![]() They made it more attractive to the players by offering a second-year player option as job security, and that got them their targets early in free agency. This year, the Suns also figured out how to maximize the use of minimum-salary deals, which is all the biggest spenders have to offer. They now have four huge salaries that can be used in the coming years, like Chris Paul’s was a few weeks ago, to get younger, longer-contracted All-Stars as these guys fade out. They’ve done all their trading-up before it becomes disallowed. So maybe that’s one reason why the Suns were so aggressive to get these big salaries right now. Second-apron teams, starting 2024+, cannot aggregate smaller salaries into bigger ones, and cannot bring back more salary than they trade out. If you fast forward a few years, the Durant trade and Beal trades would no longer be allowed the way they happened this past year. This one we don’t quite know the answer to yet. Those massive big-spender penalties will cripple owners like Ishbia, Ballmer (Clippers) and Lacob (Warriors) in the coming years.” He will just keep pushing, and that means spending whatever it takes to build a contender every year. “The Suns new owner will certainly stop spending so much when he gets the tax bill.” So why would analysts and media just assume the Suns will quietly regress into oblivion? Better than the 2021 Finals team, on pure talent at least. The Suns are better today than the 64-win team a year ago. In just the last six months, while keeping their two best young players (Booker and Ayton), the Suns have acquired two new All-Stars and upgraded the rest of the roster, including seven players age 26 or younger (will be eight if Bol Bol signs on too), while keeping a handful of future draft picks in the back pocket. After making at least the second round of the playoffs the last three years, while trading picks that would have been 29th, 30th and 21st in the first round, the Suns would rather just keep acquiring new All-Stars than tank for high draft picks. The Phoenix Suns have no intention of losing enough games again to make their own first round pick a ‘savior’ pick. In John Hollinger’s words, the Suns’ 20 pick swaps could be “massively valuable” to other teams!” the picks they traded are better than the ones they kept. They now have seven draft picks in the next seven years (firsts in 2024, 2026, 20 seconds in 2025, 20) plus 23-year old Toumani Camara from the 2023 draft and, as I showed above, a handful of developmental prospects who can outplay their contracts. But ha-HA, boy are they screwed in three or four years without any draft picks-”Įxcept, the Suns already have four firsts in the next seven years and, on July 5, they traded their 16th man for three future second round picks. Their 5th+ guys are better now than the group who played in the 2023 playoffs. On June 30, the Suns signed five new free agents to upgrade the middle and back end of the rotation. They only have six players under contract and will have to trade Ayton to fill out a playoff-level rotation.” In June, the Suns acquired All-Star Bradley Beal for Chris Paul, giving the Suns a trio of multi-time All-Stars in Durant, Booker and Beal. They might just release him for nothing.” Chris Paul is declining, and too old to get anything good in return. On February 9, the Phoenix Suns acquired Kevin Durant without trading any of their top three players. “The Phoenix Suns will never be able to get Kevin Durant without losing Devin Booker in the deal.” Welcome to the weekly news roundup of your Phoenix Suns.
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