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The state of the Suns entering free agency and how they got here

© Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX — Even though the Phoenix Suns were swept in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves this past season, the way they have been able to set themselves up for the future, given their salary cap situation, should not be overlooked.

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When looking back on last offseason to where the Suns stand entering the start of free agency today, the similarities and differences, despite facing heavy restrictions both summers, are very apparent.

In both offseasons, the Suns were a second-tax apron team. Although the full new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) did not kick in until this offseason, the team had to navigate itself around several of these regulations its faces now, last summer.

In the second apron under the new CBA, Phoenix is unable to sign incoming free agents to anything other than veteran minimum contracts. In terms of trades, the Suns are not able to take in more salary than they send out, include cash in deals, aggregate contracts or use a preexisting trade exception.

Last Summer

After officially acquiring Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin and Isaiah Todd from the Washington Wizards only six days before free agency started on June 30 last year, Phoenix had nine players under contract heading into free agency–Beal, Goodwin, Todd, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Deandre Ayton, Cameron Payne and Ish Wainright. They had also just drafted Toumani Camara with the No. 52 overall pick and eventually signed him a standard contract on July 3.

Beal, Booker, Durant and Goodwin were the only ones from this group left on the Suns when the season started on Oct. 24.

When free agency began, the Suns signed five incoming free agents to veteran-minimum deals–Eric Gordon, Drew Eubanks, Keita Bates-Diop, Yuta Watanabe and Chimezie Metu. Phoenix also had to sign two of their own free agents, Josh Okogie and Damion Lee, to veteran-minimum deals.

Todd was traded to the Memphis Grizzles on July 6 for three future-second round picks. Payne was traded in a salary dump to the San Antonio Spurs on July 16. In a corresponding move, the Suns signed Bol Bol to a veteran-minimum deal.

Then, on Sept. 27, Ayton and Camara were traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that also involved the Milwaukee Bucks. Phoenix received Jusuf Nurkić, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson from the Blazers in the trade and Grayson Allen from Milwaukee. The Suns could not do a trade like this in this offseason, as they had to combine multiple salaries to get the deal done and were allowed to take in 110% of the salary they sent out. Now, Phoenix is only allowed to send out one player via trade and can take back a maximum of 100% of the salary they send out.

Wainright and Johnson were waived before the season started. Heading into the year, the Suns had these 15 players on standard contracts with no player outside the starting 5 making over $4 million per year:

  1. Devin Booker
  2. Bradley Beal
  3. Grayson Allen
  4. Kevin Durant
  5. Jusuf Nurkić
  6. Eric Gordon
  7. Drew Eubanks
  8. Keita Bates-Diop
  9. Yuta Watanabe
  10. Chimezie Metu
  11. Bol Bol
  12. Nassir Little
  13. Jordan Goodwin
  14. Josh Okogie
  15. Damion Lee

Three of these original five incoming free agents–Keita Bates-Diop, Yuta Watanabe and Chimezie Metu–did not pan out the way the Suns wanted and were dealt away in a trade for Royce O’Neale and David Roddy on Feb. 8. Goodwin was also sent away in this trade. Once again, this is a trade the Suns are not allowed to do anymore because they aggregated multiple salaries.

Phoenix eventually brought in Thaddeus Young and Isaiah Thomas for the rest of the season on standard contracts to fill out the roster.

The other two original incoming veteran-minimum free agents from last summer–Eric Gordon and Drew Eubanks–are reportedly declining their player options for this season and unlikely to return to Phoenix. Okogie and Lee are also opting out of their options, but are hoping to remain with Phoenix (more on that below).

The bottom line from this situation is that Suns’ fans were extremely hopeful for the majority of these veteran-minimum players, but none of them panned out at all the way they suspected. Bol was the only one most would argue that exceeded, or even just met, expectations.

Additionally, Phoenix also now cannot make trades like it did last season, so if players underperform and are not making a lot of money, the Suns are likely stuck with them.

Where the Suns stand entering tomorrow’s free agency period

This year’s free agency period begins today at 3 p.m. MST. On June 18, teams were permitted to negotiate with their own free agents, while today, teams may begin negotiating with all other free agents. However, no free agent can officially be signed until July 6.

If all goes right for the Suns, they could only have to rely on signing two incoming veteran-minimum players this offseason and not have the greatest expectations for them.

First, let’s look at how they got here after all of last season’s moves.

Booker, Beal, Durant, Nurkić, Little and Roddy all already had multiple years remaining on their contracts.

Allen signed a four-$70 million extension with the Suns in April, while ESPN reported yesterday that Phoenix intends to re-sign O’Neale to a four-year, $44 million contract. Even though O’Neale is going to be an unrestricted free agent, the Suns are able to re-sign him to over a veteran minimum because they held his bird rights, meaning they could go over the salary cap to re-sign him.

Signing both of these players allowed for the Suns to not only keep solid role players on their team for years to come, but since the Suns can only trade one player at a time and can’t take in more salary than they send out, any of these players can now be traded singularly down the line for a good player(s) making their salary or below.

