After suffering a frustrating seven-game Western Conference Semifinals loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns face some key rotation decisions during an earlier-than-expected 2022 offseason. Chief among those is forward Cameron Johnson, eligible for his rookie contract extension this summer.
Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic examines whether or not it would behoove Phoenix to extend Johnson this year, and whether he should be moved into the team’s starting rotation for the start of the 2022-23 season.
Johnson, the No. 11 pick out of North Carolina in 2020, proved to be a key contributor off the bench for the Suns during the 2021-22 regular season. He averaged a career-high 12.5 PPG on .460/.425/.860 shooting from the floor, while chipping in a career-best 4.1 RPG, 1.5 APG and 0.9 SPG. Johnson also was the first player promoted to a starting role when All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker missed three postseason games due to a hamstring injury.
Rankin predicts that Johnson could earn between $15M-$20M annually on an extension, and points to the fact that the Suns reached rookie extension agreements with two of its three most important extension-eligible young players during the 2021 offseason. As such, Rankin posits that the club will look to extend Johnson.
Jae Crowder started ahead of Johnson at power forward in his 80 games of regular season availability, but as he embarks on the last season of the three-year, $30M contract he inked with the Suns in 2020, Rankin wonders if a Johnson extension would eventually necessitate the younger player’s move into the starting five over Crowder.
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