Suns Rumors

Pacific Notes: Lakers, LaVine, Zubac, Suns

September 5th, 2024 at 5:44pm CST by Tristan Tucker

As has been covered at length this summer, the Lakers‘ only outside additions to their standard roster this offseason came in the form of draftees Dalton Knecht and Bronny James.

“They’re stuck,” one Eastern Conference executive said of the Lakers, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times.

A Western Conference executive who spoke to Woike said the Lakers should consider adding Bulls guard Zach LaVine, who has been the subject of trade rumors for quite some time. LaVine’s contract (he’s owed nearly $138MM over the next three seasons, including a 2026/27 player option) has been a holdup in getting a deal done. If the Lakers were to pursue such a trade, Woike points out that it would have to be constructed around D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and either Jarred Vanderbilt or Gabe Vincent to match salary since L.A. can’t take in more than it sends out.

The downside would be LaVine’s injury concerns and his questionable fit in a role that would require more from him on defense and less on offense. However, Woike doesn’t get the sense the Lakers are all that interested in LaVine, suggesting that they’re more concerned with seeing how a roster with more continuity performs. Additionally, Woike reasons the Bulls could stand to hold LaVine and try to rebuild his value this season.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Clippers center Ivica Zubac received a 5% trade kicker as part of his three-year extension, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). That means if Zubac is traded, he’d be eligible for a bonus worth 5% of the remaining salary on his contract. The highest percentage allowed on a trade kicker is 15%.
Despite being one of the most efficient three-point shooting teams in the league, the Suns only ranked 25th in attempts, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports writes. That should change in 2024/25, with Tyus Jones, Monte Morris and a healthy Damion Lee among players who could help in that regard. Bourguet runs through several statistical red flags the Suns should look to address under Mike Budenholzer, including how they attack the rim and playing more in transition.
In a similar article for PHNX Sports (subscriber link), Bourguet outlines one area for improvement for every player on the Suns‘ roster, excluding rookies and two-way players. For my money, it’ll be interesting to see how Bradley Beal continues to adapt to being an off-ball third option. His scoring decreased last season (to 18.2 PPG) as he played fewer than 60 games for the third straight season. If he’s fully healthy, it will be intriguing to see if he can resemble the form of the player who recorded back-to-back 30 PPG seasons from 2019-21.

And-Ones: Toscano-Anderson, Shackelford, Roberson, Beverley

September 5th, 2024 at 10:58am CST by Dana Gauruder

Juan Toscano-Anderson is playing for G League United at the third annual NBA G League Fall Invitational this month. The veteran wing is hoping for another NBA opportunity, he told Sam Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I want to show teams that if they were to pick me up, I can enhance the team atmosphere as a player but also as a teammate in the locker room,” Toscano-Anderson said.

He appeared in 11 games with the Kings last season and spent much of the year playing for the Mexico City Capitanes.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

In other G League news, the Valley Suns received the returning player rights to guard Jaden Shackelford from the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League team, in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick, the Suns’ G League team tweets. The Thunder signed and waived Shackelford last October and he spent the season with the Blue.
Former NBA swingman Andre Roberson has signed with the French club Cholet, according to Eurohoops.net. Roberson spent most of his NBA career with the Thunder and most recently played five games with Brooklyn in 2020/21. Earlier this year, he participated in an international tournament in Dubai with former NBA players and, in July, took part in the TBT tournament in Louisville.
Patrick Beverley is getting the superstar treatment with Hapoel Tel Aviv. The longtime NBA guard says he feels like LeBron James after appearing in a preseason game in Belgrade, Basketnews.com relays. “I know how LeBron feels. I leave games, and the guys that I play against want pictures. Coaches that I play against want pictures,” Beverley said on his podcast. “The fans that I go against, they boo me, I leave out and it’s 30 kids outside, and they all want pictures. And this is every country we go to.” Beverley agreed to play with the Israeli team in July after finishing last season with the Bucks.

Teams Limited To Minimum Salary Contract Offers

September 3rd, 2024 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

There won’t be a ton of free agents who sign for more than the veteran’s minimum between now and the end of the NBA’s regular season. The majority of the players whose markets exceeded the minimum came off the board pretty quickly in July, and teams aren’t looking to spend big on the players who are still available.

Still, that certainly doesn’t mean every signing for the next seven months will be of the minimum-salary variety. In some cases – especially on the buyout market in February – being able to offer a couple million dollars more than the minimum could be the difference between a team landing a free agent and missing out on him.

