Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: KD, Suns, D-Lo, Westbrook, Clippers

March 2nd, 2023 at 12:35pm CST by Rory Maher

Superstar forward Kevin Durant had a successful debut with the Suns on Wednesday, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The 34-year-old had been out of action since January 8 after sustaining a right MCL sprain, but he contributed 23 points (on 10-of-15 shooting), six rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 27 minutes during Phoenix’s 105-91 victory in Charlotte.

“I feel like I fit in pretty well. Everybody out there was trying to make me as comfortable as possible,” Durant said. “I just got to keep grinding, man, and this jersey on me will look normal as games go on.”

Durant had never been traded in the middle of a season prior to being sent to Phoenix from Brooklyn last month, and he admitted he was nervous about his first game in Suns uniform.

“New environment, new situation, new teammates, I mean I always feel I got to prove myself to my teammates and my coaches every single day no matter what I’ve done in the league,” Durant said, per Windhorst. “So I feel like there’s pressure to be who I am every day.”

Here’s more from the Pacific:

Suns head coach Monty Williams said after the game that Durant will be on a precautionary minutes restriction for “at least the next week,” as Shane Young of Forbes Sports relays (via Twitter). Williams was noncommittal about Durant’s status for Friday’s game in Chicago, Young adds.
Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell continues to be hampered by a sprained right ankle. He told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that he will miss Friday’s game versus Minnesota, his fourth consecutive absence (Twitter link). When asked if he could potentially play Sunday against Golden State, Russell wasn’t sure. “We’ll see once we get through Friday,” he said.
Wolves guard Austin Rivers believes Russell Westbrook is a “natural fit” with the Clippers, according to Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints.com. “He starts, that’s exactly what he wanted to be in that situation,” Rivers said before Tuesday’s matchup with the Clippers. “The pressure’s not on him to close games. They got two closers, so he gets to go play and just kinda be him and not have to worry about all the pressure. I think it’s a great fit, honestly.” Rivers, who played with Westbrook in Houston a few years ago, explained that the Clippers’ shooting should give Westbrook more room to drive and make plays. Westbrook has put up strong individual numbers with the Clippers, averaging 16.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 9.3 APG (4.3 TO) and 2.3 SPG on .529/.444/1.000 shooting, but the team is 0-3 with him in the lineup thus far, Azarly notes.

Jae Crowder: “I’d Do It All Over Again”

March 2nd, 2023 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Jae Crowder has no regrets about his holdout in Phoenix or the months of missed games as he waited for a trade to be completed, telling Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, “I’d do it all over again.”

The Bucks had been considered among the favorites to land Crowder, but they weren’t able to work out a deal directly with the Suns. After Phoenix agreed to ship Crowder to Brooklyn in the Kevin Durant trade, Milwaukee offered draft assets to the Nets and everything was folded into a four-team deal.

The Bucks were thrilled to finally obtain Crowder, and they see him filling the defensive specialist role that P.J. Tucker did during their championship run in 2021. He has fit in seamlessly so far, averaging 19.3 minutes off the bench as Milwaukee has gone 4-0 since he has arrived.

“I think this team has what it takes to win a championship,” Crowder said. “That’s my main goal right now. I think once you win a championship, the rest of that stuff will take care of itself. My main goal, honestly, is not thinking about free agency or the summer. It’s all about winning the championship. I think that’s our locker room goal, and when I came into it, I knew that was the goal of the team.”

Crowder’s relationship with the Suns was reportedly damaged beyond repair when head coach Monty Williams informed him last offseason that he would no longer be a starter. Crowder refused to report to training camp, opting for individual workouts twice each day while he waited for a trade to materialize.

Sources tell Scotto that even when Cameron Johnson tore his meniscus in November, Crowder never considered returning to the Suns and the team didn’t discuss asking him to come back.

“Nah, there wasn’t a chance I was going to play there,” Crowder said. “Both sides knew that the road had come to an end. That came to an end way before Cam got hurt. I wasn’t going back on it, and they weren’t going back on it.”

Phoenix received offers for Crowder from several teams, Scotto adds. The Hawks, Rockets and Suns had exploratory discussions that would have sent Crowder to Atlanta along with Landry Shamet, while Eric Gordon and Kenyon Martin Jr. would have gone to Phoenix and John Collins would have wound up in Houston, but Scotto’s sources say that deal was never close to being completed.

Scotto adds that the Hawks also attempted to acquire Crowder and Shamet in a three-way trade that would have included the Jazz, but a disagreement over the draft picks Utah would have received prevented the teams from making progress. Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley would have gone to the Suns in that version of the deal.

