The Phoenix Suns’ season was originally scheduled to end Wednesday night. Here are six players who may have already played their last game in a Suns uniform.
As weird as it might seem, Wednesday was supposed to be the last regular-season game for the Phoenix Suns. They were supposed to take on the Los Angeles Lakers at Talking Stick Resort Arena on what would be Fan Appreciation night. Instead, barring something Earth-shattering, their last game of the season was likely several weeks ago.
For non-playoff-bound teams like the Phoenix Suns, their attention is likely to turn to the draft and free agency in order to find someone who can better their chances of becoming a playoff team in 2021.
Of course, in order to do that, James Jones and the rest of the front office will need to make room on their current roster to allow for all the big names (or more than likely, small to medium-sized names) the Suns hope to bring in.
With expiring contracts, team options, and potential trade chips, there are many Suns players who are all but locks to suit up for a new team against next year. One of those trade chips in the 2020 first-round pick, but until we know where it falls in the lottery (or when the lottery will even happen), we’ll worry about that another day.
For now, let’s assume that Wednesday really would be the final game of the Suns 2019-2020 campaign and look at six players who may have played their last game in a Suns uniform:
Aron Baynes
Very few players in the league improved their stock this season more than Aron Baynes. Baynes signed a one-year, roughly $5 million deal with the Phoenix Suns this year and the bet-on-yourself strategy seemed to pay off.
Baynes exploded in the absence of Deandre Ayton, finishing (assuming the Suns are finished) the year with a career-high in pretty much everything: points (11.5), rebounds (5.6), and of course most notably 3-point shooting (1.4 makes per game).
Baynes couldn’t have picked a better year to go off like he did. He is in a contract year during an offseason with a very weak free-agent class. That means a lot of teams will have a boatload of money to spend, which, in turn, means they will almost certainly overspend on the player(s) they feel will help them.
A veteran, former NBA champion, physical presence, great locker room guy, likeable character who can shoot 3s and is playing better than he ever has will draw serious attention.
It would be great if the Suns could bring him back, but the price (and potentially the length of his contract) might be too large for the Suns to commit. I would hate to see him go, but we should all come to the realization that we may have seen Baynes in a Suns uniform for the last time.
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.
Frank Kaminsky
Frank the Tank Kaminsky came to Phoenix from Charlotte, where he had spent his entire career. Much like the Will Ferrell character where he got his nickname, Frank the Tank’s season was defined by streaks.
He had stretches where he played phenomenally and others, well, not so much. Still, it all averaged out to 11 points, 4.9 rebounds (career-high), and 2.2 assists (career-high) in just 32 total games of a shortened season made shorter due to a patella stress fracture.
Kaminsky is a restricted free agent with a $5 million qualifying offer. This is tough because he provides good value at that price, but releasing the trio of Kaminsky, Baynes, and Saric would give the Phoenix Suns the cap space to make a big splash in free agency.
Well, as big of a splash that could be made in this fairly weak class.
If heartstrings exist in this business, Kaminsky is trying to pull on them. In a recent Joes and Pros podcast, Kaminsky said:
"“I really do love it [in Phoenix]. And I hope that one day this can be a place that I’ll be for a very long time. And I want to make it that so badly.”"
Kaminsky sounded sincere and went on to say how he felt like the team was building something here. Unfortunately, the NBA is not a feelings-first kind of business and at the end of the day, it’ll come down to numbers. I’m afraid the potential cap space gained by not re-signing him might be too tempting to pass up.
Jevon Carter
The Bulldog, Jevon Carter, finally seized the backup point guard role just as the season broke into hiatus. The question will now be, is he good enough to maintain a roster spot?
As much as Carter earned the spot over Ty Jerome and Elie Okobo, there is no secret that the Suns will be targeting a higher-quality backup point guard to fill in when Ricky Rubio needs a break. If that happens, the Phoenix Suns will likely need to make a choice between which of the long list of deep-bench point guards they want to keep.
The easiest one to let go would be one with the expiring contract and that would be Jevon Carter.
Carter is a restricted free agent with a $1.8 million qualifying offer. If the Suns can retain him at that amount, he is the perfect deep bench guy. He will make your starting point guard better by competing intensely in practice every day, and when needed, can come in and play lockdown defense and knock down the occasional 3.
He also earned his teammates’ respect, most recently demonstrated by Deandre Ayton defending “JC” on ESPN when Patrick Beverley acted like he didn’t know who he was after his NBA 2K character drained three 3s in the first quarter.
Carter would be a great guy to keep around, but his play may make another team pay more for him or he may simply be the odd man out, making it a possibility we have seen the last of the Bulldog in Phoenix.
Cheick Diallo
The Phoenix Suns brought Cheick Diallo in on a two-year deal with the second year being a team option. That option is now for James Jones. He can choose to keep Diallo for $1.8 million or let him walk and seek another minimum player on the free market.
Diallo’s potential has gotten him where he is today. He has shown flashes of brilliance since his days at Kansas but has never put enough consistent play together to merit a long term commitment.
Diallo played in 44 games this season (starting two due to injuries) and averaged 4.8 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest. That is about all you can expect for what was likely the 14th or 15th man on the roster, but it might not be enough to earn a roster spot again next season.
Of all the folks on the chopping block, I’m most confident in Diallo’s departure, but then again, the Phoenix Suns surprise (disappoint?) me with nearly ever roster move they make, so they might very well sign him to a long term extension.
Diallo has a great backstory, and I’m rooting for him to succeed, however, it will likely have to be with another team.
Elie Okobo
If you count combo-guard Tyler Johnson, the Phoenix Suns started the 2019-2020 season with six point guards on the team (seven, if you count former two-way player Jared Harper). My expert basketball analysis says that this is a lot.
Kind of like the old football adage, if you have six backup point guards, you have zero.
The role was eventually won by Jevon Carter, or at least, he sat in the seat when the carousel stopped wit the season hiatus. While Elie Okobo had his time in the saddle, he feels like the most expendable of the bunch.
Okobo is still under contract for next season (albeit not fully guaranteed) and has a team option for the 2021-2022 season. Having said that, the team has already been rumored to have packaged him in a deal at the trade deadline for Luke Kennard. The deal did not go through, but the fact he was included in the trade makes me think it could happen again.
If the Suns choose to trade their first-round draft pick, Okobo would be a good player to throw in to sweeten the pot a bit. He’s a decent young player on a cheap contract, so something like that may attract teams looking for young talent.
The Phoenix Suns are likely committed to first-round pick, Ty Jerome, as well as Jalen Leque. As stated previously, they seem to be higher on Jevon Carte, so that makes Elie Okobo a bit expendable. It is very possible he could get shipped out of Phoenix this offseason.
Of course, there are plenty of trade options out there. Save for Devin Booker, I don’t think anyone is off the table when it comes to trades, however, in order to pluck the likes of Oubre, Bridges, or Johnson, it would take a high-caliber talent. Let’s how James Jones disappoints surprises us this time around.