With that in mind, it’s worth checking in on which teams don’t currently have the ability to offer more than the minimum. By our count, a third of the NBA is in this boat, though some of those clubs could generate some spending flexibility by making cost-cutting trades.

Here’s a breakdown of the teams currently limited to minimum-salary contract offers for free agents:

Teams above the second tax apron:

Boston Celtics
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
Phoenix Suns

Teams operating above the second tax apron, which comes in at $188,931,000 in 2024/25, face a series of roster-building restrictions, including being prohibited from using any form of the mid-level exception, as well as the bi-annual exception.

The Celtics, Bucks, Timberwolves, and Suns all fall into that group of teams above the second apron and therefore don’t have any cap exceptions available to use on free agents besides the minimum salary exception.

Teams very close to the second tax apron:

Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat

Because their team salaries are below the second apron, the Lakers and Heat each technically have the ability to use their taxpayer mid-level exception, which is worth $5,168,000 this season.

However, both clubs are operating so close to the second apron that using any portion of the taxpayer MLE would push team salary above that threshold, which isn’t permitted — a team that uses the taxpayer MLE can’t have a salary above the second apron upon the completion of the signing (or at any time after that).

Therefore, unless they make a move to shed salary, the Lakers and Heat will be limited to minimum-salary signings from here on out.

Over-the-cap teams that have used all their cap exceptions:

Denver Nuggets
Philadelphia 76ers

The Nuggets are currently operating between the first and second tax aprons and have already used their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Dario Saric. Because the bi-annual exception isn’t available to teams above the first apron, Denver can no longer offer more than the veteran’s minimum.

The Sixers, meanwhile, used their entire room exception to re-sign Kelly Oubre after spending all their cap space. They’re now well over the cap and only have the minimum salary exception left to sign a free agent outright.

It’s worth noting that acquiring a player via sign-and-trade is technically a possibility prior to opening night for teams who have used up all their cap exceptions and want to add a free agent for more than the minimum. However, that’s not currently a practical option for either Denver or Philadelphia, who are both above the first tax apron.

Teams right up against their hard caps:

Dallas Mavericks
Golden State Warriors

The Mavericks have about $4.25MM of their mid-level exception still available after using a portion of it to sign Naji Marshall, and both Dallas and Golden State still have their full bi-annual exceptions on hand.

Based on the roster moves they’ve made so far this summer though, both the Mavs and Warriors are hard-capped at the first apron of $178,132,000 and are less than $1MM away from that hard cap. In other words, unless they shed salary by trading or waiving one or more of their current players, those two teams aren’t just prohibited from using their remaining exceptions — they’re also unable to add another minimum-salary player on a standard contract.

Dallas and Golden State are each carrying at least one player with a non-guaranteed salary, so it would technically be possible for, say, the Mavs to cut A.J. Lawson and then use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign a free agent. However, their breathing room below the hard cap is so limited that any signings above the minimum are unlikely, unless a cost-cutting trade generates more flexibility — the same goes for the Warriors.

Pacific Notes: Allen, Suns, Kuminga, Moody, Bronny, LeBron

August 31st, 2024 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Grayson Allen was outstanding during his first season with the Suns, but the experience didn’t end the way he wanted it to, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. After leading the NBA in three-point shooting at 46.1%, Allen suffered an injury during the first-round playoff series against Minnesota. He sprained his ankle in Game 1, re-injured it in Game 2 and wasn’t available for the series’ final two games.

Allen started spending time in the weight room shortly after the season ended in an effort to become stronger and more durable. He recently posted a video of himself shooting and doing weight training.

“I’ve got a strong base,” Allen said. “Now it’s moving more towards more speed and explosion, some plyometrics stuff. Moving the weight faster if it’s weighted. A lot of unweighted stuff. Working on some speed, power explosion. Trying to get back into that playing shape and be ready and in better shape. A little faster, a little stronger and be ready for October.”

Allen played for four teams in his first six NBA seasons, but his future in Phoenix appears secure after signing a four-year, $70MM extension in April. He’s focused on maximizing his role in an offense where he’s surrounded by elite scorers in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

“Getting in some of the explosive stuff to get ready to hit the court hard for training camp and preseason coming up and getting all the shots I feel I’m going to get in the season,” Allen said. “Shots I got last season playing with these guys.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports takes a closer look at Mike Budenholzer‘s coaching staff with the Suns, which includes longtime NBA assistants Vince Legarza and Chad Forcier, former Knicks and Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale and ex-players Brent Barry and James Posey.
Now that the Warriors have reached an extension with Stephen Curry, Sam Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle examines whether they’ll pursue rookie scale extensions with Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody before the October 21 deadline. Both players will become eligible for restricted free agency next summer if they don’t sign new deals prior to opening night.
Since they’re teammates, Lakers rookie Bronny James can’t refer to LeBron James as “dad” when they’re on the court together, according to Chuck Schilken of The Los Angeles Times (subscriber only).

