after signing Gary Trent Jr.<\/a> to a four-year, $64 million contract, they have some questionable deals on the books as well.<\/p>\nI say all of that to remind you that what the Suns are doing is genuinely impressive given the restrictions they face. Phoenix has chosen a different path. Rather than continuing to mortgage the future in pursuit of one more swing, the organization has focused on creating flexibility, maintaining competitiveness, and building an identity that gives its young players an opportunity to develop while the team continues trying to win.<\/p>\n
When I look up and down the roster, I\u2019m impressed with the depth. I\u2019m impressed with the flexibility and the lineup optionality the team possesses. Jordan Ott has plenty of different combinations to work with next season, and each can produce a different result. If you want a defensive lineup, the Suns have hard-nosed defenders. If you want to lean into perimeter offense, they have shooters available. Again, given the canvas the Suns have to paint on, one created by their own doing, they\u2019ve done a good job putting together a roster that has an opportunity to remain competitive while also embracing a youth movement.<\/p>\n
But part of me can\u2019t help but wonder, what if? What if the Suns didn\u2019t have $23.2 million in dead cap sitting on their books? That\u2019s enough money to add another significant player to this roster. This front office could really cook if it had more funds available. When you consider that the team is hard-capped at the second apron, and there\u2019s only about $5.2 million separating its current payroll of roughly $216.8 million from the $222 million second apron, it naturally makes you wonder what this roster could have looked like without those dead cap charges.<\/p>\n
So I thought it\u2019d be interesting to put together a list of players whose salaries fall between roughly $22 million and $26.8 million, the range Phoenix realistically could have afforded if not for the dead cap created by Bradley Beal\u2019s $19.2 million, Nassir Little\u2019s $3.1 million, and EJ Liddell\u2019s $707,000. What type of player could the Suns have added if that money were actually available?<\/p>\n
Myles Turner \u2014 $26.6 millionJaden McDaniels \u2014 $26.2 millionDyson Daniels \u2014 $25.0 millionJohs Giddey \u2014 $25.0 millionFred VanVellet $25.0 millionDe\u2019Andre Hunter \u2014 $24.9 millionKeegan Murray \u2014 $24.1 millionJabari Smith, Jr. \u2014 $23.6 millionNaz Reid \u2014 $23.3 millionIsaiah Hartenstein \u2014 $23.1 millionNic Claxton \u2014 $23.1 millionCameron Johnson $23.1 million<\/p>\n
That is a healthy list of talented names right in the range of what exists between the Suns\u2019 available cap space plus their dead cap space. Obviously, this is all hypothetical. These players wouldn\u2019t simply appear on the Suns roster at their current salaries. Acquiring any one of them would require trades, salary matching, and a variety of other roster mechanics. None of it is particularly realistic. But still, if that dead cap didn\u2019t exist (and knowing that if they didn\u2019t waive Bradley Beal, he\u2019d still be on the last year of his deal with the Suns right now, and therefore they could not have the depth they currently possess), you can\u2019t help but wonder.<\/p>\n
The goal here isn\u2019t to make you feel worse about the dead cap. It\u2019s twofold. First, it\u2019s to illustrate the caliber of player the Suns effectively don\u2019t have because of financial decisions made in previous years. More importantly, it\u2019s to highlight how impressive this roster construction really is. Even without another player in that salary slot, Phoenix has assembled a roster that feels cohesive, deep, and flexible.<\/p>\n
It also serves as a reminder that a championship may still be outside the realm of possibility because that money simply isn\u2019t on the floor. There\u2019s a duality to all of this. You can appreciate the work the front office has done while also recognizing it still might not be enough because the organization continues paying for the sins of the past.<\/p>\n
Even with that reality, I\u2019d much rather be where the Phoenix Suns are today than where we\u2019ve watched Milwaukee end up.<\/p>\n
The Bucks had a superstar and continually gambled away future assets to build around him because they felt they had to. Giannis might not have been direct about his desires, but the team navigated in every effort to make him as happy as possible. Their reward is Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr, and a pair of lottery picks this past draft that may or may not hit (although Burries looks legit).<\/p>\n
Devin Booker has allowed the Suns to navigate differently. The organization has worked the fringes, built a culture, and focused on creating sustainable competitiveness. Throughout all of it, Booker hasn\u2019t played psychological games about whether he\u2019s staying or leaving. We never saw him publicly say one thing while allowing a different message to leak from his camp. He\u2019s remained steadfast in his belief that he wants to be here, trusting the organization to build a competitive team around him.<\/p>\n
At this point, maintaining a semblance of competitiveness is the most important thing for Phoenix. It doesn\u2019t benefit the Suns to bottom out. They don\u2019t control their own draft picks, so there is no reward for losing. The only path forward is to build the organization culturally, creating an environment that is prepared to capitalize on opportunities when they eventually present themselves.<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s unfortunate the Suns don\u2019t have another $26 million player on this roster. That kind of talent would absolutely raise the ceiling. But given the circumstances, I\u2019m comfortable with where they are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The vibes in Phoenix are good, and the way the organization has navigated its cap sheet to field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85,31961],"class_list":["post-820977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-suns-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}