Five ways Ricky Rubio helps the Phoenix Suns immediately

Ricky Rubio Phoenix Suns (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

His contract is not bad at all

Rubio’s contract is something else that helps the Suns in both the short and long-terms.

Heading into this free agency period, he was considered one of the top-five best available point guards on the market.

Now knowing what almost everybody else at the position is going to make, and considering that Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker will sign for $35,197,650 million per year (all of these are on average), Malcolm Brogdon will sign for $21,250,000, and Goran Dragic will make $19,217,900, (we can only assume too that D’Angelo Russell will make the max wherever he goes, which will be approximately $27,250,000 in year one), and Terry Rozier signed for an average of $19,333,333, for a team still sitting on Tyler Johnson‘s $19,245,370 final year this season, and will need to continue to improve the roster around the core, Rubio does save the Suns some money at one position, allowing for more moves as soon as they become available.

More from Valley of the Suns

Now – I am not trying to put lipstick on a pig here and act like any point guard is a good enough point guard and therefore James Jones and Robert Sarver were right in signing a cheaper one than the others.

On the contrary – I feel imminently confident that Irving, Walker, and Russell are all better and would have made the Suns a better team just from their arrival.

But they weren’t coming here.

That said, Rubio is better than Dragic and Rozier, and while he is absolutely not a better shooter than Brogdon, he is a superior defender, does not have the lower body injury history that Brogdon has, and is potentially a better offensive fit because is he more likely to keep the offense free-flowing as he is not going to be anywhere near as prolific a shooter.

Consider too that the “savings” Rubio provided Phoenix should both allow the Suns to re-sign Kelly Oubre, while also maintain flexibility in the following two summers as James Jones continues to look to add depth and improve every position.

Rubio is also only under contract for three seasons instead of the four that max contract players are locked into meaning that if he does not work out, not only are the Suns not locked in long-term, but his contract is still very much tradable, giving Jones continued flexibility in that manner as well.