As we settle into the post-Summer League world and prepare for the next couple of months, it’s time to fill the hours (and the pixelated pages) with speculation, analysis, over/under win-total discussions, and predictions. The Phoenix Suns, after a year in which they exceeded expectations, have given us plenty to ponder until October. From lineup combinations to developmental opportunities, there is much to hypothesize about.
I thought a good place to start would be extensions. Because that’s a fun
topic, right? Future money and how it could affect future decisions. Projected salary caps, what will the luxury tax line be in 2029, and what will Khaman Malauch’s salary be in 2030? Oh my. Fun stuff!
Facetiousness aside, it’s something that I’ve continually found myself exploring, seeing as Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks are extension-eligible this offseason. Understanding the paths forward, given the interesting salary numbers both might incur, provides a clearer picture of the balancing act ahead. So why not build out the possibilities, see how they affect our short- and long-term cap sheet, and explore the decisions that lie ahead for the organization? The thought exercise sparks an interesting conversation relative to what you could do and what you should do.
This was the subject of this week’s Suns Reacts Survey, and the results are in. 40% of the community prefers the team offer an extension only to Dillon Brooks, and 30% believe no extensions should be provided to either Brooks or Bridges.
Now that the graphic has been made, it is time for a deep dive into this subject that deserves exploration.
None of what I am about to explore factors in Jalen Green, who becomes extension-eligible on October 1. That introduces an entirely different set of numbers into the equation, disrupting the ecosystem. We’ll cross that bridge when we get closer to it, hopefully with a better understanding of where the Suns’ long-term cap sheet stands based on whether Bridges or Brooks have received extensions by then.
To understand the full picture, we first need to look at where the Suns are today and project where the salary cap, luxury tax, and apron thresholds could be over the next several seasons.
Let’s start with the now. When you look at Phoenix’s five-year cap sheet, the team currently carries approximately $216.8 million in salary and is hard-capped at the second apron. Simply put, the Suns cannot exceed the $222 million second apron this season. The encouraging part is that the front office has operated astutely enough to preserve some flexibility, leaving roughly $5.2 million of room beneath that threshold if it’s needed during the season.
Now, let’s look to the future. One thing that’s difficult to project is how much the salary cap will increase from year to year. When the NBA’s new television deals entered the picture, the assumption was that the cap would rise at the maximum allowable rate of 10%. It increased only 6.7% from summer 2025 to 2026, rising at a much more conservative pace.
That’s one of the reasons the projected value of Devin Booker’s contract continues to fluctuate. People often say, “He’ll be making $75 million in 2029”, but that’s not how the contract works. He’ll earn 36% of whatever the salary cap is that season. If the $165 million cap established for the summer of 2026 were to compound annually at 6.7%, the cap would reach roughly $200.4 million by the 2029-30 season. That would put Booker’s salary at approximately $72.2 million. So there is no world in which he is making $75 million, and if he does, it means the Suns still have essentially the same wiggle room they have now, as he’s making 35.1% of the cap in 2026-27.
Sorry. Back on track. I had to sidetrack once again to remind people that, while the Booker extension appears massive on the surface, it’s all relative, mannnnnn. Whether the production meets the numbers is a different conversation.
One challenge is projecting these future numbers for this thought exercise, since we’re projecting how extensions will affect future cap sheets and decisions based on those cap sheets. Small changes in the cap have meaningful downstream effects, and those differences matter when you’re trying to forecast future payrolls.
For this exercise, we need to establish a baseline. I’ve opted to split the difference and project annual cap increases of 5%. That would place the salary cap at approximately $191 million in 2029-30, with Booker earning roughly $68.8 million that season. That’s the foundation we’ll use moving forward.
Projecting the first and second aprons from there becomes its own mathematical exercise. Those thresholds are derived from the luxury tax line, and the luxury tax formula is anything but simple. It incorporates leaguewide benefits, projected player compensation, escrow, and several other accounting adjustments. The NBA doesn’t publish a straightforward equation because of its complexity.
What we have seen over the past few seasons is the luxury tax line landing at roughly 21.5% above the salary cap. Using that as the baseline, here’s a reasonable projection for what the luxury tax, first apron, and second apron could look like over the next several seasons.
