Suns Re-Sign P.J. Tucker

JULY 23RD: The deal is official, the team announced. The Suns used cap space to complete the transaction.

7:22pm: The third year of Tucker’s deal includes about $3.8MM of non-guaranteed money, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Coro also indicates that Tucker has yet to sign the contract.

JULY 10TH, 6:35pm: The Suns will re-sign restricted free agent P.J. Tucker to a three year deal worth $16.5MM, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Tucker met with Suns owner Robert Sarver and head coach Jeff Hornacek yesterday and it was believed that talks would spill over to today. The terms of the deal would allow Phoenix to utilize Tucker’s Early Bird Rights, their Mid-level exception or their available cap room to bring back the forward, though there have yet to be reports of which option they’ll choose.

The 29-year-old Texas product has carved out a nice role the past two seasons in Phoenix as a solid defender and a positive influence in the locker room. Tucker, who is represented by the Arete Sports Agency, averaged 9.4 points and 6.5 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per game last season for a Suns team that nearly made the playoffs. While Phoenix has been mentioned as suitors for some of the NBA’s top free agents, it has mostly been on the periphery. However, they’ve had a busy Thursday after reportedly hosting restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas and now locking up Tucker.

There was talk last week that several teams had inquired about the possibility of acquiring Tucker from Phoenix via sign and trade but they came away convinced that the Suns were determined to keep him. The Wizards and Raptors were specifically reported to have had interest.

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