Frank Kaminsky talks return to Suns on training camp deal and overcoming injuries

It’s been a tumultuous journey for Frank Kaminsky over the last few years, but what better place for him to try and revitalize his NBA career than the Valley?

As Priority Sports announced Thursday morning, Kaminsky has signed a deal to return to the Phoenix Suns. It may only be a training camp invite, per sources, but for a team with an open roster spot, it’s an opportunity for the 31-year-old center to try and reopen the door to the NBA in a place that’s become special to him.

“I love it here,” Kaminsky told PHNX Sports. “There’s no other way I can describe it. There’s just such a level of love and comfort that I have a living here, being here. I’ve built a nice community here, have great friends — everything here is set up well for me. And that’s why when the camp deal started getting talked about, it’s the one I wanted, just because I love being here.”

Frank Kaminsky’s road back to Phoenix

Frank Kaminsky is not the Suns’ only training camp invite, so he’ll have competition if the goal is to ultimately earn a full contract for that 15th roster spot. The team announced on Thursday that they had signed Kaminsky, Mamadi Diakite and Moses Brown. Terms were not disclosed, but HoopsHype’s Mike Scotto previously reported that Diakite and Brown were signed to Exhibit 10 deals for training camp as well.

In any case, there’s no better spot to compete for a roster spot than Phoenix in Frank Kaminsky’s mind. He and his wife Ashley Brewer Kaminsky recently moved back to the Valley in August, and over the last few weeks, he’s been getting some run in with the Suns at the Verizon 5G Performance Center.

“I had workouts lined up through my agency, a couple of different teams, and Phoenix was the first one I did, obviously, ’cause I’m right here by the practice facility and they’re doing their open gyms and stuff,” Kaminsky explained. “I went in there and started working out and did well, and they started talking about me coming to camp pretty early on in that. And then it got to the point where I just didn’t go to other places, and I just wanted to stay here and do it here.”

That tracks, since it was here in Phoenix that Frank Kaminsky enjoyed some of the best seasons of his career. After signing a two-year, $10 million contract with the Suns in the summer of 2019, Kaminsky was sidelined by a right knee injury and then a left patella stress fracture in late December. Thanks to the COVID-19 hiatus, he was able to return for the NBA Bubble, coming off the bench for the Suns squad that went 8-0 in Orlando.

The Suns ultimately waived the second year of his contract, but after signing with the Sacramento Kings and subsequently getting waived there, he rejoined Phoenix and played 47 games for the 2021 NBA Finals team. He re-signed with the Suns in the offseason, but nine games into the 2021-22 campaign, he suffered a stress reaction in his right knee and was ruled out indefinitely.

In early January, he underwent surgery and was ruled out for at least two months. The Suns waived him in early April to prepare for the playoffs.

It was a truly unfortunate turn of events for Kaminsky, who dropped a career-high 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting just a few games before the injury that would ultimately end his season. Frank Kaminsky was coming into his own as a player, and he summed up the terrible timing of it all at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

“That’s really the hard part about my whole situation is I felt like I was in a great spot in Phoenix, playing for a really good team, and I just got hurt at a bad time, it felt like twice,” Kaminsky said. “Two times there, I got hurt at bad times, and that’s unfortunately part of the sport. Injuries happen, and they suck every single time.”

After being waived by the Suns, it was another summer of rehabbing for Kaminsky, who signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2022 offseason. He only saw the court 26 times there, averaging just 6.8 minutes per game after logging at least 15 minutes a night in each of his three seasons in Phoenix.

The process of overcoming those injuries was a lot more difficult than the initial timetable suggested.

“The surgery that I had sucked,” Kaminsky said. “Like, there’s no way around it. I think it got announced like 8-10 weeks or something like that, but it took a really, really long time to come back from it. It felt like every time I took a couple steps forward, I’d fall backwards. So it was just about finding things that worked well for me where I wasn’t setting myself back. Even when I went to Atlanta the year after, I wasn’t back to 100 percent. And even if my knee was, the confidence I had in it wasn’t 100 percent at that point.”

Kaminsky was traded to the Houston Rockets midseason, played 10 games there, and then wound up signing with Partizan Mozzart Bet in Serbia. It wasn’t the NBA offer he wanted, but it gave him his first opportunity in years to build on a fully healthy season.

“Last year was the first year I felt like back to myself, like, the back half of last year playing overseas,” Kaminsky said. “I had all my confidence back in moving and all that stuff, and now this is like the first offseason I’ve had where I haven’t been rehabbing. So I’ve just been able to focus on moving forward, and it felt really nice ’cause that was like the first time since the summer before my first year in Phoenix, honestly.”

Despite those mental hurdles, Kaminsky said he’s “far removed from” that process now. He feels good physically, has had all the medical scans to get full clearance, and he’s feeling much more confident now that he’s not having to deal with the constant soreness or swelling he felt for the first year-and-a-half after the injury.

Now the challenge will be earning a full roster spot. Kaminsky understands how difficult it is to make it back in the league after spending time overseas, but now that he can focus on basketball instead of taking care of his knee, he feels a lot more comfortable. Going through this process once before doesn’t hurt either.

“I had to do it before, when I took my sabbatical to Sacramento in between my first and second years in Phoenix,” Kaminsky said. “You have to go in, I guess, just focusing on all the things you do extremely well. I feel like in the NBA, for me and the way that I play, I just gotta focus on the things that I do. And I think you guys have seen the things I can do that can help a team win.”

The comfort aspect is important to Kaminsky as well. Trying to prove yourself in such a limited window can be nerve-wracking, but Kaminsky’s familiarity with the city and the organization helps.

“When I’m in a comfortable situation for myself, everything always goes much better than when I’m somewhere where I’m not super comfortable,” Kaminsky said. “And I think the last year-and-a-half or whatever I was in Phoenix, going from the Finals to playing like that, that’s the most comfortable I feel like I’ve been in my NBA career.”

It was only two years ago, but the makeup of the Suns has changed quite a bit since Frank Kaminsky was last here. Even so, there are several areas where he feels he can bring something to the table for this group.

“I think going into this camp, it’s just about focusing on all the things that I do well: stretching the floor, being able to play within an offense, being able to move the ball and be a good screener and be in the right places and just kind of use my basketball IQ to my advantage,” he said. “I’m gonna go in there and just leave it all out there, and whatever happens happens. If I make the team, that’s obviously the best possible outcome, but I’m gonna go in there and give it everything I have.”

The floor-spacing element is a big one, and it’s something the Suns don’t really have with their current trio of centers in Jusuf Nurkic, Mason Plumlee and rookie Oso Ighodaro.

“I know where I can help a team, and being able to be a guy that can space the floor really well, that’s obviously one of the biggest things I have going for myself,” Kaminsky said. “So it’s always gonna be something that I’m focused on and trying to continue to get better at. And it’s a unique part of my game that I feel like not too many guys my size do.”

After the Suns waive-and-stretched Nassir Little, they opened up a roster spot that could be used on a two-way contract being bumped up, a buyout signing later in the season, a two-for-one trade where Phoenix adds an extra player, or even a training camp invite if they impress. There are no guarantees, but just having this opportunity — back in the Valley of all places — is all Frank Kaminsky could’ve asked for.

“It’s worked out perfectly,” he said.