Jordon McRae, most recently of the Denver Nuggets, is expected to sign with the Phoenix Suns after he clears waivers.
The Phoenix Suns slipped into another Woj tweet recently when they became the rumored destination for Jordan McRae, who was just waived by the Denver Nuggets. Should he clear waivers, this will mark McRae’s second stint with the Suns. Remember him?
Don’t feel bad if you don’t. McRae played for the Suns just seven games back in the 2015-2016 season, his rookie year. During this momentous stretch, McRae 5.3 points and 1.1 rebounds per game in just over 11 minutes of play.
After that, he tripped, fell, and landed into an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s better to be lucky than good, I guess.
Ironically, after he was then traded to the Washington Wizards, McRae actually got kind of good.
This season in Washington, McRae averaged career-highs in both points (12.8), rebounds (3.6), assists (2.8), steals (0.7), and blocks (0.7). Yeah, that’s pretty much all the categories.
However, after shipping off to Denver in exchange for Shabazz Napier, McRae hasn’t been able to duplicate his numbers. In fact, he hasn’t even really played.
He has only seen the court in four games and averaged just 2.3 points in eight minutes per game.
Assuming McRae clears waivers and does sign with the Suns, the 6’5″ wing will slide into the void Kelly Oubre left when he went down with a meniscus tear. I don’t expect him to start or get 30-plus minutes per game, but he will at the very least provide a serviceable scoring option off the bench.
If nothing else, he will give Monty Williams something to help combat the Phoenix Suns’ horrible play coming off this weekend. Or perhaps I should call it terrible.
Charles Barkley summed it up succinctly when he said, “How you lose to the Pistons and the Warriors back-to-back?”
Agreed, Chuck. Agreed.
After the Phoenix Suns didn’t renew the 10-day contract for Jonah Bolden, they still have a roster spot open that was once claimed by Tyler Johnson (who has yet to find a new home).
To be frank, McRae seems like an average choice out of the options that are out there, but I suppose Woj has a pretty decent track record on these kinds of things, so I’ll trust him this one time.
If the Phoenix Suns sign him to a deal for the rest of the season, they could use his Bird rights to re-sign him this offseason. If that happens, he’ll essentially be on a 20-game job interview. Let’s see how he does.