Offseason Approach
Continue to tinker around Devin Booker
Actual Cap Space
-$67.7 million
Practical Cap Space
-$67.8 million
Projected Luxury Tax Space
$15.3 million
Under Contract (11)
Grayson Allen
Devin Booker
Dillon Brooks
Ryan Dunn
Rasheer Fleming
Jalen Green
Haywood Highsmith ($1 million guaranteed)
C.J. Huntley (two-way)
Oso Ighodaro
Khaman Maluach
Royce O’Neale
Potential Free Agents (7)
Jamaree Bouyea (unrestricted – team option)
Koby Brea (restricted – two-way)
Amir Coffey (unrestricted)
Collin Gillespie (unrestricted)
Jordan Goodwin (unrestricted)
Isaiah Livers (unrestricted – two-way)
Mark Williams (restricted)
Dead Cap (3)
Bradley Beal ($19.4 million)
E.J. Liddell ($706,898)
Nassir Little ($3.1 million)
Projected Signing Exceptions
Non-Taxpayer MLE ($15 million)
Bi-Annual Exception ($5.5 million)
Notable Trade Exceptions
Nick Richards ($5 million)
Vasilije Micic ($3.6 million)
First Round Draft Pick
None
Notable Extension Candidates
Dillon Brooks (veteran extension)
Jalen Green (veteran extension – as of October 1)
Oso Ighodaro (veteran extension)
Royce O’Neale (veteran extension)
Analysis
The Phoenix Suns took real steps back towards respectability last season. Instead of building around high-scoring stars, the Suns put a team of gritty, play-hard veterans around Devin Booker. That formula helped first-year head coach Jordan Ott to guide the team to an unexpected playoff appearance.
Now, the Suns have to build upon that success by retooling where they can around Booker.
Phoenix enters this offseason with far more financial flexibility than they have over the last few years. Instead of dancing around the tax aprons, GM Brian Gregory can go to work in a more normal fashion…sort of.
The Suns still have $23.2 million in dead money on the books from previous waive-and-stretch transactions for Bradley Beal, E.J. Liddell and Nassir Little. It’s going to be a while before most of that money falls off. But, it’s better to have the dead money on the books than to be dealing with the tax aprons, while also having unhappy high-priced veterans clogging up the cap sheet.
Focusing on moving forward, the Suns have a handful of big decisions to make. The first is what to do with Mark Williams in restricted free agency.
Phoenix managed to keep Williams mostly healthy throughout the season, until a late-season foot injury. In part they did this by managing minutes for the oft-injured center. That knocked down Williams’ counting stats some, but his Per-36-minutes stats were right in line for his career, and he was more efficient than the previous season too.
But what is all that worth in free agency? Williams is a fine starting center. He rebounds at a good rate. He can finish around the basket. He’ll block some shots. On the downside, Williams isn’t an overly impactful defender. He can’t really pass. His screens are ok, but nothing special. Williams also hasn’t stretched his range out all, as well over 90% his shots come around the basket.
Adding all of that up, then factoring in the lengthy injury history, and Williams is someone Phoenix has to be really careful with. Because Williams is a restricted free agent, the Suns probably won’t have real challengers for his service. That means that the team doesn’t need to immediately enter into any kind of long-term, expensive deal for Williams.
Phoenix can let this play out a while this summer. If nothing else, Williams may be best off to sign his $9.6 million qualifying offer and then go into unrestricted free agency in 2027. For the Suns, this would give them a bridge season, while developing younger centers Oso Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach, both of whom have more upside than Williams does.
Equally big moves are coming in the backcourt. Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin were both key contributors for the Suns this season, and both are now hitting unrestricted free agency. Phoenix is fortunate to have Early Bird rights for Gillespie and Goodwin. That should be enough to give either player a big enough raise to keep them in the fold.
Gillespie should be the priority, as he’s proven to be a good fit next to Booker in the backcourt. The soon-to-be 27-year-old point guard can play off-ball, which is key to fitting beside Booker. Gillespie can also run the offense from an on-ball position too. He’s not a great defender, but he’s solid enough.
