 2018), proved to be a crucial two-way contributor on a Phoenix club that broke through for its first NBA Finals appearance in 28 years during the 2020-21 season.
The 6-foot-6 small forward enjoyed a breakout year in 2020-21, averaging 13.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocks per game for Phoenix, while appearing in all 72 contests during the truncated season. Last year, Bridges posted an excellent shooting line of .543/.425/.840. He also emerged as one of the league’s best young defenders. Retaining Bridges, who still has All-Star upside, on a deal that will pay him $22.5M annually through the 2025-26 season is a massive victory for Suns team president James Jones.
His teammate Deandre Ayton, Phoenix’s starting center selected in the same draft class out of Arizona, has yet to reach terms on his own rookie-contract extension agreement with the club. The deadline for teams to reach rookie contract extensions is Monday at 5 p.m. CT.
Woj notes that the Suns are still having conversations about a possible extension for Ayton ahead of Monday's deadline, in addition to newly added reserve shooting guard Landry Shamet, the No. 26 selection in 2018 out of Wichita State.
“He is the player who buys into a culture as well as sets a culture,” raved Goldfelder. “Mikal has worked tirelessly to bring winning basketball back to the Phoenix Suns,” Gertler said. “This is the culmination of his hard work.”
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