Coming off a first-round sweep in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns have limited avenues to improve their roster externally. Nassir Little’s $6.8 million contract could be one of them.
With their starting five all under contract for next season, and re-signing Royce O’Neale being a top priority in free agency, the Suns hope to improve internally with more continuity, plus a new coach in Mike Budenholzer.
However, as a team in the second tax apron, the Suns will face restrictions in what they can do in trades and in free agency. They cannot aggregate outgoing salaries in a trade, include cash in trades, take back more money than they send out in trades, or access the mid-level exception — or any other exception in free agency — outside of veteran minimum deals.
Basically, the Suns can go over the cap to re-sign O’Neale; they have the 22nd overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft to either trade or select a rookie with; their 2031 first-round pick becomes trade-eligible on draft night…and outside of that, they only have veteran minimums to offer free agents.
That leaves trades as their only other avenue to tweak the roster around their three stars, and it’s highly unlikely Phoenix makes a blockbuster move that splits up the Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant or Bradley Beal. But since this team only has seven players under contract, and since we’ve got time to kill between now and the draft on June 26, we’re going to exhaust every possible avenue to figure out what trade options are logistically available for the Suns.
We’ll begin today by examining some potential trades involving Nassir Little or David Roddy. The Athletic’s Shams Charania mentioned that Phoenix would be aggressive on draft night in pursuing trades, possibly using one of both of their tradable picks — the 22nd overall pick or that 2031 first-rounder — in combination with a salary like Little’s to bolster their depth.
Before we get started, we have a few disclaimers that will apply to every trade article moving forward:
- These trades are not about what I think the Suns should or shouldn’t do, but rather, an exercise to show what’s possible under the current CBA. We’re simply attempting to paint a picture of what is and isn’t realistic.
- Remember, the Suns cannot combine salaries in any trade, nor can they take back additional money in any trade. That means these Little and Roddy deals are separate. In a Little trade, Phoenix is not allowed to take back a single dollar more than his salary ($6,750,000), and in any Roddy trade, they can’t take back a single dollar more than his salary ($2,847,240).
- To that end, I went through all 29 other teams’ books to figure out which contracts legally work in a Nassir Little or David Roddy trade before narrowing it down to deals that might actually make sense.
- Unless otherwise indicated, the trade targets included here are not based on sourced information, but rather, my opinion on players that could address specific needs for this team.
- We’re going to have one of these articles for all seven Suns players under contract (Nassir Little, David Roddy, Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen and the Big 3), so sit tight.
- Because the Suns’ two draft picks are not trade-eligible until draft night, Fanspo’s trade machine wouldn’t allow us to include them in the trade machine screenshots below, so we specified in each section which players would require a pick of some kind (which would probably be most of them).
If you have more questions about the second tax apron, ESPN’s Bobby Marks joined the PHNX Suns Podcast yesterday to answer more questions about it. If not, let’s get to it!
Nassir Little trades with fellow apron teams that would have to be 3-team deals
Nassir Little isn’t a bad player by any means, and maybe the Suns believe with a healthier season he could deliver on some of the two-way potential he showed at times. The 3-point shot looked shaky, but Little was mostly an engaged, physical, lanky defender. Offensively, he was a bullish defender and he’s one of the more athletic wings on the team.
Unfortunately, he was limited to 45 games this season due to injuries and DNP-CDs. He averaged a career-low 3.4 points in 10.2 minutes per game on 46 percent shooting overall and 30 percent from 3. Although Nas is still only 24 and has potential, injuries derailing his season have been a consistent theme early in his career, and even on a team-friendly contract, he won’t possess a ton of trade value unless there’s some type of draft asset attached.
This gets more complicated when one remembers the Suns are not the only team dealing with the restrictions of the first and second tax aprons. The following teams won’t be able to take back additional salary in any trade, further limiting the Suns’ trade windows:
To that end, there are a few trade targets that fit within Nassir Little’s $6.75 million contract, but because they play for another apron team, that team couldn’t legally take back Little’s higher salary.
That means trades involving Little and the players below would have to be involved in a three-team deal, where the Suns get the player in question, a third party gets Little, and the second team gets a player whose salary is less than whatever contract they’re sending to Phoenix.
Here are some examples to illustrate.
