After reaching the NBA Finals last season, the Phoenix Suns find themselves in prime position to do so again this year. The Valley Boys currently possess the league’s best record, which also has them projected to earn more wins than any other team in franchise history.
But despite this abundance of success, the Suns have still stayed on the lookout for ways to upgrade their roster, recently trading for Torrey Craig and Aaron Holiday during this year’s mind-blowing trade deadline spectacle.
But even with the deadline fire sale having come and gone, teams can still make final changes to their rosters in the coming weeks via one often overlooked option: the buyout market.
More often than not, a few teams each year fail to move one or two guys around the trade deadline despite their clear intent. For whatever reason, whether it be due to financial implications or just poor negotiating, some players just never find new homes despite their desire to be traded, and their team’s willingness to fulfill that desire.
Such circumstances then leave both parties with no choice but to pursue a buyout—where players and their team’s decide to cut their losses, agree on a way to dissolve the contract in place, and allow the contested player to become a free agent.
While Phoenix’s roster is arguably the most complete in the league, there is always room to improve, as exhibited by James Jones’s decision to make those trades for Craig and Holiday last week.
With a wide array of names now linked to the buyout market as the trade deadline dust begins to settle, here are four potential targets that might help the Suns preserve their place atop the league.