The Phoenix Suns enter the 2023-24 season as one of the favorites to win what would be a first ever NBA championship. We have them pegged to go 54-28 during the regular season, although franchise legend Charles Barkley isn’t buying the hype just yet.
Just as impressive as owner Mat Ishbia and the front office turning Chris Paul into Bradley Beal, is how they managed to get so many players to join the roster on minimum deals. In all, a whopping eight players will be playing while on these types of deals in 2023-24.
Not all of these players are going to work out, but to get the likes of Yuta Watanabe and Keita Bates-Diop for less than $3 million for a season is a steal.
In fact Watanabe, Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks, Josh Okogie, Chimezie Metu, Eric Gordon, Bol Bol and Damion Lee are making about $19.3 million combined in 2023-24. To put that into context, all of Spencer Dinwiddie, Lonzo Ball and Clint Capela will each make more than that this coming season.
To have rounded out an entire roster for less than each of those three players make is incredible business by the Suns’ front office — but that doesn’t mean some of their players still aren’t overpaid here. Context is everything, and there are barely any individuals left to talk about. Still, these are the three most overpaid players on the Suns’ roster in 2023-24.
3. Kevin Durant – $47.6 million
If Kevin Durant can help lead this organization to a first ever championship, then he will be worth every penny. As we’ve discussed here recently as well, he has still averaged 27.5 points per game with both the Suns and the Brooklyn Nets. The two teams he has suited up for post injury.
Durant might just be the greatest scorer in the history of the league, and at 34-years-old, he is still in the tail end of his prime. The money only becomes an issue if his body breaks down even more, and there is a worrying trend developing that this might be the case before long. Apparently, there’s 33 reasons why that might even be the case now.
Since 2020, Durant has played only 164 games total. In his three seasons with the Nets, he managed 129 regular season games. In the three before that with the Golden State Warriors, it was 208. There’s no doubt Durant is going in the wrong direction here, and even the most optimistic Suns fan would peg him in for 60-70 games this season.
As long as he is healthy come the playoffs though, it won’t matter. Durant makes this list because he is the highest earner on the roster, and he simply has to be healthy and firing on all cylinders for the Suns to have a legitimate title window. With two years left on his deal after this one, and with a figure in 2025-26 of over $54 million, this contract will look ugly if — and only if — Durant sits.
2. Bradley Beal – $46.7 million
It seems harsh to land a player here who is yet to play a single minute for the franchise, but such is the makeup of this roster. Bradley Beal was not somebody who fans thought was attainable as a trade target to begin the offseason, and everybody is delighted that he is in The Valley.
That doesn’t change the fact that the sixth highest paid player in the entire league in 2023-24, and at 30-years-old he has never even made a Conference Finals. A three-time All-Star in 10 years with the Washington Wizards, how quickly will fans want more out of Beal?
Again context is key here, and the Suns only got Beal because he had a no-trade clause in his current deal which he waived in order to get the move that he wanted. Moving on from an ageing Paul for Beal is like turning water into wine. But in today’s league, it is also entirely possible, if not actually likely, that the Suns could have landed the next disgruntled star to come along.
After all, they continue to get linked to James Harden even after adding Beal. By the time 2026-27 rolls around, Beal will be nearing his mid-thirties and will have picked up a player option for over $57 million.
The Suns may not even be contenders by that point, and Durant is likely to be retired or playing elsewhere. Again, this is a lot of money for a player who hasn’t had one signature postseason moment to call his own (all of his modest playoff success came alongside John Wall), and who will become harder to trade under the new CBA.
1. Deandre Ayton – $32.4 million
It is somewhat ironic that center Deandre Ayton is making the least amount of money of the players mentioned here, yet tops the list. But the approximately $100 million he is owed over the next three seasons is going to look really ugly if he can’t get it together this season under new head coach Frank Vogel.
Ayton is the x-factor of this Suns group, because if he commits to being a defensive anchor and eclipses his 2021 form (which saw the Suns reach the NBA Finals), then his deal is going to look like a bargain. In doing this, he will become the best fourth option in the league, and a crucial part of a contender.
https://twitter.com/ClutchPoints/status/1696727380125941829
But if the 25-year-old again breezes through games and doesn’t cover his star teammates on the other end, that deal is going to become harder and harder to move. In the moment when the Suns signed Ayton to a contract extension after he had inked an offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers, it was seen as a smart move by all.
You don’t want to lose a first overall pick for nothing, especially one that was selected ahead of Luka Doncic and Trae Young. That is still probably the case today, but that move was made before Durant or Beal were on this roster. It is impossible to predict where Ayton’s money could have gone instead, but the Suns’ situation has changed since then.
They’re under new ownership in Ishbia, and have a General Manager in James Jones who is as aggressive in building a winner as Ishbia is. The flip side of the argument is that Ayton is a top 10 player at his position, and is still yet to enter his prime. In that context, his deal doesn’t look too bad. Ayton has to hit for the Suns to win it all, and if he doesn’t, he’ll be an expensive afterthought.