1. Payton Pritchard
The Suns need a backup point guard, and Pritchard has been incredibly reliable for the best team in the NBA. His $6.7 million salary for next season fits just under Nassir Little’s $6.75 million salary, and although he’s slightly undersized at 6-foot-1, he’d address a glaring position of need for the bench as a ball-handler on offense and ball hawk on defense.
Pritchard is still only 26 years old, and he’s in the midst of the best season of his career, averaging 9.6 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game. He’s shot 46.8 percent overall, including 38.5 percent from 3-point range, and has been a spark plug off the bench for Boston all season.
However, for this deal to work financially, the Suns would land Pritchard, a third party would take on Little, and that third party would then have to send Boston a quality player — someone the Celtics valued more than Pritchard with a salary that’s less than Pritchard’s $6.7 million.
That’s a pretty tough needle to thread! Most likely, there is no third party that just so happens to have a player better than Pritchard, on a lesser contract, that they’d be willing to trade the top team in the NBA. That means the Suns would have to include some sort of sweetener to convince a title contender like Boston to part ways with a capable role player, and the only picks they have to offer are this year’s No. 22 pick or their 2031 first-rounder.
Giving up a first for Payton Pritchard feels like a bit of a reach, but he’s also probably one of the best players on this entire list, so maybe it’s not if the Suns feel strongly about needing a reliable backup floor general? Either way, even if a pick swap or a heavily protected pick in 2031 would feel more fitting, that’s probably not enough to convince the Celtics to bite. And even if it was, again, could the Suns find a third party to help facilitate the deal with a player Boston wants more than Pritchard?
As you can see, trading with teams in the second or first apron will get pretty difficult to navigate.
2. Kevin Love
Kevin Love has a $4 million player option, and if he opts in before June 29, he becomes trade-eligible. However, much like that last trade scenario, the Miami Heat are a team in the tax apron, which means they can’t take back more salary than they send out.
That rules out a one-for-one swap featuring Little, and a three-team deal becomes the only way this works.
This scenario at least feels a little more feasible, since shedding a couple million in salary with a deal like this could help Miami — a team sitting right between the two tax aprons — push closer toward ducking the first apron instead of soaring above the second apron.
Love turns 36 in September, and his days of being a starting-caliber big are long gone, but he’s still a productive bench player. He just put up 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in only 16.8 minutes per game for Miami, but it’s worth noting he hasn’t shot better than 36 percent from 3-point range once in his last three seasons.
Including a pick of any kind for Love would be malpractice, so the only way this deal makes sense is if a willing third party emerges and Pat Riley is dead-set on trimming salary wherever he can.
3. Moses Moody
The Golden State Warriors can’t take back extra salary in any trade, so again, this would have to be a three-teamer, and the only way the Dubs are giving up the 21-year-old Moody is if they’re getting a solid player and draft pick in return.
Is Moody enough of a bench upgrade to sacrifice one of Phoenix’s two first-rounders that are trade-eligible? And could the Suns locate the perfect third team that could supply Golden State with a quality role player earning less than Moody’s $5.8 million team option?
Both are debatable. Moody would be a nice, younger pickup, and he just averaged a career-high 8.1 points per game on .462/.360/.785 shooting splits. But he’d also add to Phoenix’s glut of shooting guards, and there’s a lot of hoops to jump through to even try to make this work.
4. Jake LaRavia/Santi Aldama
This is the part where we collectively remember that despite their low finish in the standings, the Memphis Grizzlies fell that far because of injuries, not because they’re some inexpensive, rebuilding team. They are very much another apron team, which means they couldn’t trade Jake LaRavia, Santi Aldama, or even Jake LaRavia AND Santi Aldama for Nassir Little.
LaRavia has a $3.3 million team option for next season, while Aldama has a $3.9 million team option. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Grizz would trigger a $178.7 million hard cap in July if they took back more money than they sent out in a trade, so suffice it to say that they won’t be doing that just to add Little.
However, either one of those two Grizzlies feel like decent swings on a potential rotation piece if the Suns could find the right third party to facilitate. LaRavia is a 6-foot-7 wing who’s only 22 years old and just put up 10.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in his second NBA season. Sure, he got more minutes because Memphis’ injury situation was untenable, and yes, he only shot 38.9 percent from the floor and 34 percent from 3, but maybe he could be a bit more efficient on a better team where he wasn’t asked to do as much?
