The Phoenix Suns completed their last remaining major piece of offseason business with the return of Mark Williams, allowing the franchise to plan for next season with the same roster as last season.
Running it back was what the front office always said they would do, while adding a younger, cheaper and healthier Aaron Gordon in the form of Koa Peat was a nice bonus.
Suns must trade Royce O'Neale to make this summer to remember
With the Suns at 15 players on their roster and their draft stock essentially all spent, the only remaining piece of business that should be on their radar is trading Royce O'Neale. The 33-year-old with two years remaining on his current, team-friendly deal but who is no longer an ideal fit in head coach Jordan Ott's rotations.
Despite spending some time guarding Victor Wembanyama during the regular season in what was a novel approach from coach Ott, O'Neale is that little bit too small to contend with scoring forwards on a nightly basis. Alongside Dillon Brooks, he is a level below the kind of 3-point output that Grayson Allen gives the team when healthy as well.
Making the trade for O'Neale in the first place even worse, and at the time adding a veteran swingman alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant did make sense, is the fact one of the picks used to get him recently conveyed in this year's NBA Draft.
Phoenix would surely love to get even a second rounder back for his services, but it is unclear who would be willing to pay that price. These later selections in the draft have never been more fashionable, with the Suns using a collection of their own to trade up into the first round and select Koa Peat.
Perhaps a fringe contender will panic around the trade deadline next season and decide O'Neale can be their eighth man for a playoff charge. Ideally he would be traded this offseason however, so that the front office can have the roster they want in place ahead of the new season.
Continuity is going to be what keeps them competitive, so successfully moving on from O'Neale in the coming weeks would be the perfect ending to the franchise's offseason business. Finding a suitor will be hard, but there are other dominos to fall that could mean a trade partner emerges. Until then, it is about selling the prospect of O'Neale to other teams as a viable option off the bench.
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