And-Ones: Cheatham, Summer League, Udoka, Team USA

March 1st, 2023 at 6:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward Zylan Cheatham, who has appeared in NBA games for the Jazz and Pelicans since 2019, will resume his playing career in the EuroLeague. According to reporting from BasketNews.com, German club Bayern Munich added Chatham to its roster ahead of today’s deadline for EuroLeague teams to register new players.

After going undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, Cheatham began his professional career on a two-way contract with the Pelicans, spending his entire rookie season with the team, though he only appeared in four NBA games.

Cheatham was sent to Oklahoma City in a sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes during the 2020 offseason in the deal that landed Steven Adams in New Orleans, but was waived by the Thunder a week later. Since then, he has primarily played in the G League, though he did sign 10-day contracts with Miami, Utah, and New Orleans last season.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The NBA has officially confirmed the dates for this year’s Las Vegas Summer League, announcing (via Twitter) that it will take place from July 7-17.
Teams are beginning the vetting process of former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. Bulpett explores what teams want to know about Udoka and what steps he might have to take to land a new job following his year-long suspension and his subsequent exit from Boston.
Suns forward Kevin Durant and Kings forward Harrison Barnes are among the former Olympic medalists who are part of USA Basketball’s Board of Directors. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press explores what that role entails, noting that Durant has sought to have real input on the program, rather than just having an honorary seat at the table.
Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic polled a handful of players at All-Star weekend about what they’d change about the NBA and received some interesting responses, including Anthony Edwards criticizing the concept of load management (“Just play, man. If you 80 percent, you got to play. I don’t like all this sitting, missing games and stuff”) and Tyrese Haliburton advocating for the league to expand (“The talent in the world right now is amazing, so to add two more teams would be good for our league”).

Suns Notes: Crowder, Okogie, Warren, Payne, Bridges

March 1st, 2023 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

A rift with head coach Monty Williams over the loss of his starting spot led to the end of Jae Crowder‘s time with the Suns, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. Williams informed Crowder during the offseason that Cameron Johnson would be replacing him in the starting lineup, sources told Fischer. While Crowder didn’t go into detail, he confirmed that a strained relationship with Williams prompted him to ask for a trade.

“Yeah, we had differences,” Crowder said. “They asked me to keep it in-house, I’ll keep it in-house. I’m now gone, same thing I’ve told everybody else: I’ve moved on from the situation. I wish them the best, I’m leaving that behind.”

Crowder was initially on track to be shipped to the Nets as part of the Kevin Durant trade, but he ultimately wound up with the Bucks, who had been attempting to acquire him from the Suns. Phoenix gave permission to Milwaukee to meet with Crowder, and several trade scenarios had been discussed that included players such as Grayson Allen, Serge Ibaka, George Hill and Jordan Nwora.

“I landed where I wanted to land at the end of the day,” Crowder said. “I think I gained just knowing myself as a player and my mental. I never wavered. Never wavered on the process. From a month, to two months … I stayed with the plan of what it was and what I wanted to accomplish. So I give kudos to my mental and me staying sane throughout the entire process, because I did want the process to end fairly sooner than when it did.”

There’s more on the Suns:

Phoenix will undergo a major lineup change tonight when Durant makes his debut with the team, and it appears Josh Okogie will be the fifth starter alongside Durant, Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Okogie has made five consecutive starts and is averaging 18.5 points and 5.8 rebounds over his last six games while shooting 53.4% from the field. “We’ve been looking forward to (Durant’s first game) since the trade, but we had to wait a little bit,” Okogie said. “We’re excited to finally get him in the mix of things, show him how we play. Show him the love that we play with, the passion and the unselfishness that we play with.”
T.J. Warren hasn’t played in the two games since the All-Star break, Rankin notes in another Arizona Republic article. Warren was productive in Brooklyn, but Williams points out that he’s already using a 10-man rotation and someone else will be bumped now that Durant is active.
Tania Ganguli of The New York Times looks at the long friendship between Cameron Payne and Mikal Bridges, who are no longer teammates since Bridges was sent to Brooklyn in the Durant deal.

Kevin Durant On Track For Suns Debut On Wednesday

February 28th, 2023 at 12:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Superstar forward Kevin Durant is expected to play his first game for the Suns on Wednesday in Charlotte against the Hornets, the team announced today (via Twitter).

The announcement had been anticipated, as a report last week indicated that Durant and the Suns were targeting March 1 for his return from a right MCL sprain that has sidelined him since January 8.

Of course, back when Durant suffered that injury, he was still a member of the Nets. His injury absence resulted in a prolonged slump in Brooklyn and was one domino that led to Kyrie Irving‘s trade request. After the Nets sent Irving to Dallas, Durant quietly requested a trade of his own and was sent to Phoenix at this month’s deadline in exchange for a package headlined by Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, and four unprotected first-round picks.

