PHOENIX
Region: Phoenix · Mortgage Matchup Center
For Oso Ighodaro, Friday carried two storylines at once, and they pointed in the same direction. In the morning, after shootaround, the Phoenix Suns big man confirmed that he and the team have talked about a rookie-scale contract extension. In the evening, his team closed its preseason without him on the floor — resting a sore hip, protecting a player the Suns plainly see as part of their near-term future at center.
Ighodaro made clear he wants that future to stay in Phoenix. That is not a throwaway line for a player in his position. He was born in Chandler, he attended Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, and he has built his NBA career so far in the Valley after arriving as a second-round pick out of Marquette in 2024. A hometown player telling his hometown team he wants to remain there, days before an extension deadline, is the kind of alignment front offices hope for — even if the numbers still have to be agreed before the clock runs out.
The Deadline and the Numbers
The clock is specific. The rookie extension deadline is Monday, October 19, the day before the 2026-27 NBA season begins. If the Suns and Ighodaro do not reach a deal by then, the conversation does not end forever, but it changes shape, and the certainty both sides could lock in now goes away for the season.
The ceiling on what Ighodaro can sign is substantial. He is eligible for a maximum rookie extension of four years and $92.8 million. Reporting out of Phoenix, however, suggests a more measured outcome if a deal gets done: an extension would likely run for three years. That gap between the maximum and the likely is normal in these negotiations. It reflects a young center still proving he can hold a starting job over a full season, and a team trying to keep its books workable while it pays the stars at the top of the roster.
The contract he is already on explains why the Suns have leverage and why an extension still makes sense for both sides. Phoenix guaranteed his $2.29 million salary for 2026-27 earlier this summer. He is due $2.48 million next season, with the Suns holding a team option. Overall he is in the third year of a four-year, $7.8 million deal — remarkably team-friendly money for a rotation big who played every game last season. An extension is how a player in that position turns a bargain contract into longer-term security, and how a team keeps a homegrown piece before his price is set by the open market. For more Valley sports, see our sports section and the latest news from the desk.
The Case He Built on the Court
Ighodaro's argument is durability and efficiency. Last regular season he played all 82 games — a clean sheet few big men manage — and averaged 6.5 points while shooting 65.3 percent from the field, with 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Those are not headline numbers, but they describe a useful modern center: someone who finishes what he should finish, keeps the ball moving, and shows up every night.
The opportunity in front of him got bigger through no doing of his own. Mark Williams is out with a left shoulder injury that is expected to cost him multiple months, which has turned the starting center job into a genuine competition between Ighodaro and rookie Khaman Maluach. That contest is one of the defining questions of the Suns' early season. Maluach offers size and upside as a high draft pick learning on the job. Ighodaro offers familiarity with the system, two seasons of NBA reps, and the reliability of a player who has never missed a regular-season game in his most recent campaign.
An extension, if it lands by Monday, would read as a vote in that contest — not a guarantee of the starting spot, which still has to be earned in practice and games, but a statement that the organization values Ighodaro beyond the next team option. Players hear that kind of statement clearly, especially hometown players deciding whether their long-term plans and their team's plans are the same.
A Finale Without Him
Friday night's preseason finale gave Maluach the stage. The Suns, at 1-3, closed their five-game preseason schedule against the Utah Jazz at Mortgage Matchup Center, with a 7 p.m. MST tip televised on 3TV. Ighodaro sat out with hip soreness. He had also rested on Wednesday, and head coach Jordan Ott indicated the big man remains on track for the regular-season opener on October 21 at Portland. Read plainly, the absence looked like caution with a player the team needs healthy next week, not a setback.
He was not the only name on the unavailable list. Luke Kennard missed the finale with a left knee tendon strain suffered in the first half of Wednesday's 123-103 loss at San Antonio. Ott said the team avoided anything serious, that Kennard should be back on the court this weekend, but stopped short of fully committing to his availability for the opener. In preseason, that kind of careful language is standard, and it usually means the medical staff, not the calendar, makes the final call.
The starters Phoenix announced for the finale underlined how much the coaching staff wanted one look at its main group before the games count: Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Miles Bridges and Maluach. Booker and Bridges were back after missing the previous two preseason games. Green and Brooks returned after sitting in San Antonio. Maluach, in the middle of it all, made his third straight start — valuable reps for a rookie being asked to anchor lineups built around veteran scorers.
What Happens by Monday
Preseason finales are usually forgettable. This one will be remembered in Phoenix less for anything that happened against Utah than for the business hanging over it. By Monday, the Suns and Ighodaro either have a new deal or they do not. If they do, Phoenix locks in a durable, efficient, hometown center at a number both sides chose, and the starting-center competition starts the season with a clearer long-term picture. If they do not, Ighodaro plays the year on one of the league's best-value contracts, with every strong week adding to the price of the next conversation.
Either way, the player's position is on the record from Friday morning: he wants to stay. For a franchise trying to build something stable around Booker and its new pieces, keeping a young center who wants to be there, plays every night and costs this little to retain is rarely the hard decision. The hard part, as always, is the number. They have until Monday to find it. Valley readers can also follow Friday's other Phoenix story, our recap of Kaden Honeycutt's Truck Series win at Phoenix Raceway.