Aldama is the more proven option, playing in 61 games this season to LaRavia’s 35 while putting up 10.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26.5 minutes a night. He only shot 34.9 percent from deep, but the 7-foot power forward would provide Phoenix with some additional size and floor-spacing in the frontcourt…if they could just figure out a way to navigate the three-team framework they’d need to make it work.
Neither Aldama nor LaRavia feels like the right bet to cash in on Phoenix’s two remaining picks they can trade on draft night, so they’d have to find the right third party to make it worth Memphis’ while.
Nassir Little trades that work straight up…but it’ll probably cost the Suns a pick
5. Miles McBride
McBride earns $4.7 million next year, he just put up 8.3 points per game on 41 percent shooting from 3 in his third NBA season, and he’d provide the Suns with a backup “point guard.” But he’s also 23 years old, on a rookie contract, and just gave the New York Knicks solid minutes in a playoff run that probably would’ve reached the Eastern Conference Finals if not for their injury woes.
In other words, Nassir Little for Miles McBride straight up isn’t cutting it, and even throwing in a first-rounder might not be worth it for New York. Phoenix would likely want to put protections on its 2031 pick in such an exchange; New York would probably push back hard on that.
The Knicks have questions to answer with OG Anunoby’s next contract once he opts out of his $19.9 million player option, not to mention re-signing Isaiah Hartenstein in unrestricted free agency and a potential contract extension for Jalen Brunson. But even if all that gets pricey enough to push New York near the tax apron, and they choose to free up $17 million by waiving Bojan Bogdanovic’s $19 million salary (only $2 million is guaranteed), Nassir Little won’t exactly replace Bogey’s bench scoring.
For Phoenix, McBride is the type of young, productive player on a team-friendly contract they should be targeting, but he doesn’t exactly check all the backup point guard boxes. He’s technically a “point guard” because of his 6-foot-1 frame, but he’s a score-first guard who only averaged 1.7 assists in his 19.5 minutes per game. Maybe he’d provide an extra ball-handler for Phoenix’s second unit, but expecting him to run the offense more capably than Booker, Beal or Durant would be foolish.
6. Dean Wade
Setting aside for a minute how much Mat Ishbia and Dan Gilbert despise each other, this one still feels unlikely because of how solid Dean Wade was for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
The 27-year-old wing filled in for an injury-battered Cavs team, putting up 6.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in his 32 starts. He also shot 39.1 percent from 3 on the season, finished efficiently at the basket off cuts, and provided mobile, active defense at the 4-spot during the time Evan Mobley missed. The defense and floor-spacing he could provide at 6-foot-9 would be a huge help for Phoenix’s bench.
The trouble is, aside from these two owners’ mortgage beef, the Cavs have no incentive to trade him. Wade is on a team-friendly contract that will pay him $12.7 million over the next two years, and although Little is younger at age 24, he had a rough year statistically and struggled to stay healthy.
That means the Suns would have to attach a pick to make this work, and it’s difficult to say Dean Wade is the guy they should use one of those two remaining trade chips on.
7. Jalen McDaniels
Jalen McDaniels is no Jaden McDaniels, but it was only last season that this older McDaniels brother put up 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Sure, it was for a bad Charlotte Hornets team, and yes, he’s a career 32.2 percent 3-point shooter, but he’s still only 26 years old and showed some signs of life for a playoff team just last season.
In 24 games for the Philadelphia 76ers last year, McDaniels averaged 6.7 points per game on .488/.400/.824 shooting splits. It was a small sample size, and he failed to make much of an impact come playoff time, but his defense remained stout, and perhaps a change of scenery from the Toronto Raptors would help reinvigorate him.
McDaniels only averaged 10.8 minutes per game in 50 appearances for the Raptors this season, and his anemic .344/.169/.730 shooting splits are a tough sell offensively. But much like his younger brother, McDaniels is a rangy, lengthy, smothering perimeter defender, ranking in the 84th percentile in pickpocket rating, 87th percentile in deflections per 75 possessions and 83rd percentile in steals per 75 possessions, per The BBall Index.
The Suns desperately need more help on the defensive end, especially on the wing, and the 6-foot-9 McDaniels could help them cover the 3 or the 4 pretty capably. If Toronto is willing to move his contract — a $4.7 million expiring deal next season — without expecting a draft pick in return, maybe the Suns and Raptors could exchange a pair of young, flawed wings who might benefit from a change of scenery.
