Suns Unlikely To Keep Greg Monroe Through Season

The Suns acquired Greg Monroe in the Eric Bledsoe trade earlier today, but according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com, the team will likely explore trading the big man.

Wojnarowski hears that it’s unlikely Monroe remains on the Suns’ roster through the season. Phoenix has not yet had conversations with Monroe about a buyout agreement, preferring to parse the trade market in order to get something in return for the center.

CBA rules don’t prohibit the Suns from flipping Monroe immediately after acquiring him from the Bucks. If Phoenix intends to aggregate Monroe’s salary with another player’s salary for matching purposes, the team would have to wait two months to make a deal, but that shouldn’t be an issue, given Monroe’s sizable contract and the Suns’ excess cap room.

Monroe, 27, remains sidelined with a calf injury and he isn’t expected to return to the court until next week. During the five games he played with the Bucks, he saw a total of 79 minutes where he accumulated 34 points and 25 rebounds.

Monroe, who will make $17.88MM this season, is in the final year of a three-year, $50MM pact in which he signed with Milwaukee back in the summer of 2015.

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