7 Suns who definitely won't be back next season

The Phoenix Suns' season has come to an end in embarrassing fashion, with the sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves confirming what we had known from early in the campaign. That this always felt like the natural ending. A combination of injury and lack of reliable depth ultimately leading to the downfall of the 2023-24 Suns.

The organization now stares into a tough offseason, and one that owner Mat Ishbia knows is going to cost him a lot of money. Their three star players are all on max deals - and at this moment in time at least - are not going anywhere. Neither is Grayson Allen, who signed a four-year, $70 million contract prior to the playoffs beginning.

Outside of that however, all bets are off for this group, and we can say with certainty that these seven players won't be back in The Valley next season.

Allen could well have made this list - his contract is now a relatively team-friendly one that other franchises would have interest in - but for now at least, he will remain with the Suns. Royce O'Neale is another player who in theory would be hitting the unrestricted free agency market, only Ishbia has already spoken about his desire to bring him back as well, no matter the cost.

Looking beyond those two players though, and there are a lot of players on this roster who will be fighting for only a few spots on minimum contracts. For the following individuals though, they won't be back and the fanbase won't be sorry to see them gone either.

7. Isaiah Thomas

Beginning with the obvious - and if the Suns were to bring point guard Isaiah Thomas back again for next season - then something will have gone drastically wrong this summer. In an ideal world, a former franchise great would be heading back to Phoenix if and when he is bought out by his current employer.

Failing that, there will be no shortage of so-so floor generals looking to sign on for minimum contracts to play backup for a contender. Cameron Payne is one such individual - and although he is the last player Suns fans would want to see suiting up for them again because of his known limitations - he is still an upgrade over Thomas.

Managing to sign a couple of 10-day deals and then sticking through the postseason was a nice, feel-good story for Thomas, and it looked like he was a great personality to have around the group. Always vocal and active on the bench, and taking any small opportunity that head coach Frank Vogel gave him seriously.

But at 35-years-old and with his best days very much in the rear-view mirror, the Suns can't afford to waste a roster spot on him. It is nothing personal - if Thomas was any better/younger then there'd be a solid argument to keep the former All-Star - but if the Suns ever want to win a championship, they need a more reliable backup point guard.

6. Thaddeus Young

Forward Thaddeus Young is yet another cautionary tale of putting too much emphasis on the buyout market to try and bolster your rotation. The logic in bringing him on for the final stretch of the regular season was a sound one. Another veteran body to soak up frontcourt minutes who offered something completely different to Bol Bol for example.

Then once the playoffs began Young's role would be reduced, but he'd still be able to play spot minutes depending on the matchup. Only neither of those things ever happened, with Young appearing in a paltry 10 regular season games, which amounted to 89 minutes of court time.

By that logic there was no point in having him at all, as Young didn't have an impact in either the regular or postseason. Like Thomas, maybe he was added to the mix so that he could provide another veteran voice in the locker-room, and be the kind of body that Devin Booker and Kevin Durant could go at in practice to get reps for the playoffs.

Only this Suns team didn't need any more voices, and Young doesn't represent something that either Durant or Booker had never seen before. It would be mean to say Young is completely washed - he could show up on an up-and-coming roster to help behind the scenes next season - but he won't be back in The Valley.

5. David Roddy

The case of David Roddy with the Suns is a curious one, and it seems likely he's played his last game for the franchise. Not that he appeared much anyway after coming over from the Memphis Grizzlies at the trade deadline. He played 17 games total, managing a barely even there 3.7 minutes per contest.

Perhaps the best way to sum up Roddy's non-starter of a time in Phoenix was the Game 1 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs. With the game lost, coach Vogel turned his bench loose for some garbage time minutes. He used 13 players in all, with the aforementioned Young and Thomas getting four minutes of action. Roddy was the only DNP.

It is clear coach Vogel does not trust him, and where it gets interesting is with the fact Roddy is still under contract for the next two seasons. The franchise have already exercised his deal for next season, and have the option to do so again the year after that. Only it looks like the Suns could be doing this in order to trade him down the road.

The new CBA - and the fact the Suns have blown by every apron put into it - means they can't cobble together salaries in order to move players. So they would have to take another player back in any deal, but if they don't mind adding a player that a rival is desparate to get rid of, they may get a second round pick as part of the deal as well. That's about the best case scenario here.