8. Ochai Agbaji
Unlike McDaniels, the Suns probably aren’t getting Agbaji from Toronto unless they were willing to throw in some draft compensation. But if Phoenix wanted to get a little more athletic, this 6-foot-5, 24-year-old guard can get up for rim-rocking dunks or soul-shattering blocks with the best of them.
With that being said, between his 27 games for the Raptors and 51 games for the Utah Jazz, Agbaji only put up 5.8 points in 21.0 minutes per game. He only shot 29.4 percent from 3, and he’s still a bit of a project.
That gives a rebuilding team like Toronto more incentive to keep him on his $4.3 million team option rather than trade him, and it gives Phoenix less incentive to burn one of their remaining sweeteners on a guy whose development will take time.
9. Nick Richards/Mark Williams
There’s a reason we included Nick Richards among our trade targets before the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline multiple times: He’s good!
Richards wouldn’t challenge for the starting center role, but he’s an athletic, rim-running big who shot 75.4 percent at the rim and ranked third in the NBA in screen assists per 75 possessions. He won’t turn 27 until November, is on an incredibly team-friendly contract worth $10 million over the next two years, and would give the Suns more athleticism and vertical spacing at the 5.
The problem is, even if the Charlotte Hornets are terrible, Nassir Little without any draft compensation probably isn’t enough to get the job done. Back when the Suns still had second-rounders to spare, this might have worked, but a first-round pick for Richards might be a bit rich for Phoenix’s blood. All the Suns have outside of that is a 2028 second-rounder from Boston that’s protected for picks 31-45.
That’s probably not getting it done, and ditto for Mark Williams, the Hornets’ younger, more promising big man who’s ahead of Richards in the rotation. Williams only played 19 games due to injury, so maybe him staying healthy makes Richards expendable down the line, but don’t expect Williams, a 22-year-old who put up 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in his limited action, to become available without a first-rounder attached.
10. Tre Mann
Tre Mann struggled to find minutes on a loaded Oklahoma City Thunder team, but once the Charlotte Hornets poached him from OKC, he filled in admirably for the injured LaMelo Ball. In 28 appearances for Buzz City, Mann put up 11.9 points, 5.2 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 31 minutes per game.
He’s in line to be an extremely capable backup for Ball, and he’ll be a cost-efficient one too, since his player option for next season is only worth $4.9 million. To pry him from Charlotte, it’d likely take a slight overpay in the form of a first-round pick, and even then, Mann was a great find for the Hornets.
Could this 23-year-old be the solution to the Suns’ backup point guard problem? Or is he just a young guy who took advantage of his opportunity on a bad team? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, but that might not be enough to burn one of Phoenix’s two trade-eligible picks. Little alone won’t get it done, and the Hornets may prefer to wait to see how Mann’s upcoming season pans out before he hits restricted free agency in 2025.
11. Quentin Grimes
Thanks to a lingering knee injury, Grimes only played six games for the Detroit Pistons after the New York Knicks traded him there for Bojan Bogdanovic. Grimes struggled pretty heavily in those games, shooting 9-for-42 overall and 4-for-28 from 3.
But that’s a limited sample size and he’s the type of role player Detroit badly needs, so it’s hard to see them parting with their new 24-year-old acquisition without some type of draft compensation involved.
Still, it’s fun to think about, since Grimes is a committed defender who averaged 11.3 points per game and shot 38.6 percent from 3 on a competitive Knicks squad just last season. His $4.3 million team option for next season is incredibly cheap, and the 6-foot-5 guard can also spend time on the wing or stopping perimeter threats thanks to his 6-foot-8 wingspan and engaged point-of-attack defense.
The Suns could use a guy like that coming off their bench, but a rebuilding squad like Detroit needs him as part of their future core. That makes it hard to envision either side being able to satisfy the other’s needs in a potential swap.
12. Troy Brown Jr.
Grimes is probably off limits in Detroit, but Troy Brown Jr., on an expiring $4 million contract? That feels more attainable, and it shouldn’t cost the Suns a first-round pick either.
To be honest, though, this would likely amount to a lateral move. Little feels like the player with more potential since they’re the same age, and Brown hasn’t shown nearly as many flashes as Nas. Brown got more minutes in Detroit after being traded there from the Minnesota Timberwolves, but his efficiency plummeted, as he shot 29.6 percent overall and 28.1 percent from deep in 22 games for the Pistons.
