The Phoenix Suns signed Collin Gillespie to a one-year, $2.3 million deal in July. The next contract he signs will be worth significantly more than that. It's a good thing for the Suns that they retained Gillespie on a steal of a deal; it also means that he could price himself out of the team's range, a concern that ESPN's Tim Bontemps touched on during Wednesday's episode of "Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective" podcast.
Bontemps said, "Collin Gillespie has been an unbelievable story, shooting 44 percent from three. He had eight threes in that game last night. He has turned himself into a starting point guard. He's going to be an interesting guy to see how much money he gets as a free agent next summer."
Gillespie started in LA against the Lakers with Grayson Allen out. It was his best performance of the season thus far, as he poured in 28 points, and as Bontemps mentioned, shot 8-of-14 from three. He added five assists, four rebounds, and two steals in 34 minutes en route to the Suns' 125-108 win.
Collin Gillespie is setting himself up for a nice payday
If Gillespie continues to play the way that he has in the first couple of months of the season, he will have several suitors once he hits unrestricted free agency over the summer. Phoenix does have his Early Bird rights, meaning that the most the Suns can offer Gillespie without using cap space (that they don't have anyway) is 175% of his previous salary or 105% of the average league salary of the prior season, whichever is more.
If you're wondering what 175% of Gillespie's current salary is, it's only a little over $4 million, which obviously won't cut it. However, according to Basketball Reference, the average annual league salary for 2025-26 is $11,925,480, so the most the Suns could offer Gillespie in the first year of his next contract is around $12.5 million, with an 8% raise in each of the following three seasons (assuming he signs a four-year deal).
Considering that Gillespie went undrafted in 2022, signing a four-year deal in itself would be an incredible achievement.
Perhaps that is the route that Phoenix will take, but other teams with available cap space could make Gillespie a better offer. Or teams who are over the cap could use the full taxpayer midlevel exception ($15,139,000 based on the $166 million salary cap for 2026-27) to lure him away from the Suns.
The good thing is that Gillespie enjoys being in the desert. He didn't start his NBA career in Phoenix, but the Suns did sign him to his first standard NBA deal. He's earned the opportunity that he has, but it means something that it came from Phoenix.
It's only the beginning of December, so you probably don't want to think about Gillespie leaving, but it's hard not to, considering that it seems like he makes headlines every time he steps on the court.
Hopefully, the 2025-26 season won't be Gillespie's last in Phoenix, but unfortunately, that is a possibility.