Why is that important? Because once we begin plugging potential Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks extensions into the cap sheet, we’ll get a much clearer picture of how they affect the Suns’ financial future. It gives us an idea of where Phoenix could ultimately land relative to the luxury tax and apron thresholds as the organization attempts to build a competitive roster across two different timelines.
One important distinction is that the contracts for Bridges and Brooks would not be tied to the salary cap the way Devin Booker’s is. Booker’s extension is based on a percentage of the cap. Bridges’ and Brooks’ extensions would instead be structured with fixed annual raises of either 5% or 8%, depending on the type of extension they sign.
In Bridges’ case, the Suns can offer only 5% annual raises if they extend him within six months of acquiring him. Once that six-month restriction expires, they can offer up to four years with 8% annual raises. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about what a Miles Bridges extension could look like. On the high end, if Phoenix were to extend him before January 13, the six-month anniversary of the trade, the maximum extension would be three years, $86.3 million.
When you plug that contract into the Suns’ five-year cap sheet, here’s what it looks like.
As you can see, the team sits at approximately $203.5 million in salary for next season, assuming the Suns exercise the team options on Khaman Maluach, Ryan Dunn, and Oso Ighodaro, and no major trades occur before then.
Based on our projections, that payroll would place Phoenix roughly $5 million below the luxury tax line and approximately $13 million below the first apron. At that point, the Suns would still have only 12 players under contract, leaving plenty of flexibility to continue filling out the roster. As the projections move into the 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons, the overall payroll naturally declines because fewer players are under contract. So, on the surface, a Miles Bridges extension makes sense, both in the short term and potentially over the long term as well.
But here’s where things get tricky. The Dillon Brooks extension.
There’s no doubt that, if the shift in the culture and identity of the Phoenix Suns were an earthquake, Dillon Brooks would be the epicenter. What he brought to Phoenix last season was something few of us expected. Jalen Green arrived as the headline acquisition. The draft brought an influx of young talent. Dillon Brooks felt like an afterthought.
He quickly changed that perception. His hustle, grit, and aggressiveness came to define this team. For an organization with so many young players entering its ecosystem, he’s the ideal veteran to have in the locker room, teaching them and molding them to play the same brand of basketball. Phoenix Suns basketball.
But he’s also 30. If the Suns were to offer him the maximum extension available, he would be 34 when that contract expires. Brooks is eligible for the larger veteran extension, one that can begin at 140% of his current salary and include 8% annual raises. That puts the maximum value at approximately $125 million over four years.
So what does that look like when you plug it into the cap sheet?
And now we’ve arrived at the part of this thought exercise that becomes truly interesting. Because if the Phoenix Suns extend both Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks, using the maximum figures we’ve outlined, three years for Bridges and four years for Brooks, you begin to see why this becomes such an intriguing cap puzzle.
With two roster spots still unfilled on this hypothetical team next season, the Suns would already sit at approximately $231.3 million in payroll. Based on our projections, the second apron would be roughly $229.9 million. They’re already over it.
That immediately forces other decisions. Do you exercise Ryan Dunn’s team option, or do you save roughly $5 million by letting him walk? Does Luke Kennard exercise his $6.4 million player option, and if he does, does that contract suddenly feel expensive? That’s something we won’t know until we see him play this season.
That’s the short-term challenge. The long-term challenge is even more fascinating because the Suns are operating on two timelines. On one, you’re paying approximately $134.9 million in 2028-29 to Devin Booker, Miles Bridges, Dillon Brooks, and Collin Gillespie alone. At the same time, the next era of Suns basketball is beginning to arrive, and those extension decisions start coming into focus. Both Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming will enter the final year of their rookie contracts during the 2029 offseason.
If the Suns don’t extend them beforehand, both would be headed toward restricted free agency. Phoenix can negotiate an extension with Maluach as early as next summer, while Fleming becomes extension-eligible in the summer of 2028. Why the different timelines? Because they’re on different types of contracts. Maluach is on a rookie scale deal, meaning a maximum rookie extension would likely start at 25% of the salary cap. Using our projections, that would equate to roughly $47.8 million in 2029-30.