Deadline Looms For Teams To Stretch 2024/25 Salaries

August 28th, 2024 at 1:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Thursday, August 29 is the last day that an NBA team will be able to waive a player who has a fully or partially guaranteed salary for 2024/25 and stretch that player’s ’24/25 salary across multiple seasons.

The stretch provision deadline has historically been August 31, and while that’s technically still the case, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement tweaked the wording of the rule. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), in order to apply the stretch provision to a player’s current-season salary, a team must now ensure the player clears waivers on or before August 31 rather than simply requesting waivers on him by August 31.

The adjusted wording is similar to the CBA language related to the league-wide salary guarantee date in January. In that case, a team must place a player on waivers on or before January 7 in order to have him clear waivers ahead of the league-wide Jan. 10 guarantee date. In the case of the stretch provision rule, a player whose salary is being stretched now must be waived by August 29 at 4:00 pm Central time to ensure he has cleared waivers prior to September 1.

A player who clears waivers between September 1 and the end of the 2024/25 season can still have his cap hit(s) for 2025/26 and future seasons stretched across multiple years, assuming he’s owed guaranteed money beyond this season. But his ’24/25 cap charge would remain unchanged in that scenario, unless he reaches a buyout agreement with his team.

The stretch provision allows teams to gain some short-term relief at the cost of reduced long-term flexibility. It’s used most frequently by teams in the luxury tax who want to lower their projected tax bill (or duck out of tax territory entirely) or by teams who want to create a little extra cap room to accommodate a specific roster move.

Teams haven’t employed the stretch provision all that frequently in recent years, but three players waived this week will have their guaranteed money stretched across multiple seasons. The Suns are stretching the $21.75MM owed to Nassir Little for the next three years, as well as the $2,120,693 owed to E.J. Liddell for 2024/25, while the Grizzlies are stretching Mamadi Diakite‘s $1,392,150 partial guarantee for ’24/25.

Since the stretch provision allows a team to spread the player’s remaining salary across twice the remaining years on his contract, plus one additional year, the new cap hits for those players will be as follows:

Little (Suns): $3,107,143 for seven seasons (through 2030/31)
Liddell (Suns): $706,898 for three seasons (through 2026/27)
Diakite (Grizzlies): $464,050 for three seasons (through 2026/27)

The Suns’ moves reduce their projected tax bill, while the Grizzlies’ move creates a little additional breathing room below the tax line.

We likely won’t see a flurry of cuts today and tomorrow in order to take advantage of this rule, but the deadline is still worth keeping in mind for the possibilities it will take off the table. Any player on a guaranteed expiring contract who is waived after August 29 will have his remaining salary count entirely against his team’s ’24/25 books.

Suns Waive Nassir Little, E.J. Liddell

August 27th, 2024 at 6:50pm CST by Tristan Tucker

AUGUST 27: The cuts are official, according to PHNX Sports’ Gerald Bourguet (Twitter link). Both players will become unrestricted free agents if they clear waivers later this week.

With just one year of service, Liddell is eligible for a two-way contract with any team besides the Suns. Little, with five seasons of experience, is not two-way eligible.

AUGUST 21: The Suns are waiving forwards Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Both players will become unrestricted free agents.

Liddell being waived doesn’t come as much of a surprise. He looked like the odd man out for the projected 15-man regular season roster after the Suns acquired him a few weeks ago in a salary dump of David Roddy.

The former Ohio State forward missed his rookie season due to an ACL tear, but played in eight games with New Orleans last season. He was sent from the Pelicans to the Hawks in the Dejounte Murray trade this offseason before being rerouted to Phoenix.

Liddell is still just 23 and had a tremendously impressive junior season in college before his injury (19.4 PPG, 2.6 BPG, .374 3PT%) and he played well in the G League last year, averaging 17.3 points per game). The No. 41 overall pick from the 2022 draft is a candidate to catch on elsewhere.

Little being waived is more surprising, since he’s owed $21.75MM over the next three years and seemed like a candidate to be traded for salary-matching purposes down the line. However, the Suns will instead use the stretch provision in removing him from the roster.

