PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns could very well likely have their top-six players back on the roster at the start of the 2024-25 season.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported on X today: “I do not expect the Suns to trade (Nurkić). He should do well in (new coach Mike Budenholzer’s) offense. He will be back.”
I do not expect the Suns to trade Nurk. He should do well in Bud’s offense. He will be back. https://t.co/tjmG3oflfT
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) July 1, 2024
Phoenix has Nurkić, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Grayson Allen and Kevin Durant under contract for next season. ESPN also reported that Royce O’Neale intends to sign a four-year, $44 million extension when he is allowed to on July 6.
Nurkić has two years and $37.5 million remaining on his contract and also can sign an extension with Phoenix beginning on July 6.
Since the Suns have said they aren’t moving any of Beal, Booker or Durant this offseason and Allen can’t be traded until October, Nurkić is the Suns’ most realistic piece if they wanted to do a trade.
Since Phoenix is projected to have a payroll of $216.7 million after this O’Neale deal (via CapSheets) and the second-tax apron is set at $188.3 million, the Suns face extreme limitations in terms of trades, as they are operating over this threshold. Phoenix cannot take in more salary than its sends out, include cash in deals, aggregate contracts or use a preexisting trade exception.
So Nurkić’s $18.125 salary this season plus some of their future draft capital could hypothetically be traded to take in players making less than his salary to help out Phoenix. However, it is unclear how much value Nurkić actually has in a trade and if Phoenix could get back a good center for him.
https://t.co/udxc31w9FX pic.twitter.com/2gcOTqijy7
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 24, 2024
The Suns acquired the 29-year-old Nurkić from the Portland Trail Blazers on Sept. 27, in a deal where they sent out Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara and also received Nassir Little and Grayson Allen. Nurkić had the best plus/minus on the Suns in his first season at +5.3 and had multiple games of 20-plus rebounds, but fans grew frustrated with his inconsistent finishing around the rim (ranked in the 54th percentile in field goal percentage at the rim). Across 76 games played (all starts), the 7-footer averaged 10.9 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game in the regular season for Phoenix.
Another stat that doesn’t sit right with Suns’ fans is the fact that Nurkić is 3-17 in his career in the playoffs, the worst win percentage (.150) by any player in NBA playoff history with at least 20 games. This includes the Suns being swept in the first round this past season by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If Nurkić does return, the Suns have their center rotation pretty much set after it was reported yesterday that they plan to sign Mason Plumlee on a one-year, veteran minimum contract and they drafted Marquette big man Oso Ighodaro with the 40th overall pick in this year’s draft.
From our updated free agency tracker, these are the 12 players on or reported to be eventually signing standard contracts with the Suns (this year’s and the remaining salary for each player including this season mostly via Spotrac):
- Kevin Durant (2024-25 salary: $51.18 million; Remaining: 2 years, $106 million)
- Bradley Beal (2024-25 salary: $50.2 million; Remaining: 3 years, $161 million)
- Devin Booker (2024-25 salary: $49.35 million; Remaining: 4 years, $221 million)
- Jusuf Nurkić (2024-25 salary: $18.13 million; Remaining: 2 years, $37.5 million)
- Grayson Allen (2024-25 salary: $15.63 million; Remaining: 4 years, $70 million)
- *Royce O’Neale (2024-25 salary: $9.82 million; Remaining: 4 years, $44 million)
- Nassir Little (2024-25 salary: $6.75 million; Remaining: 3 years, $21.8 million)
- *Mason Plumlee (2024-25 salary: $3.3 million; Remaining: 1 year, $3.3 million)
- David Roddy (2024-25 salary: $2.85 million; Remaining: 2 years, $7.7 million)
- *Bol Bol (2024-25 salary: $2.4 million; Remaining: 1 year, $2.4 million)
- *Ryan Dunn (Rookie)
- *Oso Ighodaro (Rookie)
* Not officially signed yet
Of these 12, Little and Roddy appear to make the most sense to try to trade away this offseason.
Stay tuned for more Suns’ updates all offseason long on burncitysports.com.
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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