4. Bol Bol

No player on this Suns roster had a more up-and-down season than the enigmatic Bol Bol. To begin the year he was stuck to the end of the bench, and the franchise signing him at all looked like a misuse of a valuable roster spot. If Bol couldn't stick with an on the rise team in the Orlando Magic last season, how was he supposed to help a contender?

Then a switch flipped around Christmas, with coach Vogel suddenly trusting Bol on a lot of nights to go out there and give the team some juice offensively. Hiding him defensively on the perimeter seemed to be the key to Bol getting more minutes, and he was expected to make the end of the Suns' playoff rotation off the back of some nice performances.

Yet when the time came to put trust in Bol in the postseason, coach Vogel just couldn't do it. In total he played just 13 minutes in three of the four games, despite fans calling desparately for Bol to be inserted earlier to see if his length and general "what will he do next?" play could disrupt the Timberwolves in any way.

Then again - if Bol is your solution in the opening round of the playoffs to try and avoid a sweep - then something has gone very wrong along the way anyway. Bol will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and he's likely played well enough to garner some interest on a multiple year deal elsewhere in the league.

3. Jusuf Nurkic

The Suns need to make some drastic changes as a result of getting swept, and Jusuf Nurkic figures to be the odd man out to make that happen. As already mentioned, the Suns' "Big 3" either can't or aren't going anywhere. Perhaps Durant could get traded, but that seems like a massive move at this moment in time.

Nurkic however will be entering the final year of his current contract next season, and would be viewed around the league as an expiring deal that could still provide some valuable minutes on the court too. Nurkic did a great job of rehabbing his value in his first season in The Valley, but the playoffs again exposed his limitations.

He is selfless, is a nice fit in most offensive systems and can give you 11/11 a night during the regular season. There is a place for that in the league, as long as whoever takes Nurkic on is aware that come the playoffs, he is going to sit more often than he is going to play. The Suns couldn't afford for that to happen because of their lack of depth, and they quickly paid the price.

The Suns also have absolutely no assets this offseason to work with, and so trading Nurkic is about the biggest move they can make right now. They aren't going to get much back for him - but a combination of another expiring deal that could help more in the playoffs plus a pick of some kind - with be a good starting point.

2. Nassir Little

Nassir Little is an obvious candidate here, and it is highly likely he has played his last game for the Suns. From an on the court perspective, Little didn't make coach Vogel's playoff rotation. His only real playoff run came in the Game 4 loss to the Timberwolves, when the Suns were throwing anything they could at the wall to see if it would stick. It did not.

That in itself is reason for Little to leave, but he also possesses the best contract the Suns have on their books right now that they can move. Little has three years remaining on his current deal, and the most it will ever pay him in one season is $7.7 million, which will be in 2026-27. Little is still only 24-years-old, and it is easy for several teams to talk themselves into the player's upside.

The asking price isn't going to be that much - and the new CBA and how far the Suns are over the second apron - is going to dictate the market some here as well. The organization can't just flip him for picks, although they probably wouldn't have even gotten a late first rounder back for him anyway, and instead would have to take money of equal value on.

So it will be about finding a veteran player who could in theory make their postseason rotation, because the idea of adding a more unproven player like Little or Bol isn't going to work. It is a sad state of affairs when Little represents your best chance to actually make a deal, but that's where the Suns are at right now.

1. Drew Eubanks

When we look back on the 2023-24 season for the Suns, there were two glaring holes in their roster that contributed to their demise. Not having a backup point guard - or possibly even a true starting level floor general on the roster - was certainly one of them. The other was the backup center position, which was occupied by Drew Eubanks.

For all of his effort - and he gave a lot to be sure - Eubanks just doesn't possess the talent or the hulking frame to do a good enough job for this team once Jusuf Nurkic has gone to the bench for resst. To his credit, there were a few regular season games when Eubanks did what was needed. He even took one to the mush off the court for the cause.

Eubanks signed a two-year, $5 million minimum deal last year, with the second year a player option. Given he's not going to have a ton of suitors around the league, Eubanks is probably going to go ahead and pick that up. Even if that's the case, the Suns will still try and find a way to trade him as soon as they can.

If Eubanks were to walk away, the organization wouldn't be too concerned either. That would open up a roster spot and a tiny amount of cap sheet space to go back to the bargain basement, and try and see if they can come up with something better. Either way, it's the end of the road for Eubanks in The Valley.