There were rumblings in July that Phoenix cutting Little was a possibility. As Charania writes, the Suns moved forward with that plan in order to open up a roster spot and to create more flexibility for signings or trades.

A former first-round pick, Little wasn’t a huge part of Phoenix’s roster last season, averaging 3.4 points in 45 appearances. He was acquired from the Trail Blazers in last September’s three-team Damian Lillard trade after spending the first four years of his career in Portland. In 237 career games, Little holds averages of 5.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. The 25th pick in the 2019 draft, Little is still just 24 and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him earn another guaranteed contract down the line.

In addition to creating more roster flexibility, the Suns are now better positioned to give Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro an opportunity to earn immediate minutes, according to Charania, who notes that the team is high on both rookies (Twitter link). Phoenix landed Dunn 28th overall and Ighodaro at No. 40 in June’s draft.

With Little and Liddell waived, the Suns have 14 players on standard contracts and three players on two-way deals, so their opening day roster looks to be mostly set.

The Suns had until Aug. 31 to waive Little and stretch his contract through 2030/31 while reducing his $6.75MM cap hit this season. Under the stretch provision, his remaining salary will be paid over twice the number of seasons remaining on his contract, plus one year. Because he had three years left on his contract, Little’s remaining $21.75MM will be paid out equally over the next seven seasons (through ’30/31), for an annual hit of about $3.1MM.

While reducing their team salary by $3.65MM might not seem worth it at face value, given the long-term impact, the Suns are drastically reducing their tax burden by moving Little. They’re over $36MM over the second tax apron, so the tax savings on that $3.65MM will be significant. Based on their current payroll, stretching Little’s salary will save the Suns approximately $40MM in tax penalties across the next two seasons, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.

Suns Notes: Booker, Little, Durant

August 22nd, 2024 at 3:13pm CST by Rory Maher

He didn’t garner as much media attention as some of his teammates, but Devin Booker‘s excellent all-around play for Team USA at the Olympics is a useful point of reference for how the Suns could utilize him in 2024/25, writes Seerat Sohi of The Ringer.

As Sohi details, Booker was frequently utilized in an off-ball role early in his career, before the arrival of Chris Paul. While the 27-year-old developed as a play-maker during his time with Paul and the team found plenty of success — including making the NBA Finals in 2021 — the team’s offense became increasingly heliocentric. That trend continued in 2023/24 after Paul’s departure, with Booker often playing point guard.

With free agent addition Tyus Jones expected to start at point guard and orchestrate the offense, Booker’s off-ball play will be crucial if the team hopes to make the most of its collective talent, according to Sohi, who says playing off the ball more often could help the 27-year-old defensively as well.

Here’s more on the Suns:

Aside from the financial component, the Suns are waiving Nassir Little because he was unlikely to crack their rotation this season, per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. Phoenix will use the stretch provision on Little’s contract, reducing his cap hit over the next three seasons while instead paying him about $3.1MM annually over the next seven years. By releasing Little and fellow forward E.J. Liddell, the Suns will only have 14 players on guaranteed contracts, giving them more roster flexibility heading into the season, Bourguet notes.
Will star forward Kevin Durant return to Team USA for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles? That’s obviously too many years away for a definitive answer, but Durant fueled speculation by writing “see yall (sic) in LA” on Twitter. The 14-time All-Star will be nearing his 40th birthday by the time the 2028 Olympic Games roll around.

And-Ones: Whitehead, West Playoff Race, Holiday, Schröder

August 19th, 2024 at 11:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Former Nets shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead is reportedly joining Polish club Slask Wroclaw, according to Karol Wasiek of ZKrainyNBA.com (hat tip to Dario Skerletic of Sportando).

The 6’4″ swingman spent the 2023/24 season plying his trade for Israeli club Ironi Ness Ziona B.C., notching averages of 14.0 points, 4.6 assists per game, and four rebounds a night.

Whitehead was selected with the No. 42 overall pick by the Nets out of Seton Hall in 2016. Across two seasons with Brooklyn, the 29-year-old averaged 7.2 points on a .411/.305/.788 slash line, along with 2.4 boards and 2.4 dimes. He has been playing internationally since 2018.

