This offseason, the Phoenix Suns have been juggling more moves than a top celebrity athlete at a dance-off. According to S. Charania of The Athletic, the Suns made three different moves on Sunday that finally led to the trade of free-agent big man Bol Bol for backup point guard Cameron Payne.
The largest cap amount on the current assemblage of players on Phoenix’s roster, excluding their prominent quartet of Beal, Booker, Durant, and Deandre Ayton, is the $2.8M Non-Bird contract the Suns awarded to re-signing free agent Josh Okogie.
Ex-Magic Bol Bol signs one-year deal with Suns
These are Phoenix’s three successive moves carried out by the Suns to obtain Bol Bol from Orlando Magic. First, they traded a 2026 first-round pick to acquire a trio of second-round draft picks from the “Tropics.”
Notably, the Suns and Wizards have already exchanged picks for 2026. The Suns will automatically receive the least desirable of Washington’s and Phoenix’s picks, giving the Magic the option to exchange their own 2026 pick for the less desirable.
ESPN Sources: Free agent F/C Bol Bol has agreed on a one-year deal with the Phoenix Suns. At 23, Bol had his best NBA season with Orlando: 9.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.1 blocks in 21.5 minutes. Another developing talent to join a deepened bench rotation.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 16, 2023
The next move was to make a cap-dumping trade for Payne, a second-round selection, and a bundle of cash were dealt to the San Antonio Spurs. Bol Bol, a former reserve with the Magic, was signed to a one-year, minimum-wage contract using the roster position made available by the Payne trade.
Phoenix avoids paying more than $26 million in luxury taxes for the current season. Yet, the actual expense could be far higher than the names mentioned here indicate.
Phoenix continues to rebuild roster around Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal
The Suns lack a seasoned, conventional point guard on their roster as a result of the departures of Payne and Chris Paul, Jordan Goodwin and Saben Lee, who have collectively logged fewer than 3,000 NBA minutes on the court throughout their individual playing tenures, are the closest they come. On paper, this choice doesn’t seem absurd.
The majority of the ball handling in Phoenix will be done by Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant. The Suns would probably be better served by using their two remaining starting and closing positions for defense rather than a table-setter. Yet, the regular season is lengthy and risky.
There will be evenings when only one or two of Phoenix’s stars are visible, which will reduce the overall number of shots that can be created, now as Bol Bol is added to the mix. On the offensive end, it would be tough to stop the triumvirate of Bradley “The Big Panda” Beal, Kevin “KD” Durant, and Devin “The Book” Booker.
The NEW LOOK Phoenix Suns 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dTYzsNTgZd
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) July 17, 2023
And in a BO7 series, no one will find it simple to get rid of them. The Suns will receive a trade exception in this move equal to Payne’s salary, but they are unable to combine that exception with other salaries as they might if they still had Payne instead of Bol Bol.
