Will Stoudemire stay a Sun? He'd like to know

Amaré Stoudemire has a marketing slogan for the Phoenix Suns:

"If I have to re-sign with a mediocre team, it will be here."

Yeah, that'll cause a stampede at the box office.

If you're wondering what the Suns plan to do with Stoudemire, well, you're not alone. Stoudemire would like some clarification about his future, too.

Do the Suns plan to trade him? Is he a part of their plans going forward? Give him something. Anything.

"That's what's so crazy right now," Stoudemire said Wednesday in his first public comments since the Suns nearly traded him to the Golden State Warriors. "There's no solid decision. From a players' standpoint, nobody knows what's going on. We don't know who's going to be here."

That point is driven home by a billboard in the Suns' parking garage at US Airways Center. Under the words "Our People, Our Team, Our Planet" are the silhouettes of three basketball players with a desert background.

Suns have to trade Stoudemire

Perhaps the faces will be filled in later. Like when the Suns have some idea of who will be on their team.

Stoudemire's situation is the trickiest dilemma for general manager Steve Kerr. Trade him now and get less than equal value in return or keep him knowing full well he'll opt out of his contract and become a free agent after the season.

There is a third option: Re-sign Stoudemire to a contract extension this summer. But the Suns seem unwilling to go that route - wisely, we'd point out - which leaves Stoudemire in limbo.

(A deal near the February trading deadline is unlikely. As one Suns source put it Wednesday, "If he starts the year here, he's staying.")

"I would love to stay here, but it's not my decision," Stoudemire said. "My decision is to continue to improve and get ready for any team that would be willing to accept me.

"It's a little tough. It's definitely not something you want to go through. ... But it's all good. It's a business."

One thing is clear: Stoudemire will not give the Suns a hometown discount. He may appreciate what the organization has done for him and express a desire to return the Suns to their glory days just as Paul Pierce did with the Boston Celtics, but he won't do so at a wholesale price. If the Suns want him back it will cost them at least $20 million per season.

"I think my game itself deserves maximum level," Stoudemire said. "I'm top 10 in the NBA. I'm top 10 for the past six years. I'm just going to improve. I'm 26 years old, going into the prime of my career so I think I deserve a maximum extension.

"It's not really about being a centerpiece. It's about whether the Suns have confidence in me or not. If they don't want to sign an extension, then that explains the confidence level that they have in me. If they do, then that explains it as well, as far as they do have confidence in me."

If he wants, Stoudemire can make it nearly impossible for the Suns to trade him. He confirmed a San Jose Mercury News story that he didn't want to play for the Warriors and said he would be unlikely to sign a contract extension with a "mediocre team."

(Other than the Suns, of course.)

Given that most contending teams already have a max contract player and bottom-tier clubs won't trade for Stoudemire unless they're sure they can re-sign him, odds are increasing that Stoudemire will be a Sun this season.

"It's all about winning," Stoudemire said. "Why go to Golden State and try to rebuild there when I can stay here and rebuild here? The situation didn't make total sense to me."

Stoudemire and his agent, Charles Grantham, will meet with Kerr Thursday, but it's hard to imagine the two sides coming to any sort of resolution. From here, at least, it looks like Stoudemire will be a Sun one more season, then say goodbye.

Unless, of course, the organization suddenly changes its mind and sees the wisdom in Amaré's other catchphrase:

"If you keep Stoudemire, we should be able to bounce back to the top."

Hey, it's not any worse than "Our People, Our Team, Our Planet."