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It’s rare to expect much from a player signed to a 10-day hardship exception in the middle of another COVID-stricken NBA season. It took less than 48 hours for Bismack Biyombo to prove himself as that exact kind of rarity for the shorthanded Phoenix Suns.
With head coach Monty Williams, Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, JaVale McGee and Abdel Nader all currently in health and safety protocols, not to mention Frank Kaminsky and Dario Saric sidelined by knee injuries, the Suns’ frontcourt has been severely depleted over the last week.
Fortunately, Phoenix’s fourth 10-day addition, Biyombo, joined the team on Saturday in the middle of their current road trip. He participated in Sunday morning’s shootaround and found himself thrust back into NBA action against his former team, the Charlotte Hornets.
And boy did he make an impression.
TO INFINITY…AND BIYOMBO!
“He’s fit in better than I even would have hoped after just spending — we were just with him yesterday, and that was it,” acting coach Kevin Young said. “And here we play the game, and just in that brief time, I had a really good feeling that he would be able to help us. Ultimate pro, knows how to play on both ends. He just was awesome.”
Biyombo, who was renounced by the Hornets in early August, was playing in his first NBA game since March of 2021. That didn’t stop him from putting up 11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in just 18 minutes against his old team Sunday night. With Phoenix’s top-two centers out, Biyombo shot 5-for-7 from the floor and finished as a +19 overall, providing valuable minutes behind Jalen Smith at the 5.
Though he’s only listed as 6-foot-9, Biyombo’s massive 7-foot-6 winspan gives the Suns another rim deterrent to back up Stix during their current predicament.
“What he brings is just his physicality, big body,” Young said. “It’s funny when you coach against guys and then you get to spend time with him up close, I didn’t realize he was as big as he is. Physically, you can see he’s a big man, so that’ll help just having some girth down there.”
Case in point: Biyombo’s monstrous block during his first stint in a Suns uniform.
“You ain’t gotta worry about me and blocks,” he said with a sly grin.
It wasn’t just the highlight plays though. Despite only having one shootaround under his belt, Biyombo quickly made himself comfortable on the defensive end, communicating and calling out coverages like a long-tenured Sun — qualities this team has sorely missed without Crowder and Ayton, the two main communicators on the backline.
Biyombo said he’s watched the Suns play from afar and that he’s already been texting and talking to coaches to get more familiar with their defensive schemes.
“For me, obviously if I was brought here for defense, then by all means, I gotta make sure I bring that to the table,” Biyombo said. “Talking is like second nature to me. I don’t have to force it, ’cause I’ve been in the league talking and been helping guys get in the right spots. Because once you start talking, the next guy’s talking, the next guy starts talking.”
The vast majority of 10-day additions wouldn’t be capable producing, let alone having a positive impact when gifted with real minutes. Bismack Biyombo appears to be the exception, and the Suns seem to think so too.
“He’s exactly what we need right now,” Young said. “Just an NBA big who can do his job at a high level. I give our front office again credit for going out and getting him. He fit in better than I thought he would, because we plugged him right in and he knew exactly what we were doing and he got a lot done.”
None of this came as a surprise to Hornets head coach James Borrego, who coached Biyombo for three seasons in Charlotte.
“He has had an impact on our program,” Borrego said before the game. “He’s impacted that group. Whether he knows it or not, he’s helped those young men grow up and he’s been fantastic. He’s been a joy to coach, he was a leader in that locker room, he brought it every single day, and I’m just extremely proud of him.”
If you’re starting to get the inkling of the seasoned, hard-working, high-character locker room prototype that general manager James Jones seems to specialize in, you’re on the right track. That’s why it’s not surprising to learn the Suns have been in talks with Biyombo since August, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, this addition could extend well beyond the initial 10-day period.
While this signing comes at an opportune moment for a title contender trying to get by without its first two centers on the depth chart, the timing is just right for Biyombo too.
In August, his father, Francois, passed away. Bismack, the oldest of seven children, needed time to process and grieve before he could even think about basketball.
“I thank God that once my dad passed I didn’t dive right back into the game because mentally, I don’t think I was ready, and emotionally I was not ready,” Biyombo said. “But once time goes by, you learn a new way of living, and honestly I’m extremely thankful that I took some time to heal. Now I’m in a better place, my mom is in a better place, my brothers and sisters, we’re in a better place.”
Calling it his “new beginning,” Biyombo revealed that his first NBA game in almost 10 months wasn’t challenging from a physical standpoint, since he said he’s been staying in shape by eating right, sleeping well and working out seven times a week.
For the 29-year-old vet, it was all about one mental component that became part of his pregame preparation early in his career.
“My dad usually text before games, and I think it was the first time that you don’t see that text coming, so you learn this new way of living,” he said. “So to me, it was just being prepared mentally.”
Emotionally challenging as that adjustment was, if his Suns debut served as any indication, Biyombo will fit right in. Saric’s ACL tear during last year’s NBA Finals displayed the importance of depth, and with the uncertainty of COVID protocols, Kaminsky’s continued absence and Jalen Smith boosting his trade value thanks to his own opportunity to shine, the Suns’ latest arrival could provide hidden value at the 5-spot.
For both parties, it feels like the ideal fit at the perfect time.
“At some point, you play for so long in the league, you just don’t want to be in the league just to be in the league,” Biyombo said. “You want to be in the league to play for something, and obviously from watching the Suns from far away, they’ve competed for something, they are competing for something. They’re excited about it, and I think that’s where you find kind of the joy in the mix of that. I’m extremely thankful to coach, GM James and the ownership for just allowing me to be in the system and find some joy again around the game with great people, great competitors and feel this fun.”
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