{"id":151629,"date":"2025-07-22T22:28:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T02:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=151629"},"modified":"2025-07-22T22:28:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T02:28:50","slug":"suns-need-to-make-1-more-roster-move-not-interested-in-2-veteran-free-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/22\/suns-need-to-make-1-more-roster-move-not-interested-in-2-veteran-free-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns Need To Make 1 More Roster Move, Not Interested In 2 Veteran Free Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns<\/a> have been pretty busy this offseason and are reportedly content with their 2025-26 roster. Still, the Suns<\/a> are only carrying 13 players, so they need to add at least one more player to their 15-man roster.<\/p>\n

Suns Need To Make 1 More Roster Move, Not Interested In 2 Veteran Free Agents<\/h2>\n

Phoenix has made 12 total player transactions thus far. The Suns gave Devin Booker<\/a> two more years; now the 28-year-old is under contract through 2030. They also re-signed Collin Gillespie<\/a> to a one-year contract. Gillespie, who has 57 games of NBA experience<\/a>, is expected to see a bigger role this coming season than he has had the past two years. The 26-year-old is projected to be the Suns’ backup point guard.<\/p>\n

Phoenix added four players, three via trades and one free agent signing. The Suns received Dillon Brooks<\/a> and Jalen Green<\/a> in the Kevin Durant<\/a> trade. The Suns also made a deal for Mark Williams<\/a> and brought Nigel Hayes-Davis <\/a>back from overseas. Additionally, they drafted Khaman Malauch<\/a> and received 2025 draft selections Koby Brea<\/a> and Rasheer Fleming<\/a> via the Durant trade.<\/p>\n

Besides Durant, Tyus Jones<\/a>, Vasilije Micic<\/a>, and Mason Plumlee<\/a> left via free agency. Bradley Beal<\/a> was “bought out,” and Cody Martin<\/a> was waived. With all the moves, the Suns got out of their salary cap hole.<\/p>\n

Phoenix is $2.6 million below the luxury tax. But owner Matt Ishbia hasn’t been concerned about paying the tax, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they do so again. But wouldn’t expect them to go too far over it.<\/p>\n

“Now under the first and second tax apron,” Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic said.<\/a> “Phoenix has roster flexibility to aggregate contracts in a trade, do a sign-and-trade, and work with mid-level exceptions.”<\/p>\n

Rankin said that Phoenix has interest in Golden State restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>. However, he added that the Suns are unlikely to land him because they lack the necessary draft capital and assets to deliver in what would be a sign-and-trade scenario for the Warriors.<\/p>\n

What Do The Suns Need To Add<\/h3>\n

Phoenix is also now a much younger team, following all the moves. The Suns’ 13-man roster has an average age of 25.5.<\/p>\n

Booker, Green, Brooks, Ryan Dunn<\/a>, and Williams are projected to be in coach Jordan Ott’s starting lineup. This first unit gives Ott two scorers and two solid defenders. Williams is the wildcard due to his inability to stay healthy.\u00a0 When healthy, the 23-year-old youngster is a dominant center.<\/p>\n

Ott’s second unit is more uncertain. Grayson Allen<\/a>, Royce O\u2019Neale<\/a>, and Maluach figure to be part of the Suns’ second unit. The other two spots could come down to Oso Ighodoro,<\/a> Nick Richards,<\/a> Hayes-Davis, Gillespie, and Brea.<\/p>\n

Gillespie is an NBA-caliber player. The 26-year-old is the only true point guard on the roster, though Allen can handle he ball.<\/p>\n

Gillespie averaged 6.7 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.8 rebounds in 16.7 minutes in 24 contests post-all-star break. Gillespie produced one double-double and 1.4 threes with shooting splits of 41.4\/42.9\/88.2. He also compiled a 4.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in nine games as a starter.<\/p>\n

Gillespie has only 57 games of NBA experience, with 33 of those coming last season. His defense is also a question mark.<\/p>\n

Brea is a pure shooter, although he has improved as a ball handler and facilitator during his collegiate career. However, the 22-year-old, on a two-way contract, struggled in those areas during the summer league. He averaged 12.0 points, on 11 shots a game, and 2.0 treys while shooting 42.4\/42.9\/1.000 in Vegas.<\/p>\n

Fleming, along with the Suns’ other two-way players — CJ Huntley<\/a> and Isaiah Livers<\/a> — are wings. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise that the Suns’ 14th roster spot goes to a veteran point guard.<\/p>\n

Who Could the Suns Be Interested In?<\/h4>\n

According to Rankin, the Suns don\u2019t have veteran free agents like point guards Chris Paul<\/a> or Russell Westbrook<\/a> on their radar. There are some intriguing lead guards still available. Paul, of course, signed with the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

Adam Scott of the Arizona Republic<\/a> suggested that the Suns should pursue Malcolm Brogdon,<\/a> Ben Simmons<\/a>, or Jared Butler<\/a>. Brogdon and Simmons really don’t make sense given Phoenix’s roster of younger players. Plus, Brogdon and Simmons are drawing attention from teams in better situations than the Suns.<\/p>\n

Butler is an intriguing option, and the Suns should be able to remain close to the tax line, even after they signed him. The 24-year-old is coming off his best season of his four-year career, splitting time with Washington<\/a> and Philadelphia<\/a>. He scored in double-figures in 22 of his 60 appearances and produced one double-double.<\/p>\n

Butler averaged 9.0 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 turnovers over 17.4 minutes a contest. He also knocked one three-pointer in a contest with shooting splits of 44.8\/35.5\/82.4.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns have been pretty busy this offseason and are reportedly content with their 2025-26 roster. Still, the Suns are only carrying 13 players, so they need to add at least one more player to their 15-man roster. Suns Need To Make 1 More Roster Move, Not Interested In 2 Veteran Free Agents Phoenix […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":151692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,62,3,28],"tags":[50219,1731,352,772,3256,69],"class_list":["post-151629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-suns","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-collin-gillespie","tag-devin-booker","tag-dillon-brooks","tag-jalen-green","tag-kevin-durant"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151629"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151694,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151629\/revisions\/151694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}