Add that figure to the approximately $172.7 million already committed to Booker, Bridges, Brooks, Gillespie, and Koa Peat, and the Suns would be carrying roughly $220.5 million in payroll. That still leaves them about $19.1 million below the projected first apron.
Fleming presents a different equation. As the 31st overall pick, he isn’t on a rookie scale contract. Instead, he signed a four-year second-round contract that runs through the 2028-29 season. If the Suns don’t extend him before then, he’ll become a restricted free agent. If they do extend him, the organization has much more flexibility because of the type of contract he signed coming into the league.
If Fleming develops into a quality rotation forward, a reasonable projection might be around $18 million annually. If he becomes a high-level starter, that number could easily climb into the $24 million range.
For this exercise, let’s use the $18 million projection. Now the Suns find themselves approximately $1.5 million below the projected first apron and roughly $13 million below the second apron. Here’s what that cap sheet would look like.
So what does all of this mean? What do we actually take away from it?
I think the first takeaway is that the Suns have to be incredibly responsible with how they approach extensions for Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks. Brian Gregory did a stellar job this offseason in acquiring players on what amounted to hometown discounts. Mark Williams, Collin Gillespie, and Jordan Goodwin all accepted contracts viewed as below-market value to remain in Phoenix.
There is optionality with Miles Bridges, both in what the Suns can offer and when they can offer it. If the Suns ultimately decide to extend Bridges (and I believe they probably will, given that they surrendered an unprotected 2033 first-round pick to acquire him), the contract needs to come in on the lower end of the range. The ripple effects extend well beyond the next couple of seasons. The same logic applies to Dillon Brooks. The length and number need to be calculated so as not to hinder future flexibility or negate the team’s ability to retain youth. Everything I’ve laid out here represents the most expensive outcome for Phoenix and the best possible financial outcome for the players. Reality will likely land somewhere in the middle.
Even so, all of these decisions have to be viewed alongside another one that is still approaching. Jalen Green. The Suns still have to decide whether to extend him, and that decision will come soon.
That’s really what this thought exercise comes down to. Short-term versus long-term understanding of financial flexibility, viability, and responsibility. Do you invest heavily in the veterans who currently define your culture? Or do you preserve flexibility for the moment when 2030 arrives, the dead cap finally disappears, and Devin Booker’s contract potentially comes off the books as well? Or do you do both, knowing that depth is needed to achieve the ultimate goal of winning? Keep in mind that Booker becomes extension eligible again in the summer of 2028, another significant decision the front office will have to navigate.
Much of this will ultimately be determined by how these players perform, and it’s far too early to predict those outcomes. But today, right now, the extension decisions surrounding Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks could have ripple effects that extend well into the future. It’s reasonable and prudent to work through those scenarios in an effort to define who the Suns want to become, understand where they could be financially, and recognize how closely those two things are tied together.
Ultimately, this is the balancing act the Suns have created for themselves. They have built a roster with a clearer identity, but maintaining that identity will require discipline. The next few years won’t be defined by one massive decision, but by a series of smaller ones that determine whether Phoenix can sustain competitiveness while allowing its young core to grow. The numbers matter, but so does knowing which players are worth building around when the next window opens.
Now comes the fun part, at least for me. I’ve spent plenty of time analyzing the possibilities and laying out the different scenarios. But what would I do? How would I navigate this situation, and why?
I’ll start by saying I believe both players should receive extensions. The reason is simple. I’d rather have them as assets than risk losing them for nothing.
That is especially true in the case of Miles Bridges, considering the Suns surrendered a 2033 first-round pick to acquire him. If you don’t extend him, there’s a real chance that he leaves with nothing coming back in return. By extending him, you preserve optionality. Either Bridges produces at a high level and helps elevate the team, or you retain the flexibility to move him later if the right opportunity presents itself. From a long-term asset management standpoint, extending him makes sense.
