Grant Hills Opts-In w/ Suns for 1 More Year - $3.2m Player Option for 2010 Season
Good news for the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, as forward Grant Hill exercised his player option for another year with the team. His salary is minimal at $3.2 million, but he's probably made enough on prior contracts that money wasn't really an issue for him.
In his 3rd year w/ the Suns ($3m salary), Hill helped lead Phoenix to the Western Conference Finals and within 2 wins of the NBA Finals. He routinely had the toughest defensive assignments (e.g. Roy, Bryant, Parker/Ginobili) throughout the playoffs and did a great job all things considered.
The 2010-11 season will be Grant's 4th w/ Phoenix and surprisingly at the tail-end of his career, Hill has played the most games in any 3-yr span since 95-97' when he was w/ the Detroit Pistons. Credit the Suns training staff for getting Grant back to playing shape & keeping him healthy - they have a nack for these things.
It remains to be seen how the Suns team will look next season since there are many factors up in the air - mostly Amare Stoudemire's contract & potential new NBA destination upcoming. I'm really not surprised to see Hill extend his time here w/ the Suns as I know he and Steve Nash have a great friendship and a lot of respect for each other. Playing w/ Nash is probably the main reason Grant is coming back - other teams could certainly offer him more money to compete for a championship.