3 Buyout Candidates the Phoenix Suns Should Avoid at all Costs

Phoenix Suns Buyout Candidates to Avoid: E’Twaun Moore

Familiarity is a double-edged sword. It makes any reunion easy for two parties that were once separated, which can give way to both fruitful and detrimental results. In the case of former Suns guard E’Twaun Moore, the latter is the more likely outcome.

Granted, the Suns joined forced again with Torrey Craig just last week likely due to their familiarity with him. His return to the Suns has gone well thus far, which might tempt the Suns to pull a similar stunt with Moore. However, Craig’s contributions to Phoenix last year warranted such a move, whereas Moore’s do not.

After joining the Suns in March last season, Craig averaged 7.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from three—all of which would have been career highs had he spent the entire season with Phoenix.

On the other hand, Moore averaged 4.9 points per game with the Suns last year—his lowest since the 2014-15 season. He also shot a career-worst 31.4 percent from beyond the arc.

Make no mistake about it, Craig worked well with the Suns, even playing big minutes into the NBA Finals last year, while Moore was nothing more than a $2 million bench warmer throughout the entire postseason.

Re-signing Moore would be like getting back together with someone you went out with once and never called back, whereas Craig was really the “one that got away” for the Suns this offseason.

Moore’s injury-riddled campaign this year does not help his case by any means either. With respect to the 10-year veteran, he promises to offer the Suns essentially nothing, and only take away minutes from young guns Landry Shamet and Aaron Holiday.