Sixers Notes | Snow makes his four-year contract extension official
By Joe Juliano
Inquirer Staff Writer

The NBA office and the National Basketball Players Association took a
good look at it, approved it, and now Eric Snow is officially a 76er
through the 2008-09 season.

The 30-year-old Sixers point guard yesterday signed what sources said
was a four-year contract extension worth $25.58 million, beginning in
2005-06.

The deal was all but finalized Thursday between team president and
general manager Billy King and Steve Kaufman, Snow's agent, but it
had to be examined by the league office and the players' union before
it became official.

The question revolved around when the extension would begin. Snow
could have terminated his contract after this season and opted for
free agency. He also had an option year in 2005-06 if he had decided
to come back to the Sixers.

The league and union decided to replace that option year with the
first season of the extension, instead of waiting until the following
season for the new deal to kick in.

Snow, who is going into his seventh season with the Sixers, will make
$4.5 million this year and $4,875,000 the next. In the first year of
the new deal, his salary will increase to $5.48 million, followed by
raises to $6.09 million, $6.7 million and $7.31 million.

"Until it happens there's always some doubt," Snow said. "The Lord
has blessed me a great deal and I'm real thankful for that. Now it's
time to help make this team better, and win a championship. Most
likely it's my last contract, so I can now just play basketball."

With Allen Iverson having signed a four-year, $76.7 million extension
earlier this month, the Sixers' starting backcourt is locked in until
the 2008-09 season.

"It's great to have Allen and Eric, who have been a great backcourt
for us, under contract," King said. "There's no distraction the whole
season on whether they're going to be free agents or not. We can
focus on playing."

Snow established career bests last season in scoring average (12.9
points) as well as field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage and
minutes played. He also was named to the NBA's second-team all-
defensive team.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/basketball/6928717.htm

Congrats to Eric and his family.