Though not being able to sign the players part of their wishlist the past couple of years, one team that has been trying to lure big name free agents is the Phoenix Suns.
Two years ago, they made a pitch to Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, and last summer, to LaMarcus Aldridge. Even if they were not able to convince them to move to Arizona, being able to present their case to these superstars is already a huge success for their franchise. They were even able to bag Tyson Chandler in 2014, with them being considered a dark horse in signing the then free-agent center. These developments were made possible because of very good structuring of their players' payroll.
Suns GM Ryan McDonough and his team have done a masterful job of dipping the salaries of their key players this summer in order to chase free agents of their liking. Since they were only able to sign Jared Dudley and Leandro Barbosa to relatively small contracts this year, they'll have a lot of cap space in 2017 to go after Chris Paul, Gordon Hayward, and Giannis Antetokounmpo among others.
The 36-year-old executive recently spoke with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports and discussed the difficulties the franchise faced the past couple of years and what they've done to build the future in Phoenix:
“That’s been one of our frustrations this summer. We were kind of on the sideline for some of the marquee free agents. But as you know, Woj, it wasn’t the deepest free agent class.”
“Potentially, it’s a very strong free agent class next year. And one of the things we’ve done with our contracts is we’ve lined them up to have max cap space next year without really touching the core of our roster.”
“I think and I hope at this time next year, we’re major players in free agency. Because as you mentioned, the Phoenix Suns are a destination franchise.”
It may be considered that next year's pool of players seeking new contracts is not as deep as it is now, especially with Russell Westbrook signing an extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder and with Blake Griffin hinting at staying in L.A. But this does not dampen the spirits of the organization to prepare for their run next summer in their quest to sign a marquee free agent.
The cap space may be ready but one thing that needs to change with the Suns is having a winning culture to make them a free agent destination. With their current lineup, comprised of very young, promising players and a few seasoned veterans, they are not considered as threats to the perennial contenders in the Western Conference like the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, just to name a few. It will not be surprising if they pull a few moves in 2016-2017, add key pieces to make a run for the playoffs, and get noticed as one of the team's of the future.
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