The Phoenix Suns extended the contracts of guards Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw on Thursday and lowered their preseason roster to 15 players by waiving rookie guard Anthony Lever-Pedroza.

The team exercised the fourth-year options on the rookie-scale contracts of Barbosa and Diaw. Both players will be under contract through at least the 2006-07 season with the Suns holding the right of first refusal when the two become restricted free agents in summer 2007.

The 22-year-old Barbosa has averaged 7.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 133 games over two seasons with the Suns, including 52 starts.

Diaw was acquired from Atlanta in an Aug. 19 sign-and-trade deal that sent Joe Johnson to the Hawks. Diaw averaged 4.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 142 games (62 starts) in his first two seasons with Atlanta.

Miami Heat owner Micky Arison was elected chairman of the NBA's Board of Governors on Wednesday, replacing Phoenix Suns CEO Jerry Colangelo.

"I'm looking forward to an interesting period," Arison said. "We have a lot of opportunities obviously for the league and a lot of challenges, and I look forward to working with the league office to help in any way I can."

Colangelo, who served two two-year terms as chairman, will continue to serve as the Suns' representative on the board and as a member of committees for finance, long-range planning, collective bargaining and player relations. He voluntarily stepped down as chairman to give someone else a chance at the job.

Arison is the chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation, the cruise ship company. He took control of the Heat in 1995 and has overseen moves such as the hiring of Pat Riley and the acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal, helping Miami grow into a team considered one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference this season.

"It's great when you have somebody like Micky as a sounding board for the decisions, the directions and the processes," commissioner David Stern said. "There's television negotiations that will be coming up, there's global expansion, there are technology decisions that need to be addressed.

"These ultimately will be decisions for the most part for the whole board, but as you get them ready it's great to have a chairman who both is available as a sounding board and brings the business acumen that Micky brings."

The Phoenix Suns announced today that they have claimed center Jared Reiner off waivers.

Originally signed by the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 3, 2005, Reiner averaged 2.7 points over 6.7 minutes in three preseason games before he was released on Oct. 20.

The 6-11, 255-pound center played in 19 games as a rookie in 2004-05, including two starts, after going undrafted and joining the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. The 23-year-old averaged 1.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and 6.9 minutes with the Bulls and logged seven minutes in three postseason games.

It started Friday morning with five minutes on a zeroresistance exercise bike. Then came 10 minutes of hydrotherapy, followed by gingerly flexing and working out soft tissue manually to take out the stiffness and soreness of a left knee that has all basketball fans in Phoenix holding their collective breath.

Less than two weeks after his microfracture surgery, Suns star Amar? Stoudemire is back amid the bowels of America West Arena, beginning what everyone within the Phoenix Suns is hoping will be a four-month recovery road back to the NBA. And after two days of easy-does-it exercises, all reports are positive.

"He?s doing extremely well. We upped the time on the bike to seven minutes (Saturday) and we?re beginning manual therapy on the knee and in other areas to eliminate the tightness over the body," Nelson said. "That way, when we do get him on the court down the road, he?s really well-prepared.

"We?re starting very slow with non-weight bearing stuff in the SwimEx (pool) that has a 7-foot well ? so he can?t touch bottom," Nelson said. "Amar? is very focused, very positive. He?s in a good frame of mind and so far all the indications are great.??

Former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo will step down as chairman of the NBA's board of governors next week, a move Colangelo asked for because he felt it was time to give someone else a chance at the job.

``I was asked to stay on through the last collective-bargaining negotiations,'' Colangelo said Thursday night. ``Now that's put aside and behind us.

``You know, usually everyone just does a two-year term. I've had two terms, and the right thing politically is to step down.''

Colangelo, the Suns' chairman and chief executive, will continue to serve as the team's representative on the board and as a member of committees for finance, long-range planning, collective bargaining and player relations.

``I will continue on all those committees, so it's kind of passing the gavel or baton, and time for someone else to have the chairman's title,'' Colangelo said.

Warriors guard Jason Richardson knows just how much of an impact losing the best player can have on a team. Richardson missed nine straight games last season with a sprained left ankle. The Warriors went 0-9.

So he knows, despite the talent that remains, the Phoenix Suns are going to suffer a drop-off with their most talented player, center Amare Stoudemire, out for at least the first half of the season. Add to that their offseason moves, and this is far from the same Suns team that reached the 2005 Western Conference finals.

"It's kind of hard," Richardson said. "They've got a lot of good players. They've still got Shawn Marion, still got Steve Nash. But then again you lose Amare Stoudemire, he got hurt. You lose Joe Johnson in a trade. You lose Quentin Richardson in a trade. It's going to be tough."

The Suns received devastating news this morning regarding their All-Star big man. Amar? Stoudemire?s arthroscopic surgery evolved into a microfracture procedure on his left knee this morning, according to his manager.

His cartilage damage is said to be more severe than anticipated by Team physician and orthopedic surgeon Thomas Carter.  Amare is expected be out for four months because of the surgery said his manager, Rodney Rice.

?It was better to do the microfracture now instead of chancing that the lesion would grow, which might affect Amar? down the road," said Rice.

Suns fans remember how microfracture surgery greatly changed the game of Penny Hardaway but Rice said Stoudemire should not be as adversely affected because he is having the operation at a younger age and at a time when the lesion is smaller. During a microfracture, holes are drilled into the bone. The cells then come up with the blood through the holes and form into cartilage.

?He?s got a lot of things in his favor to come back in a strong way,? Rice said.

The Phoenix Suns announced today forward/center Amar? Stoudemire will undergo surgery tomorrow morning in Phoenix, Arizona.  Suns team physician Tom Carter will perform the diagnostic arthroscopic surgery to determine the extent of the injury to the articular cartilage which has caused soreness to Amar??s left knee.

A post surgery report will be provided by the Suns tomorrow.

Stoudemire missed the final two days of training camp after experiencing soreness in his left knee.

Amar? Stoudemire is out for an indeterminate amount of time and could be facing surgery because of the left knee that has been troubling him this summer.

Suns GM Bryan Colangelo said that Phoenix is "going through the evaluation process and is going to make sure it has all the information before a determination is made to pursue treatment, possible surgery (and) what the safest and best return is for him to come back to basketball."

The Phoenix Suns today signed All-Star Amar? Stoudemire to a five-year contract extension, the maximum allowed by NBA rules. The contract extension will begin in the 2006-07 season. Per club policy, financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.

?Amar? Stoudemire clearly represents the future of the NBA and now too, the future of the Phoenix Suns,? Suns President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo said. ?This franchise and city are fortunate to have one of the league?s elite young players committed long term with a goal and determination of bringing a championship to Phoenix.?

The 22-year-old forward/center blossomed in his third NBA season in 2004-05, earning Second Team All-NBA honors and became the youngest player in franchise history to be named to the All-Star team. Stoudemire was the only player ranked in the NBA top 10 in points (26.0, 5th) and field goal percentage (.559, 2nd) last season as the Suns finished with an NBA-best and club record-tying 62 wins in the regular season. Fourteen of his top 15 career scoring efforts came in 2004-05, and he scored 40 or more points six times (plus three in the playoffs), including a career-high 50 points vs. Portland on Jan. 2.