Robert Sarver may take the cheap route on the Phoenix Suns?

For the Phoenix Suns, this would not be ideal, especially for this offseason. For Sarver, this isn’t anything new.

It seems us Suns fans are at a similar juncture to that of years past.

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

A team surprises, finishing strong down the stretch, inspiring hope among both the players and fanbase that hope is on the horizon, that the next great iteration of your team (obviously in this case the Phoenix Suns) are on the horizon.

Then the owner shamelessly attempts to cut costs, arguing that the team is in a good place and doesn’t need any major additions or that the player the team doesn’t want to retain wasn’t a major part of the equation, and watches as that same team that was so exciting just crashes and burns over the next season (and multiple seasons after that)

Suns owner Robert Sarver knows this position well. He has been here multiple times. From losing Joe Johnson in 2005 because he didn’t want to pay him $14 million a year (that money needed to be saved for Marcus Banks!) to trading away first-round picks for four consecutive years for “cash considerations”.

Robert Sarver has picked all the worst times in the past to cut costs. This potential move would be another in a long line of them.

The players he could have had for a said pick? Oh you know, Luol Deng/Andre Igoudala, Rajon Rondo, Rudy Fernandez, and Nate Robinson! I mean, you be the judge. During those run and gun Phoenix Suns years, do you think any of those players would have been a good fit for those rosters?

With word on the street being that Sarver is planning on cutting costs again, just as the Suns are becoming relevant again, I mean, it is just tremendously disappointing. Surely Sarver has to see the potential of this team, right? Yes, COVID-19 has hit everybody hard, both directly and in the pockets, but this team only seems to need a few more pieces to finally clear this decade-long hurdle.

Let’s say you move past the Fred VanVleet pipe dream (and I wrote about why the Suns probably should). Yes, there are some restricted free agency questions with Dario Saric and Jevon Carter, but they shouldn’t be that difficult. Cameron Payne is a free agent that wants to come back, and he should be cheap. And lastly, restricted free agency for players like Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges aren’t immediate (though imminent).

The bottom line is that this Suns team is a group that has the potential and has put out the positive returns so far to inspire hope in future investment. Sarver has made all the wrong calls in the past when it comes to that “investment” word and the Phoenix Suns. He can make the right one now, and it starts with this offseason.