Amare Stoudemire will opt out of the final year of his contract if he doesn’t re-sign with the Phoenix Suns before the deadline at the end of this month.
Stoudemire, speaking at his basketball camp Tuesday, said he deserves a maximum contract and would like it to be with Phoenix, where he has played since he was drafted out of high school in 2002. The all-star power forward said there was “no chance” he would exercise the final year of his contract with the Suns, which would pay him about US$17 million.
Phoenix could give him more than any other team — a six-year deal worth about $127 million.
“We’ve got the fans excited about basketball again,” Stoudemire said. “So what I don’t want is for me to have to leave and the fans are now not quite as excited about the game here. I want to keep the hype, want to keep the fans involved, want to keep everybody ecstatic about the Phoenix Suns.”
