The Phoenix Suns Maximized The Minimum

NBA free agency kicked off on Friday and, of course, there was plenty of movement across the association.

While there were several high-profile moves — such as Fred VanVleet signing a max contract with the Rockets or the Portland Trail Blazers overpaying for Jerami Grant — I was most struck by the job the Phoenix Suns did in filling out their roster.

The Suns entered Friday’s free agency frenzy with very little cap space to make any splashy moves, with the contracts of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal eating up more than $160 million on Phoenix’s books. Prior to the opening of the free agent market, The Suns also retained small forward Ish Wainwright, who provides a solid defensive option off the bench.

With only five players on the roster, the Suns faced a massive uphill climb when it came to filling out their bench, with their options greatly limited to due to their financial constraints. But the Suns absolutely delivered with the little space they had.

While the Suns resigned Wainwright prior to June 30, Phoenix also brought back a pair of familiar faces by resigning Damion Lee and Josh Okogie on Friday. Lee provides the Suns with high-level three-point shooting, drilling 44.2 percent of his attempts for Phoenix last season, while Okogie provides the Suns with solid perimeter defense and rebounding from the wing.

Outside of resigning those guys, the Suns played the free agent market masterfully.

My favorite under-the-radar signing of Friday was Phoenix’s addition of former Spurs forward Keita Bates-Diop to a two-year, $5 million deal. He’ll provide the Suns with a great defensive presence in the frontcourt while on offense, Bates-Diop is a fantastic threat around the rim and as a roller in pick-and-roll situations. He also made strides as a three-point shooter last season behind a career-best 39.4 percent mark. He’s also a former Buckeye, so he gets points for that as well.

Alongside Bates-Diop, the Suns also added Yuta Watanabe to a one-year, minimum deal at forward. A former teammate of Durant in Brooklyn, Watanabe is an adept three-point shooter, boasting a career-best 44.4 percent mark on a career-most 2.3 three-point attempts per game last season.

While Phoenix filled holes at forward, the Suns were equally adept with their signings at the center position.

Phoenix added Drew Eubanks out of Portland to a two-year, $5 million contract in their “big” signing at the position. Eubanks provides the Suns an efficient scoring presence around the rim, who averaged 6.6 points and 5.4 rebounds on 64.1 percent shooting in 2022-23. He also added a career-best 1.3 blocks per game for the Blazers last season.

The Suns also brought in Chimezie Metu on a one-year minimum, who saw his role decrease greatly with the Kings last season, dropping from 21.3 minutes per contest in 2021-22 to 10.0 minutes in 2022-23, but he provides the Suns with another solid option around the rim. Metu posted 4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while shooting a career-best 58.9 percent from the field.

To conclude, the Suns needed to do a lot with a little, and did just that.

Photo Credit: Ohio State Hoops