The Phoenix Suns have made the first of their roster cuts, as they had 17 players on standard contracts, two more than they are allowed by the time the regular season starts.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The team waived forward Ish Wainright today, bringing them down to 18 players total with two players on two-way contracts.
via Suns
Wainright had not played in a game for the Suns this preseason, as he had been nursing a right calf strain. Wainright’s $1.9 million salary for this season was non-guaranteed until Jan. 2024.
Because the Suns have one more two-way spot available, the team can re-sign Wainright. It would have to be on a two-way deal if he clears waivers in the next 48 hours. Who knows if they will, but it is a possibility.
Thank you for all you did for the Valley, Ish 💜 pic.twitter.com/Xcuit3cqPA
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 19, 2023
Even though he didn’t play many minutes per game during his time with the Suns, Wainright, a former NFL player, became a fan-favorite in Phoenix since joining the team in 2021-22 season. The Suns exercised their team option on him this summer for the 2023-24 season. As mentioned above, they did not guarantee the money until midway through the season. The 29-year-old, 6-foot-5 forward averaged 4.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per game last season. He played in 60 games total for the year.
#Suns forward Ish Wainright has a crazy amount of hats for Arizona sports teams 👀 pic.twitter.com/XTGRBwcm2e
— Burn City Suns Talk 🎙️ (@BurnCitySuns) September 23, 2023
Wainright was seen working out at the facility the past couple days, but not putting much weight on his right leg.
Ish Wainright (has not played yet this preseason) and Yuta Watanabe putting up shots #Suns pic.twitter.com/2TpyBxqQVY
— Burn City Suns Talk 🎙️ (@BurnCitySuns) October 17, 2023
Yahoo reported Wainright to be one of the players the Suns would cut after the team made the trade for Jusuf Nurkić, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. Phoenix sent away Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara in this deal. The team had the needed 15 players before this deal, but it increased to 17 afterwards.
Johnson was the other player who was suspected to be cut by the Suns, so we will see if this ends up happening.
Teams have until 2 p.m. MST on Oct. 23 to finalize their 15-man rosters, one day before the regular season starts.
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, exclusive content, and access to our seasonal magazines! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*
Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
