Phoenix Suns Exiting Players: Bismack Biyombo
With Biyombo being five years younger than fellow free agent center JaVale McGee, it makes more sense on paper for Phoenix to re-sign the Congolese rim wrecker this summer. However, even with the Suns dropping the ball in the postseason this year, they remain a team committed to a “win now” agenda, making a guy like McGee the correct big to re-sign.
From start to finish this season, McGee represented one of the league’s true “diamond in the rough” signings from the offseason prior. He meshed with Phoenix’s gritty and disciplined approach to the game flawlessly and provided relentless hustle.
McGee also averaged his second most points per 36 possessions for his career. As a compatible roll man for CP3, he ended up scoring at an efficient rate, putting at a 62.9 field goal percentage—the third best for his career.
All that production just makes Biyombo the odd man out at the five. Although he played effectively for spurts during the season, Biyombo averaged fewer points, rebounds, and shot it at a less efficient clip than McGee.
The Suns do not want to see Biyombo leave, but someone is likely to give him more than a veteran’s minimum deal, which Phoenix cannot afford.
The Suns should be able to get by with McGee as their backup big. They did so for most of last season anyway, as Biyombo did not join the team until much later on when the league experienced its COVID-19 outbreak.