Last summer, the Phoenix Suns traded Liam McNeeley (the No. 29 overall pick of the 2025 draft) along with Vasilije Micić and a 2029 first-round pick swap for Mark Williams and a second-round pick.
It wasn’t a wildly high price tag for the oft-injured big man, but still a big investment in a guy who the rival Los Angeles Lakers already attempted to acquire via trade before backing out due to a reportedly failed physical exam.
Williams has been a key piece to the Suns’ 2025-26 turnaround, but he’s set to be a restricted free agent at season’s end. With pressing salary cap implications and another key piece in Collin Gillespie also set to hit free agency, it’s now worth wondering if Phoenix will make a concerted effort to bring Williams back this offseason.
That was a conundrum even before Williams’ most recent health setback, a stress reaction in his left foot that will be re-evaluated in two-to-three weeks. The Suns made a (worthwhile) gamble at the trade deadline to move backup center Nick Richards, along with forward Nigel Hayes-Davis, to get under a luxury tax threshold and fully invest in Williams. But now that he's sidelined, 19-year-old rookie Khaman Maluach will be thrust into the fold more consistently as a developing talent.
So, what does that mean for Williams’ future in The Valley?
Let’s break it all down.
Mark Williams’ impending restricted free agency complicates things for Suns
Unlike Gillespie, whose early Bird rights create a silver lining for the Suns if they intend to retain the breakout point guard in free agency, Williams will be a restricted free agent. That means the Suns retain the right to match any offer sheet extended to the talented center this summer, but also allows for 29 other teams to extend offers that Phoenix may not have the capacity to match.
Williams’ injury history and failed physical exam with the Lakers don’t help his case, but the 24-year-old remains among the better young centers in the league when healthy.
Even with the injury woes, there’s sure to be league-wide interest in his services.
Khaman Maluach tryout could dictate Williams’ Suns future
Now that Williams is sidelined with injury — albeit after notching career highs in games played and minutes during his first season with the Suns — Maluach is poised to get more run.
The Duke product and No. 10 overall pick of the 2025 draft hasn’t seen much NBA action this year, instead getting time to develop in the G League as he spent most of the season behind Williams, Oso Ighodaro and (previously) Nick Richards on the Phoenix depth chart.
But his G League numbers suggest the 7-foot-1 big man from South Sudan may not need much time to adjust.
In 11 games played in the G League this season (Tip-Off Tournament and regular season combined), Maluach is averaging 16.5 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game while converting 52.6% of his field goals. The downside is Maluach also averages 2.7 turnovers per contest and only converts 26.7% of his 3-pointers, but the early returns are largely positive from the big man who imposes his will on the inside and on the glass.
If Maluach shows promise at the professional level with Williams recovering from injury, the Suns very well could opt to move forward with Oso and “Man Man” and let Williams walk in free agency.
Williams’ defensive stats hurt his overall standing
One of the biggest developments of this year’s Suns under first-year head coach Jordan Ott has been the improvement on defense. After ranking 28th in the league with a defensive rating of 119.3 a season ago, the Suns now rank No. 10 in the league by that metric at 113.6.
But the numbers suggest that Williams isn’t a big contributor to that turnaround.
In fact, Suns opponents are 2.3 points per 100 possessions better when Williams is on the court versus when he’s off. Additionally, the Suns block percentage of 8.7% is nearly two full percentage points better when Williams is on the bench versus when he’s playing — 6.9%.
Blocks aside, the interior defense from Williams doesn’t stand out when compared to his peers. Williams ranks outside the top 150 players in terms of defended field goal percentage on shots inside of six feet by allowing a 65.4% shooting clip, according to NBA.com data (filtering for players who’ve played at least 40 games while defending at least three such field goal attempts per game).
For added context, Luka Doncic — widely regarded as one of the NBA’s worst defensive players — allows a field goal percentage of 67.8% in those scenarios. Williams is closer to Doncic than he is to the top 100 defenders by this metric. There are even three other players with the surname "Williams" ahead of Mark on that leaderboard.
His teammate and backup Oso Ighodaro ranks 33rd by contrast by holding opponents to 56% shooting on attempts inside of six feet. Oso’s own on/off stats back up his defensive impact.
Opponents have an offensive rating of 111 when Ighodaro is playing. That number balloons to 115.8 when he sits — a difference of nearly five points per 100 possessions, according to Basketball Reference data.
With the combination of lackluster defensive statistics, health questions and a youth movement of Ighodaro and Maluach aiming to improve, it'll be interesting to see if Phoenix prioritizes re-signing Williams this offseason — even after the blockbuster deal to acquire him.