Josh Okogi re-signing with the Suns was expected — Phoenix is over the second apron of the luxury tax and can’t afford to let solid rotation players walk — so when the news came down from Shams Charania of The Athletic it was largely met with shrugs.
Okogie agreed to a two-year, $16 million contract, with the second year non-guaranteed. While Okogie’s defense is a big plus for the Suns, more importantly, this is a very tradable contract as they look to make bolder roster upgrades around the deadline.
Then came this post from ESPN’s salary cap guru Bobby Marks:
Record breaking numbers in Phoenix
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 12, 2024
The Suns are the first $400M team in payroll
Salaries: $223M
Projected tax: $198M
The Okogie signing is smart and gives Phoenix a $8M trade asset to use during the season.
Because of the rules of the 2nd apron, his salary cannot be… https://t.co/ryY70GvQqX
This results from owner Mat Ishbia’s new owner syndrome spending spree where Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker combine to make $150.6 million, which is already over the salary cap.
Living above the second apron to chase a ring is not just reasonable but also something fans should want an owner to do — Boston, Minnesota and Milwaukee are the other teams into the second apron and all of them consider themselves contenders (debate amongst yourselves how many are). The question for the Suns becomes, are they really contenders in a West with the Nuggets, Thunder, Timberwolves, and Mavericks? Is it worth it to keep spending like this, or will Ishbia soon follow the path of Steve Ballmer and the big-spending Clippers and start to cut back?
The Suns are all in for this year, which puts a lot of pressure on new coach Mike Budenholzer to take last season’s 49-win six seed and turn them into a threat to win it all.