As a low-end starter/high-end backup point guard, Gillespie should see a nice raise from the minimum deal he’s played on the last two seasons. Something in the range of $40 million over four years should be a solid baseline. That pays Gillespie in the range of similar players like Payton Pritchard, Tre Jones and T.J. McConnell, while also accounting for a rising cap.
Goodwin is a bulldog on defense, and that’s something Phoenix needs in the backcourt. He’s also become a good shooter too. Goodwin isn’t really a shot creator, but the Suns don’t need him to be. He won’t get paid as much as Gillespie, because he’s a notch below in the pecking order. Look for something like $18 million over three years as a fair value for Goodwin’s skillset.
We’re budgeting about $15 million for the Gillespie/Goodwin combo. That’s about the exact amount that Phoenix sits under the luxury tax line. Essentially, the Suns are likely choosing between re-signing both Gillespie and Goodwin and using some, or all, of the Non-Taxpayer MLE. If you keep a placeholder for Williams of $9.6 million, that would put Phoenix right around the first apron to start the season. That means something has to give.
The Suns could move on from Jamaree Bouyea and/or Haywood Highsmith. That would give the team some flexibility around the tax and under the first apron, but would leave at least a couple more roster spots to fill.
All of this means that Phoenix is likely to start the season above the luxury tax. That doesn’t mean that they’ll finish there. Getting out of the tax for another season would reset the repeater clock. That’s something that the Suns can handle via trades in-season, if they don’t do it over the summer.
And, of course, trades are the way Phoenix can make the biggest splash this offseason.
Between Jalen Green, Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, the Suns can put together more than $65 million in tradable salary. Green had moments for Phoenix last season, but they came around a series of injuries. He’s also not a perfect fit with Booker, as their on-ball games overlap quite a bit and Green isn’t nearly as good off-ball.
Allen and O’Neale are nice role players, but a bit superfluous. The Suns can probably give even more of O’Neale’s role to youngsters Ryan Dunn and Rasheer Fleming. Allen’s shooting would be hard to replace, but Phoenix has other backcourt options, assuming they keep Gillespie and Allen.
None of Green, Allen or O’Neale will net a blockbuster return, but the matching-salary component is the key here. With that kind of outgoing salary, Gregory can get involved in conversations around stars that happen this summer. The bigger challenge towards Phoenix adding a star? Lack of draft capital.
Every Suns pick from 2026 through 2031 has either been traded, or has “least valuable” language attached via pick swaps. Adding to this, because the team was so expensive prior to this past season, Phoenix’s 2032 pick is still frozen and can’t be traded. That’s tough to work around when teams might still want first-round picks in trades.
On the extension front, the Suns most interesting candidate is Dillon Brooks. He played well for Phoenix, fit in terrifically next to Booker and was a big part of the culture reset. That said, the Suns can’t get crazy on a new deal for Brooks. He’s over 30 years old now and his offensive game remains inconsistent. Something in the range of $25 million AAV feels about right on an extension, so call it four years and $100 million as a fair value.
Phoenix has no reason to have extension talks with either Jalen Green nor Royce O’Neale. They’re best off to let things play out there, as signing extensions could negatively impact either player’s trade value.
Oso Ighodaro is an interesting extension candidate. If he continues to improve and pops even further this season, Phoenix could decline their team option for 2026-27 and extend Ighodaro in-season. If nothing else, they can make the young big man a restricted free agent in 2027 and handle things then.
This summer the Phoenix Suns should continue tinkering. They’ve found a formula that works. They’ve got enough matching salary to put into trades to be an interesting partner. But mostly, this offseason should be about re-signing a couple of key free agents and banking on internal improvement. Then, Phoenix can see how the season goes and make further moves forward from there.
Doing too much, too quickly has gotten the Suns in trouble in the past. Phoenix should let patience lead them to more sustained success this time around.