There’s more from around the NBA world:

In a new piece, The Athletic’s Zach Harper takes stock of a wide-open Western Conference, projecting which clubs have a realistic shot at winning it all in 2024/25. Harper also lays out a Hall of Fame case for Celtics guard Jrue Holiday. The 6’4″ vet has now won two NBA and Olympic titles as a key contributor, has racked up a pair of All-Star accolades and has earned six All-Defensive Team honors.
Nets point guard Dennis Schröder recently took umbrage with Suns forward Kevin Durant’s critical post-Olympic tweet, seen as a shot at an initial Schröder comment, writes Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily. Schröder, who recently starred in the Paris Olympics for Team Germany, praised European basketball as “straight IQ basketball,” while he called the U.S. brand of the game as “entertainment.” After winning a gold medal for Team USA, Durant attached the caption “ENTERTAINMENT & IQ” to a photo of the gold-winning team on his personal Twitter account. “You’re that type of a star and have to say something to a person like me, who [didn’t] even mean it to be negative, just what I see from both sides. I didn’t appreciate it — not even appreciate it, I don’t care,” Schröder said on Twitch (Twitter video link). “… To say that tells me how weak he is as a person, you know what I’m saying? … It is what it is. Not everybody is strong, not everybody is in a good place.”
In case you missed it, we recently published projections for the maximum salaries, minimum salaries, and mid-level/bi-annual exceptions for the 2025/26 season.

Atlantic Notes: Yabusele, T. Jones, Randle, Brown

August 19th, 2024 at 11:05am CST by Arthur Hill

The roughly $2MM salary that Guerschon Yabusele will receive from the Sixers is less than his $2.5MM buyout with Real Madrid, but there’s another important financial consideration behind his decision to return to the NBA, according to BasketNews. Yabusele played two seasons with Boston after being selected with the 16th pick in the 2016 draft. Appearing in just one game this season will give him three years of NBA service, which makes him eligible for a pension and other benefits.

Under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, eligible players receive $1,001.47 per month for each year they spent in the league, up to a maximum of 10 years. If he leaves the NBA after his third season, Yabusele will begin receiving $36,052.92 each year after his 62nd birthday. Life insurance, disability insurance and dental, vision, and prescription drug insurance are also available for players who qualify.

It’s also unlikely that Yabusele will face financial hardship due to his buyout, BasketNews adds. NBA rules allow the Sixers to contribute $850K of that amount, and it has become common for teams to let players pay off the rest in installments, as Gabriel Deck and Facundo Campazzo recently did when they left their teams.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Before signing with the Suns, Tyus Jones considered an offer from the Knicks worth about $10MM over two years, Ian Begley of SNY states in a mailbag column. Begley hears that Jones received at least one other offer that was significantly higher, and there were also sign-and-trade scenarios and the option to re-sign with Washington that would have paid him more than the minimum deal he accepted from Phoenix. However, Jones wanted to be starter on a contending team, and no one else in the market was able to offer him that chance.
Neither the Knicks nor Julius Randle appear to be in a hurry to reach an extension, Begley adds in the same piece. Randle became eligible for a new deal on August 3, but the two sides have until June 30 to hammer out an agreement. Begley notes that Randle is excited about the changes the team made this summer, specifically the addition of Mikal Bridges, and he’s looking forward to returning healthy for the start of camp.
On his social media account, Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown shared photos of intense underwater workouts over the weekend, relays Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston.

Western Notes: Williamson, Edwards, Durant, Timberwolves

August 18th, 2024 at 4:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Zion Williamson is apparently keeping his weight down this offseason, a good sign for the Pelicans, Darryn Albert of LarryBrownSports.com relays.

Photos that surfaced online over the weekend show Williamson looking fit and trim at his basketball camp in Spartanburg, S.C. The Pelicans star appeared in a career-high 70 regular-season game last season, averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists. However, a left hamstring strain kept him out of the first-round playoff series against Oklahoma City, which the Thunder swept.

We have more from the Western Conference:

Anthony Edwards had a little fun with his gold-medal winning Olympic teammate, Kevin Durant, during a ‘Fanatics Fest’ on Saturday. The Timberwolves knocked the Suns out of the postseason and Edwards, who played the starring role in that series, joked that he felt “bad” about it. “I am not going to lie. I felt bad a little bit, only because he is my favorite player of all-time,” he said, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net, “I did not want to send him home like that. It happened, man. I felt bad.” Rest assured, Edwards didn’t feel that bad about sending KD home this past spring.
There’s no doubt the league considers the Timberwolves one of the league’s most exciting and watchable teams, Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. In the NBA schedule released on Thursday, the Timberwolves had the biggest increase in national TV appearances. They are set to make 18 appearances on ABC, TNT or ESPN and seven more on NBA TV. Among those appearances, they are playing on opening night, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Mavericks have made a front office addition. Get the details here.

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