While it seems obvious that the signings of Allen and O’Neale had to get done, what is significant is that it shows the willingness by owner Mat Ishbia to pay for the roster. Phoenix has the highest projected payroll in the NBA next season at $216.7 million after this O’Neale deal and Ishbia will be paying a whopping $162.4 million in luxury tax penalties (via CapSheets).

Another move ESPN reported that Phoenix made yesterday was that it intends to re-sign Bol to a one-year deal. This contract can be worth up to $2.4 million, 120% more than what he made last season, as the Suns held his bird rights.

The Suns will also have two rookies on standard contracts this summer. Phoenix originally held the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft. However, they traded down to No. 28 and drafted Virginia forward Ryan Dunn, while acquiring the No. 56 overall pick from the Denver Nuggets, as well as Denver’s 2026 and 2031 second rounders. They packaged this No. 56 pick, as well as a 2028 protected second-round pick from the Boston Celtics to move up to No. 40 and take Marquette big man Oso Ighodaro. Phoenix also signed undrafted Baylor wing Jalen Bridges to a two-way contract after the draft (Phoenix can have 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals).

According to PHNX‘s Gerald Bourguet, the Suns are hoping to re-sign Okogie and Lee to slightly more than their veteran-minimum contracts, as they hold Okogie’s early bird rights and Lee’s non-bird rights.

At this moment in time, this is how Phoenix’s contracts look entering free agency with O’Neale’s and Bol’s agreed-upon deals (with this year’s and the remaining salary for each player including this season via Spotrac):

  1. Kevin Durant (This season: $51.18 million; Remaining: 2 years, $106 million)
  2. Bradley Beal (This season: $50.2 million; Remaining: 3 years, $161 million)
  3. Devin Booker (This season: $49.35 million; Remaining: 4 years, $221 million)
  4. Jusuf Nurkić (This season: $18.13 million; Remaining: 2 years, $37.5 million)
  5. Grayson Allen (This season: $15.63 million; Remaining: 4 years, $70 million)
  6. *Royce O’Neale (This season: $9.82 million; Remaining: 4 years, $44 million)
  7. Nassir Little (This season: $6.75 million; Remaining: 3 years, $21.8 million)
  8. David Roddy (This season: $2.85 million; Remaining: 2 years, $7.7 million)
  9. *Bol Bol (This season: $2.4 million; Remaining: 1 year, $2.4 million)

* Not officially signed yet

Dunn and Ighodaro will also be factored into this when they sign their contracts. The early bird rights that apply to Okogie and Lee mean that Phoenix could sign them up to 175% of their salary in the last season of their prior contract. For Okogie, that would mean the Suns can offer them him up to $4.93 million (would have been $2.96 million if he opted into his player option) and for Lee, it would be $3 million (instead of $2.85 million). If these two remain in Phoenix, this would mean the Suns have 11 returning players and the two rookies.

Going down more specifically, last offseason, the Suns had 10 players already on standard contracts, including Camara (although he wasn’t signed yet), entering free agency, while this year they have 11 with the two unsigned rookies. One difference is that, other than Little and Roddy, the rest of these players have pretty set roles on this team. Fans also question Nurkić’s ability to impact winning on this team, similar to their last big man in Ayton. Nurkić, Little and Roddy figure to be the three names brought up the most in trade conversations leading up to the season, but once again, the Suns cannot attach any other players to any deal made and have to take in equal or less salary than they send out.

However, Phoenix can include four future draft picks to any trades it makes: their 2031 first- and second-round picks and Denver’s 2026 and 2031 second rounders.

Despite the rumors, the Suns will not be trading any of the team’s Big 3 this offseason. Suns general manager and president of basketball operations James Jones said way back on May 17 that Durant, Booker or Beal “aren’t going anywhere” this offseason.

An additional part of free agency this year is that Durant and Nurkić are eligible for contract extensions next month. Durant has a deadline of July 12 to sign an extension, which can only add one year to his contract and would pay him $59.7 million in 2026-27, while Nurkić has a deadline of July 6 to decide on his.

With all this said, the biggest move the Suns will likely end up making this offseason is the hiring of Mike Budenholzer as the team’s new head coach on May 11 after firing Frank Vogel after just one season. If no trades are made, Budenholzer will be given relatively the same team with some minor tweaks and see how his system works with it.

Going back to the start of free agency tomorrow, one glaring need for the Suns is a point guard off the bench. Arizona Sports‘ John Gambadoro reports that “a couple of names to keep an eye on are – Monte Morris and Aaron Holiday. Kris Dunn makes a lot of sense just not sure if he is gettable.”

Yahoo Sports‘ Jake Fisher also reports “The Suns have been connected to all kinds of guards for minimum salaries, from Kyle Lowry to Monte Morris — and even a potential reunion with (Chris) Paul, should he ultimately be waived by the Warriors, according to NBA personnel.”

There’s not as much to look forward to in free agency for Phoenix this year as in the past, but we will see who the Suns are able to land and if they get back Lee and Okogie.

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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

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