Report: Alex Len to sign qualifying offer with Suns

In the kind of breaking news you were hoping to hear whenever you woke up in the morning, in a long-awaited move, Alex Len has made known that he plans to (finally) sign his $4.2M qualifying offer (QO) with the Phoenix Suns before the start of training camp on Tuesday.

Oft speculated but with no signs that this was actually on the verge of occurring until ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted it out this morning, Alex Len will return for his fifth, and perhaps final, season with the Suns, providing front court depth, but upsetting some fans that wanted to see him go.

The 2013 overall selection, and Ryan McDonough’s first draft pick as General Manager of the Suns, Len has been the product of doubt nearly his entire career as he has never been able to break into the starting lineup with any regularity. Now with Alan Williams’ breakout second half of last season, Len has even more doubt about his ability to obtain and hold serious front court minutes, especially too with Tyson Chandler still playing at a solid level.

Phoenix Suns

Len, who had reportedly stayed in a Phoenix early in the offseason to work on his game, will now finish this coming season and become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2018. Therefore, whereas the Suns had the right to match any offer he might have received above the $4.2M QO this summer, next summer he will be free to move about the league without Phoenix possibly pulling him back.

For those Suns fans who have been unhappy with Len’s performance thus far in his career, his return to Phoenix has plenty of positives.

At 24-years-old, there is still a viable and legitimate possibility that he develops into a center worth wanting to keep around, one who might draw more serious interest around the league as an unrestricted free agent – especially if he brings new enhancements to his game this season that were developed over the summer’s practices.

Moreover, Len adds depth to a roster that is already suffering from injuries. Having three capable centers in Len, Chandler, and Williams, gives depth and flexibility in case of an injury, or trade. While Len himself can reject a trade should he so choose as an extension of the QO, the possibility that the Suns trade either him or Chandler at some point before February is real. Trading Len could net the Suns, if nothing else, a second round pick or two. Trading Chandler could bring back even more in terms of future tradable assets, as well as the opportunity for additional cap relief beginning this coming summer. (I say ‘relief’ very sparingly as Wojnarowski noted that the Suns are still $14M+ under the cap even after Len signs his QO.)

Len too is arguably underrated in his basketball abilities, and while the Suns aren’t looking to win right now (so we assume), he still has the opportunity to both impress and help the team. Last season he reached career-highs in per-36 with 14.1 points and 11.8 rebounds while nearly missing his career high in blocks with 2.3. He did this while shooting 49.7% from the field and 72.1% from the free throw line – all very respectable numbers.

From a points, rebounds, and blocks perspective, only four other players in the league averaged those minimums or higher, Hassan Whiteside, Rudy Gobert, Kyle O’Quinn, and JaVale McGee, although Joel Embiid’s rebounding fell a hair short as well as Anthony Davis’ blocks were slightly lower than Len’s as well.

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It is Len’s fouling on the defensive end though that has consistently held him back throughout his four year career. Case and point, his per-36 personal foul average has been an abysmal 6.8, 5.1, 4.5, 5.6. If Len could bring that stat down alone, while maintaining a consistent performance on offense, there could then begin to be an argument to be made about retaining him beyond this 2017-18.

In the end, Len will be back for at least one more season in 2017-18, although let’s be honest with ourselves, it will probably be his last.