Durant’s new teammates, including Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Chris Paul, have repeatedly expressed excitement to play alongside the former MVP, and head coach Monty Williams said on Sunday that KD was “itching to get out there,” per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

With Durant in their lineup, the Suns will take aim at securing one of the top seeds in the West. The 33-29 squad currently holds the No. 4 spot in the conference, but seven teams are within three games of the Suns in the standings and chasing Phoenix for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Contract Details For Ish Wainright

February 28th, 2023 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Suns used a portion of their taxpayer mid-level exception to give Ish Wainright a slightly larger salary than he would have received on a minimum-salary contract, tweets Smith. Wainright will earn $474,851 for the rest of this season instead of the $423,612 he would’ve gotten on a minimum deal. As previously reported, the second year of Wainright’s contract is a team option.

New York Notes: Rose, Barrett, Bridges, Thomas

February 26th, 2023 at 8:34am CST by Luke Adams

Responding to rumors that he’d be pursued by the Suns if he reaches a buyout agreement with the Knicks, point guard Derrick Rose told reporters on Saturday that he hasn’t “talked to anybody” about seeking a buyout.

“I haven’t even thought about it. I’m locked in to my thing right now. It’s kind of hard to think about something that I’ve never pursued and never talked about with them,” Rose said, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. “… Y’all heard something? I’ve just been locked in, doing my recovery. (I) talk to (head coach Tom Thibodeau) about the team, talk to (president) Leon (Rose) about the team, but other than that, I haven’t talked to them about (a buyout).”

Players who are waived on or before March 1 retain their playoff eligibility if they sign with a new team before the end of the regular season, so if Rose is going to be bought out it would probably have to happen in the next few days. However, the former MVP gave no indication that he’ll have a last-minute change of heart, pointing out that family considerations also factor into his desire to remain in New York — his son plays for the Gauchos AAU team in Manhattan, according to Botte.

“Exactly. He loves it over here. I’d probably have to talk it over with him, even before Thibs,” Rose joked.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

After finding himself on the bench during the final eight minutes of a win over Washington on Friday, Knicks wing RJ Barrett bounced back nicely on Saturday, pouring in 25 points in 29 minutes and putting up a season-high seven assists. As Andrew Crane of the New York Post relays, Thibodeau praised Barrett’s play-making and “all-around play,” though he didn’t rule out the possibility of keeping the former No. 3 pick out of closing lineups going forward. “It’s going to be what goes well, but RJ’s obviously a very important part of the team,” Thibodeau said.
New Nets forward Mikal Bridges is viewing the trade that sent him from Phoenix to Brooklyn in the most positive possible light, as he tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “It’s kind of cool just be part of this and go through that whole trade process,” Bridges said, noting that he has always wanted to try living in New York. “Just midseason going to a whole other team, different concepts, people are different. It’s just a whole other city. It’s kind of cool to me, honestly, just see what you’re made of. I know it’s not easy and I’m not going to be the person that dwells on it and (is) upset about it. I just want to take action.”
Nets guard Cam Thomas saw his playing time dip a little after the trade deadline, but he logged 30 minutes in Friday’s loss to Chicago and may be needed to help kickstart Brooklyn’s slumping offense, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Thomas had a team-high 22 points and made 3-of-6 three-pointers.

Suns Notes: Payne, Durant, Sarver, Wainright, Saric

February 25th, 2023 at 3:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns began to get some reinforcements back on the court on Friday, with Cameron Payne (right foot sprain) playing for the first time since January 4.

As Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports tweets, Payne was on a minutes restriction. After averaging 24.0 MPG in his first 28 appearances, he played just 16 minutes on Friday, but he made the most of his limited time, scoring 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

Of course, the return Phoenix is really waiting for is Kevin Durant‘s — the star forward has been out since January 8 due to an MCL sprain, but is close to making his Suns debut, with a recent report suggesting that Wednesday is believed to be his target date. His new teammates can’t wait to see him take the floor for the Suns.

“It’s hard to put to words,” Booker said after going through a full practice with Durant on Thursday, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I can’t wait to do it against other teams.

“… It makes things a lot easier. We just had one scrimmage. It was obviously less attention on me, less attention on Chris (Paul) and the other guys. We all know how to play the game. Like I said before, I think our games complement each other well.”

