Phoenix Suns veteran forward Royce O’Neale has gone through a lot in his basketball journey to get to the point of signing a four-year, $42 million contract with Phoenix this summer.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!O’Neale joined a special spaces hosted by the NBA on X (formerly Twitter) where he discussed his entire basketball journey starting from the time his mom first put a ball in his hands and he played on a kid’s hoop.
— NBA (@NBA) September 9, 2024
O’Neale had a couple unique moments after his high school basketball career at Harker Heights High School in Texas, playing his first two years of college basketball at the University of Denver before transferring back to Texas to play for the Baylor Bears for his junior and senior seasons. He then spent two years overseas before signing his first NBA contract with the Utah Jazz after a strong performance in the 2017 NBA Summer League.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” O’Neale said about his overseas experience.
O’Neale would spend five years in Utah, making the playoffs in all five seasons and starting 230 of his 370 regular season games played before he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets to pair up with the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the 2022 offseason.
After 1.5 seasons in Brooklyn, the Suns acquired the 6-foot-6, 31-year-old O’Neale ahead of the trade deadline in a three-way deal from the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 8. O’Neale, who has still never missed the playoffs in his eight-year NBA career, had multiple 20-point and 10-rebound games with the Suns, something he never did once before. He played in all 30 games he was available for Phoenix this regular season, averaging 8.1 points on .411/.376/.692 splits, 5.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 25.1 minutes per game.
“That was a different situation because I had never been traded midseason,” O’Neale said of his trade to Phoenix. “My situation, I found out I got traded, and I tried to find a flight to get out that night or next morning. I look at the schedule and two days later Phoenix is playing Golden State, so I literally fly to Phoenix, do my physical and stuff, get all that information and stuff done, then fly with the team to Golden State, be with them.
“Coming into that situation not knowing if I’m going to play, mid-season trade, trying to learn things fast, whole different system. Getting an opportunity to play in that (Golden State) game and making an impact, it was just taking off from there.”
O’Neale has been around a lot of great NBA players in his career and talked about what it was like playing alongside Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and others and how his first season in Phoenix went.
“It was an adjustment for sure,” O’Neale said. “Coming in midseason, new situation. It helped that I’d played with KD before in Brooklyn, and then also played with Grayson (Allen) in Utah. Playing against D-Book and Brad and all the other guys, I was able to fit in right away, just be myself.
“Come in starting on the bench and then starting games, going back and forth. That helped me out just finding a role and being able to relax and be myself coming into a new situation.”
The Suns were swept in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs, but seemed confident moving forward using a continuity approach for the 2024-25 season, according to owner Mat Ishbia, and showed this willingness keeping their entire starting 5 from last season and signing O’Neale, their best option off the bench, to a long-term contract. With these moves, Phoenix now has the first-ever payroll to exceed $400 million in NBA history.
O’Neale echoed what Ishbia and several others said about the team moving forward back in May.
“Of course (come) playoffs we didn’t live up to the standards, but I think now that we have a full team, a full year and were able to get that chemistry going, I think it’s going to be way better,” O’Neale said.
“Will we be better next year than we were this year? Yes. Are we better this year than we were last year? Absolutely. Think about the team that lost in Denver. Is our team better this year than last year? It's not even close. But… NBA championship, that’s what we’re focused on.” https://t.co/7q9WYX3kNm
— Brendan Mau (@brendan_mau) May 2, 2024
Phoenix did end up firing first-year coach Frank Vogel and replacing him with Mike Budenholzer shortly into the offseason. A little bit deeper into free agency, the Suns had one of their best free agent signings in a long time, agreeing to a veteran-minimum deal with Tyus Jones, who will be the team’s starting point guard.
After a disappointing finish to the 2023-24 season, O’Neale went over his goals and expectations for next season.
“I think just taking it one day at a time,” O’Neale said. “Of course, everybody is going to have their expectations and say this and that. But we control our own destiny, control what we can.
“For myself, just being a leader, getting better every day, doing what I can to help us win as many games, and we just continue to compete for a championship that we want.”
(h/t Desert Wave Media/X)
Here is what Royce O’Neale expects from the #Suns this upcoming season:#NBA #NBAX #PhoenixSuns pic.twitter.com/SJ71lmj0uI
— Desert Wave Media (@DesertWaveCo) September 9, 2024
The Suns begin the regular season on Oct. 23 on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers at the brand new Intuit Dome.
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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