Brown will only turn 25 in July, so maybe he’ll turn into a productive role player one day. But swapping him for Little would be more of a shot in the dark, with Detroit hoping Little could stay healthy and Phoenix hoping Brown would benefit from yet another change of pace.
13. Kenrich Williams
“Kenny Hustle” is another guy whose minutes got squeezed as the Thunder made the leap this season. Maybe that makes him more expandable?
OKC is in a good position where they don’t have to make moves unless they can locate a star who fits by putting all those extra assets to good use. Either way, they’re probably in no rush to dump a continuity guy like Williams for a younger, injury-prone wing like Little.
But this 6-foot-6, small-ball warrior has long made appearances on our trade target lists, and dammit, we’ve come too far to turn back now! Williams does the little things as a glue guy on both ends, providing the type of toughness and rebounding the Suns could use.
However, OKC already has enough extra picks to last a lifetime, and at this point, he’s not worth a first-rounder anyway. So unless the Thunder front office was really high on Nas, it’d probably be a nonstarter for them.
14. Jordan Hawkins
Jordan Hawkins is a SHOOTER. The New Orleans Pelicans got a good one with this rookie, and the only reason he’s on this list at all is because Willie Green struggled to find minutes for him.
With that being said, the Pels probably aren’t going to punt on such a promising 22-year-old just because the rotation was a bit crowded in his first season. They’ve got decisions to make with Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III, but they can afford to let Hawkins develop unless they get an offer that blows them away.
Nas and a first-rounder in 2031 probably isn’t that, even if that pick has the potential to be fairly valuable down the road.
15. Davion Mitchell
For a good portion of the season, the Sacramento Kings struggled to decide between Davion Mitchell and Keon Ellis as the backup 1. Both guys got their opportunities, and they wound up sharing the floor together quite a bit. The question is whether that’s sustainable for a team that has bigger questions to answer after missing the playoffs altogether.
At age 25, the 6-foot Mitchell is an absolute pest on the defensive end. His production and minutes have declined every season since his rookie year in 2021-22, but he’s also gotten slightly more efficient as his opportunities have gotten more limited, shooting a career-high 36.1 percent from 3 this season.
Is Mitchell available for a younger wing like Little and a first-round pick? This would certainly be a gamble, and it’s entirely possible Sacramento wants to continue evaluating him and Ellis playing together. But Mitchell’s $6.4 million team option fits within Little’s salary, and he would absolutely be able to handle any point-of-attack assignments the Suns threw his way.
David Roddy trades with fellow apron teams that would have to be 3-team deals
David Roddy played a grand total of 63 minutes over 17 appearances for the Suns last year, so as much as he’s a younger project to develop for the future, it’s hard to see Phoenix allotting the 23-year-old rotation minutes next season.
The 6-foot-4 forward has a penchant for driving and physicality, but he’s undersized and his 3-point shot is still a work-in-progress. Roddy’s $2.8 million team option gives the Suns some wiggle room to trade him for a number of veteran minimum contracts, but much like Little, does he have enough value on his own to entice teams into a swap? Or would Phoenix have to attach a pick in order to get a deal across the finish line?
There aren’t a ton of options fitting those two scenarios, but here are a couple that might make sense, starting with some tax apron teams.
16. Sam Hauser
As a second tax apron team, the Celtics can’t take back more money than they send out. Sam Hauser’s $2 million team option is less than Roddy’s $2.8 million, so even though this deal would work on Phoenix’s end, it would be illegal for Boston.
More to the point, Hauser proved himself as a legitimate rotation player on the NBA’s best team, averaging 9.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while drilling 42.4 percent of his 5.9 3-point attempts per game. Roddy is a likable youngster, but he’s still got a ways to go before proving himself to that degree.
That means that not only would Phoenix have to find a third party to send Boston a contract worth less than Hauser’s $2 million salary, but the Suns would also have to attach one of their picks. Hauser is solid, but again, is this where Phoenix wants to spend one of their two tradable picks to upgrade their roster?
17. MarJon Beauchamp
Beauchamp’s $2.7 million salary is just under Roddy’s $2.8 million, but the Milwaukee Bucks are an apron team, so they’d need to loop in a third team in order to make the math work.
The 23-year-old has played sparingly for the Bucks over his first two years in the league, averaging 12.7 minutes per game over 48 appearances this season. He has potential as a 6-foot-7 forward, but there’d be questions about whether Beauchamp could carve out a spot in Phoenix’s rotation if he couldn’t do so in Milwaukee.