Here’s more on the Suns:

After reporting earlier this week that Robert Sarver‘s year-long suspension remains in place even though he no longer owns the Suns, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic says that Sarver’s representatives believe that ban should have ended when the longtime Suns owner sold the franchise. As Rankin explains, Sarver’s reps supported their belief by pointing to specific legalese in the closing documents of the sale to Mat Ishbia, but an NBA spokesperson has reiterated that the suspension – which prohibits Sarver from attending NBA and WNBA games – will remain in place until September 13, 2023.
Ish Wainright, who received a promotion from his two-way deal to the 15-man roster on Friday, said that he was so happy about signing his new contract that he began vomiting, per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. “I was so excited, I started throwing up,” Wainright said. “Ran to the restroom, let everything out. My brother came in, was freaking out, like, ‘Yo, are you all right?’ I was like, ‘I’m just excited.'”
Dario Saric‘s departure from Phoenix at this month’s trade deadline was overshadowed by the Durant blockbuster, but the veteran forward’s stint with the team was underrated and shouldn’t be overlooked, according to Bourguet of PHNX Sports, who says Saric played a key role in building the Suns’ culture over the last few years.

Haynes’ Latest: Suns, Rose, Curry, Lonzo, Kleber, More

February 24th, 2023 at 10:40pm CST by Rory Maher

Sources tell Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that the Knicks will not be picking up Derrick Rose‘s $15.6MM team option for 2023/24. While that news is hardly surprising considering the 34-year-old former MVP is out of New York’s rotation, Haynes has also heard that the Suns would be interested in Rose if he reaches a buyout agreement.

There have been mixed reports regarding Rose potentially going for a buyout with the Knicks. While it still seems “unlikely,” sources tell Haynes not to rule it out entirely.

Haynes’ report came before the Suns filled their last remaining standard roster spot with Ish Wainright, who was promoted from a two-way deal. It’s unclear who the team would consider waiving if Rose became available, as there aren’t any obvious candidates.

Here’s more from Haynes:

Warriors star Stephen Curry is set to be reevaluated on Wednesday in his recovery from a left knee injury. Curry was optimistic about the injury but said it was frustrating with so few games remaining and the team in a precarious position. “I can’t give a target date because this isn’t an injury I’ve dealt with before. So, I just have to be careful and patient,” Curry told Haynes. “It’s a frustrating process because unlike the other injuries I’ve been through, this is one where games are running out and we need to climb up the standings fast to make these playoffs. That’s the hard part, but I’m going to do what’s right and try to help my team make this push when I return.”
Injured Bulls guard Lonzo Ball is planning to receive a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection to help combat the left knee soreness he’s been dealing with following two knee surgeries last year, sources tell Haynes. Chicago recently ruled Ball out for the season; he last played in January 2022.
The Mavericks are optimistic about Maxi Kleber returning from his torn hamstring within the next five games, per Haynes, though Kleber already said he’d be out Sunday versus the Lakers. One of the team’s best defenders, the versatile Kleber last played on December 12, having missed the past 34 games with the injury.
Serge Ibaka and Will Barton, a couple of veteran free agents, are “waiting for the right opportunities to present themselves,” Haynes writes. Ibaka was released by Indiana after being traded by Milwaukee, while Barton reached a buyout agreement with Washington.

Suns Sign Ish Wainright To Two-Year Standard Deal

February 24th, 2023 at 7:55pm CST by Rory Maher

7:55pm: Wainright has officially inked a multiyear contract, the Suns announced (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).

5:47 pm: The Suns are promoting forward Ish Wainright from his two-way contract to a two-year, $2.5MM standard deal, his agents, Jim Tanner and Deirunas Visokas of Tandem Sports, tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

There will be a club option for 2023/24 on Wainright’s new deal, Charania adds. It’ll be worth the minimum ($1,927,896).

Wainright was active for his 50th game prior to the All-Star break and thus had maxed out the games-played limit on his two-way contract. Phoenix could have kept him on his two-way deal for the rest of the season, but he would have been ineligible to be activated for another regular season or playoff game; now that he’s getting promoted to a standard deal, those restrictions no longer apply.

While Wainright’s counting stats of 4.3 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .384/.339/.810 shooting in 42 games (15.5 MPG) don’t jump off the page, his plus-6.3 net rating is excellent (the Suns’ season-long net rating is plus-1.5), and he is an above-average defensive player. He has been a rotation player since the start of December.

At 28 years old, Wainright is an unusual second-year player. In addition to a temporary attempt at switching to football, the 6’6″, 250-pound combo forward also played international basketball in Germany and France. He has been with the Suns for the past two seasons on a two-way deal.

The Suns had an opening on their 15-man roster, so they won’t need to waive anyone to promote Wainright. They now have one two-way slot available — Saben Lee occupies the other.