Ryan McDonough
Phoenix Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough has been setting the salary cap up to be able to absorb a big-time player in the 2019 offseason. Who that player is remains to be seen, but I will boldly predict this right now: that player will not be a free agent.
As excited as people are that something like one third of the league is going to be eligible in free agency next offseason, the vaaaaaaaaast majority of those players are role players, the kind of that help to make a good team better, but not the kind to put a franchise over the top.
Phoenix Suns
I have a hope that McDonough is going to need to sign a few of those (presumably veterans) to fill out the roster because he will have shipped off a few of the younger key parts in a trade for a star somewhere in that same offseason.
Again, I cannot predict who that player is, but I do expect a game-changer to be acquired.
So my bold prediction for Ryan McDonough during the season is that aside from possibly trading away Tyson Chandler and potentially either Dragan Bender or Marquese Chriss for draft assets, McDonough isn’t going to do a whole lot of anything and is otherwise going to continue to stand pat waiting for the right star player to become available for trade in the summer.
Not only do I not believe that McDonough has any interest in any of the bigger-named veteran star free agents who will be available in the summer of 2019, he also isn’t going to spoil his opportunity to pilfer a star through trade from a suddenly and possibly unexpectedly rebuilding team as well by making a move (or moves) that prevents the right assets from being available or appropriate cap space to absorb a larger contract.
Expect nothing special during the season, but then watch for some magic in the summer of 2019.