NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash will sign a two-year contract extension with the Phoenix Suns worth 22 million U.S. dollars, the star guard's agent said.

The 35-year-old Canadian playmaker will stay with Suns until 2012 and be paid 13 million dollars next season, according to agent Bill Duffy.

Nash left the Dallas Mavericks for Phoenix in 2004 for a five-year deal worth 65 million dollars. Nash, who won NBA Most Valuable Player honors in 2005 and 2006, was drafted by the Suns in 1996 and traded to Dallas in 1998.

The Suns missed the playoffs last season for the first time since Nash returned from Dallas and star forward Amare Stoudemire is entering the final season of his contract.

Nash has averaged 17.1 points and 10.8 assists a game in his past five seasons with the Mavericks and 14.4 points and eight assists a game in his career.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2009)