Grayson Allen deservedly gets his bag with the Phoenix Suns

With the Phoenix Suns gearing up for the playoffs, Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the surprising news early on Monday that the organization had re-signed Grayson Allen to a four-year, $70 million contract.

The news itself not exactly coming out of nowhere - owner Mat Ishbia had already made clear his desire to bring back both Allen and Royce O'Neale - but the timing did seem a bit strange. Allen is sure to be delighted with the financial security being locked up before the offseason, and there's no doubt he could have been offered more to play elsewhere.

But with the Suns' cap sheet already in a tough spot heading into the summer before the Allen deal was announced, what does it mean for the franchise moving forward?

The great news here is that Allen is sticking with the Suns, because he had a breakout season with the team. Not only was he their third best player earlier in the campaign when Bradley Beal was struggling with injury, but he finished the season leading the league in 3-point shooting percentage at 46.1 percent.

On top of that, the four-year deal - no matter what way you look at it - is a team friendly contract for a player who is still only 28-years-old. As soon as next season, that is the kind of contract that the Suns could easily flip to another team. So if the worst happens and this roster has to get blown up for some reason, the organization could flip Allen for a couple of young players and maybe some picks.

Given the nature of the new CBA, the Suns had no medium sized contracts at their disposal to get into trade conversations with. Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are all on monstrous max deals, while the rest of the roster is mostly made up of minimum guys on one and two-year contracts.

About the only other deal of any real length and value they have is Nassir Little's, which is a four-year, $28 million contract which is only in its first year currently. Not that the team will be thinking about flipping Allen anytime soon. Despite going cold recently, he has been a big time player for the franchise, and it is hoped he'll be there for what would be a first ever championship.

Off the court though, and this deal may impact what the Suns are able to do to improve their roster this coming summer. We recently examined a soon-to-be free agent who would be perfect for this team - but with Allen coming back on that contract - adding players of real value has just become even harder.

It is true that the Suns had Allen's Bird Rights - meaning they could sign him for a figure higher than they could have if he didn't play for them and which doesn't impact their cap sheet in the same way - but that can only help the organization so much in their quest to build a contender around their star trio.

Next season Booker, Durant and Beal alone will earn over $150 million, and Allen's new deal now also has to be factored in to that number. If Ishbia stays true to his word and brings back O'Neale on a deal that would be smaller in number than Allen's but still costly, then the Suns are going to fly into a truly outrageous penalty tax situation.

Then it will be back to the bargain basement for the front office again this summer, where they had great success in finding the likes of Bol Bol and even Eric Gordon. But also whiffed on players like Yuta Watanabe and Keita Bates-Diop. Filling out a roster in this way is always dangerous when trying to win it all. For Allen and the Suns though, this is a win for both of them.