Still, he shot 40 percent from 3 on that rainbow release of his, so maybe he’d be worth a look as long as the Bucks weren’t asking for draft compensation too? Then again, this could easily wind up feeling like a lateral move that goes nowhere, and it might not be worth the hassle of roping in a third team to facilitate.
18. Garrison Mathews
The Atlanta Hawks are about to push into apron territory, which means they’d need a third team to help them out here. But Mathews is a more proven commodity than our last scenario, because this 27-year-old can shoot.
As a career 38.1 percent 3-point shooter who drilled a career-high 44 percent of his 3s this year, Mathews is unlikely to be given away on a $2.2 million team option unless the Hawks were getting something decent from a third party. Phoenix, meanwhile, would be crazy to throw in a first-rounder for Garrison Mathews.
Again, all this just goes to show how hard it’ll be to work out the ideal trade when one or both teams are in the tax apron.
19. Kai Jones
Despite a tumultuous end to his time in Charlotte, Kai Jones is the type of young, raw talent teams will be willing to take a chance on. The LA Clippers already did, but he never played a single game for them, being listed as inactive during the postseason as he worked to get his conditioning back while joining a playoff team so late in the season.
Jones is viewed as a developmental center for LA moving forward, but if they weren’t high on what they’ve seen so far, maybe this is a flier option? It’s highly unlikely the Clippers saw enough in such a limited amount of time to completely change the way they feel about a guy they signed to a multi-year deal, but the 6-foot-11 athletic big is worth a mention.
His $2.1 million salary fits within Roddy’s team option, but again, the Suns would need to add a third team to the mix since the Clippers are a fellow apron team.
Other David Roddy deals
20. Andrew Nembhard
Yeah….even with a first-rounder attached, the Indiana Pacers aren’t doing this now that they’re in the Eastern Conference Finals, especially since Nembhard has been lights out for them all season.
It’s fun to dream about landing his $2.0 million salary for Roddy and a pick, not to mention how well he’d fill that backup point guard slot as a 6-foot-4, 24-year-old piece for the long haul. But it wasn’t happening before this playoff run, and it’s certainly not happening now.
21. Ben Sheppard
To a lesser degree, the same goes for Ben Sheppard and his $2.7 million rookie salary for next year. This 6-foot-6, 22-year-old guard went from averaging 4.4 points in 14.3 minutes per game on .393/.314/.885 shooting splits during the regular season to 5.8 points in 19.1 minutes per gam on .491/.474/.750 splits in the playoffs.
He’s not going anywhere without draft compensation attached.
22. Sam Merrill
Sam Merrill can shoot! He hit 40.4 percent of his 5.8 3-pointers per game this season, averaging 8.0 points in 17.5 minutes a night for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and his $2.2 million salary means the math works.
The problem is the Cavs wouldn’t want to swap a guy like that for Roddy straight up, and a first-rounder is too much for Phoenix to offer for another 6-foot-4 shooting guard, especially since he’s already 28 years old.
23. Keon Ellis
Ellis’ 5.4 points and 1.5 assists per game don’t scream “certified backup 1 on a title contender,” but he did hit 41.7 percent of his 3s and wreaked havoc on the court with Davion Mitchell. He’s only 24 years old, and at 6-foot-3 with a 6-foot-8 wingspan, he has decent size and length for a backup point guard.
However, much like Mitchell, the Kings may want to keep both their backup guards and evaluate how they can grow together. That means prying them apart would likely require draft compensation, and Ellis doesn’t feel like a sure enough thing yet to warrant one of Phoenix’s two tradable picks.
24. Marcus Sasser
Sasser’s $2.7 million contract squeezes right inside Roddy’s $2.8 million salary, but he was pretty darn impressive for the Pistons out of nowhere, averaging 8.3 points and 3.3 assists in his 19.0 minutes per game while shooting 37.5 percent from 3. There were games where it felt like he couldn’t miss, and the Suns would love that type of microwave scoring off their bench.
It once again becomes a question of why Detroit would part with a 23-year-old who showed that type of promise, which then becomes a question of whether a first-rounder is too steep a price for a Suns team that needs a sure thing in order to part with one of their two picks.
25. Torrey Craig
Ahh, now we’re talking! Craig’s player option just barely squeezes past the threshold by about $2,000.
Opt into that $2.8 million player option and we are so back, Torrey.