The same logic applies to Dillon Brooks. The Suns didn’t surrender a first-round pick to acquire him, but his value extends well beyond the box score. He has established himself as a culture setter, elevating the competitiveness and professionalism of those around him. If the time ever comes to move on from Brooks, those qualities become part of his trade value. A young team with cap space looking for veteran leadership would have every reason to be interested.
The other reason I’d extend both players is that depth matters, especially for a team in the Suns’ current financial position. It’s difficult to build quality depth when you’re carrying significant dead cap. Yes, we all want to see the younger players receive more opportunities to develop. But that development has to happen responsibly.
If Bridges and Brooks aren’t extended, the young players won’t simply be stepping into their roles, they’ll be stepping into their minutes and responsibilities. And the bigger question becomes, who’s backing them up? Are you asking your entire youth movement to carry the load, hoping every one of those players develops into the kind of reliable rotation pieces that Bridges and Brooks already are? And what happens if they don’t? At that point, your depth is built primarily from veteran minimum contracts. Maybe you have access to a mid-level exception here and there, but that’s still a difficult way to build a complete roster.
If you move on from Bridges and Brooks now, you’re placing an enormous amount of pressure on the shoulders of your young core before they’ve proven they’re ready for it. That’s a risky bet. And if they fail, the Suns fail. There’s no safety net. There’s no consolation prize. Phoenix doesn’t have a collection of lottery picks waiting to soften the blow over the next several years. The organization has to remain competitive while its young players develop, and veteran depth is a critical part of making that happen.
So my move would be to extend both Bridges and Brooks because of the optionality they provide.
The second part of the equation is the money. As noted above, I outlined what I consider the worst-case scenario from a salary-cap perspective. Those numbers are obviously the best-case scenario for Bridges and Brooks because they’re maximizing their earnings. But the Suns have to be smart and strategic. They need to offer contracts that reflect each player’s value while remaining fiscally responsible. Because if you operate at those maximum figures, you don’t leave yourself much flexibility on the margins.
With Bridges, I’d wait. Not until the full six-month mark, but long enough to see how he fits with the team. How does the chemistry look? How does he complement Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and the rest of the roster? It’s difficult to hand out an extension based solely on what he accomplished in Charlotte. Context matters.
He spent the past few seasons on a Hornets team that was frequently without LaMelo Ball and consistently relying on young lottery picks. He wasn’t exactly operating in an environment built for success. So when people project his numbers forward, remember this will be the first time he’s played alongside talent like Booker, Green, and Brooks. He has experience with Mark Williams, but the rest of the situation is entirely different.
At some point, you’ll have to make a decision. I’d let the first couple months of the season play out, evaluate the fit, then try to negotiate a team-friendly three-year extension in the neighborhood of $75 million.
As for Brooks? I’d get it done now. There’s no reason to play games. We know exactly who he is. About 85% of the time, you love everything he brings to your team. The other 15% of the time, you’re asking yourself what in the world he was thinking. That’s the Dillon Brooks experience. Even with those occasional frustrating moments, he’s become the heartbeat of the Suns’ culture. Down the road, the organization may eventually decide to move on as the young players continue to develop, but that’s another reason to keep his contract reasonable. It should reward what he brings while remaining attractive to other teams if a trade ever becomes necessary.
Four years and $125 million feels like too much. Three years and $75 million feels much more appropriate for the player he is and the role he fills. That’s right, give him the same contract you would to Miles Bridges. It’d look like this:
If both of those scenarios play out, the Suns would save roughly $8 million in cap space during the 2029–30 season. That’s meaningful flexibility for a team trying to thread the needle between competing now and preparing for what’s next.
We’ll see how the Suns ultimately navigate this extension cycle, especially with Jalen Green’s future looming as another major financial decision. But that’s how I’d approach it.
None of these decisions exist in a vacuum. Every extension is really a bet on the next three or four years of the franchise, balancing today’s competitiveness against tomorrow’s flexibility. That’s why I’d prioritize optionality above everything else. Keep good players under contract. Preserve assets whenever possible. Avoid creating holes that are difficult to fill. The Suns don’t need to be perfect with every contract they hand out. They simply need to give themselves as many paths to success as possible, and that’s exactly what these extensions would accomplish.
