3 Buyout Players Not Named Goran Dragic to Replace Suns’ Chris Paul

Non-Goran Dragic Replacements for Suns’ Chris Paul: D.J. Augustin

Although the Houston Rockets already cut D.J. Augustin technically making him a free agent right now rather than a buyout candidate, the Suns need to think about bringing him aboard all the same.

As an experienced ball-handler with a knack for making big time shots, he seems like a perfect fit on this Suns team with the clutch gene embedded into its DNA.

Despite averaging only 15.0 minutes for Houston this year, he still found a way to tally 5.5 points and 2.2 assists per game. On a per 36 minutes scale, that leaves him only 3.3 points per game behind Paul for this year.

As an old school guard, Augustin also knows how to run the pick-and-roll, averaging 2.3 pick-and-roll possessions per game this year despite his minimal run time. Like Schröder, that experience promises to make him an easily insertable piece in Phoenix’s offense.

Most importantly though, Augustin promises to stretch the floor for the Suns. Shooting 40.6 percent from three this year—the highest since his rookie year—on 2.8 attempts per game. He clearly still has some juice even at 36-years-old, and looks built to help weather the storm while Paul heals up.