Remember Nigel Hayes-Davis? That's right, you tried not to but we've just brought back that 27 game stint from last season that promised so much and delivered precious little.
The 31-year-old gone by the trade deadline, before making his way back to Panathinaikos in Europe. The Suns rightly have not gone back to that particular well, but another NBA team is going to make the same mistake.
Lonnie Walker IV is next Hayes-Davis waiting to happen
With the talent pool drying up across the league, Walker IV is being looked at as a player who can be brought back from Maccabi Tel Aviv on a small deal to help the end of a team's bench. Quite who that suitor will ultimately be is unclear, but with multiple franchises supposedly interested it seems only a matter of time until the former Los Angeles Laker is back in the NBA.
It's not that the skills of the 27-year-old wouldn't translate back to the big time. In his last full season in the league in 2024-25, he averaged over 12 points per game with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 20 game sample size was small however, which is part of the reason why this ultimately won't work. A mistake the Suns made in thinking Hayes-Davis could be anything more than a positive locker-room influence, which he was.
But there's a reason Walker IV was allowed to leave the league in the first place, and it is not often they figure that out when given a second chance. We've just seen Guerschon Yabusele, who got back to the NBA following a brilliant showing at the Olympic Games for France, again depart for Europe.
He is getting paid well to do so, more than Walker IV could expect to make if and when he does get picked up, but the point still stands. Once you are out, it is difficult to force your way back in.
Victor Oladipo is another example of this, albeit for different reasons and having never gone to Europe. Those who think the Suns should give Oladipo or Walker IV a chance are missing the point from last season, with a youth movement instead breaking out in The Valley.
Why give these guys another chance when it didn't work with Hayes-Davis, when Koa Peat or Rasheer Fleming might actually be something?
Leave it to whichever fringe contender who talks themselves into Walker IV to figure out why this is not a good idea themselves.
Add us as a preferred source on Google