Dario Saric
It’s-a-me, Super Dario! Everyone’s favorite Croatian with less-than-stellar facial hair but an amazing nickname, Dario Saric, came to the Phoenix Suns in a draft-day trade that had many fans and experts alike scratching their heads.
Now, not even a year later, the Suns may be saying their farewell. Dario is a restricted free agent with a qualifying offer of $4.7 million. That isn’t a bad price for a guy like Saric, but the Suns run into two major issues here: another team could very early outbid that number and more importantly, there is not a lot of enthusiasm around Dario.
Most of the year, fans have been clamoring for a more dynamic power forward; someone with more athleticism and at least able to leap over a phone book. Despite these physical deficits, Saric still put up decent numbers (10.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game). Having said that, while Dario earned the starting job 50 out of the 58 games in which he played, he rarely ever finished a game. That role went to Mikal Bridges, showing Monty Williams trusted him to make the plays in the final minutes more than Saric.
Dario Saric might be the kind of guy where the Suns say, “Well, if we can keep him for cheap, then okay.” But if another team comes calling, I can’t see the Suns matching the offer, meaning that this could have been the only season we saw Saric wearing purple and orange.