2017–18 Phoenix Suns season


The 2017–18 Phoenix Suns season was the 50th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association, as well as their 25th season at the Talking Stick Resort Arena. It was also their third season in five in which the Suns earned a top-five draft pick in the NBA Draft, which became the second straight year of gaining the #4 pick in Josh Jackson.
Three games into the season, head coach Earl Watson was fired. Guard Eric Bledsoe implied he wanted out of Phoenix and was barred from playing with the team by general manager Ryan McDonough and fined $10,000. Under interim head coach Jay Triano, the Suns started 4–1 after suspending Bledsoe. The Suns later traded Bledsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks on November 7, 2017 in exchange for center Greg Monroe and two protected draft picks. After dealing with point guard problems and injuries, the Suns traded for Elfrid Payton on February 8, 2018, in exchange for a second round pick they had previously acquired.

Key dates

Draft picks

RoundPickPlayerPositionNationalityCollege
14Josh JacksonSmall ForwardUnited StatesKansas
232Davon ReedShooting GuardUnited StatesMiami
254Alec PetersPower ForwardUnited StatesValparaiso

The Phoenix Suns entered the draft with only one first round pick and two second round picks this season. Their first round pick was their second straight pick at #4, despite having the second-best odds at the #1 pick that year. That draft later resulted in the Top 4 selections having the same teams representing the top of the draft similar to the previous year's draft. Meanwhile, their first second round pick was given to them for having the second-worst record of the season last season despite having a better record than their previous season. Their own second round pick was also used in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks during the 2017 trade deadline in exchange for the rights to Mike Scott, the draft rights to Turkish shooting guard/small forward Cenk Akyol, and some cash considerations worth $500,000, although it wasn't conveyed to Atlanta due to their second round pick remaining in the top 55 of this year's draft. Finally, their second second round pick was given to them by the Toronto Raptors for trading defensive small forward P.J. Tucker to them that same day in exchange for their second round picks in 2017 & 2018, as well as the rights to Jared Sullinger and cash considerations worth $1,000,000. The Raptors' second round pick won the tiebreaker over both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Clippers, but ultimately lost out to the Boston Celtics for pick 53 that year. Speaking of which, the Suns were also initially planned to get the Minnesota Timberwolves' second round selection for this year, but traded it away in a different trade with the Boston Celtics in order to get Brandan Wright on the team under the same season they first acquired Isaiah Thomas. In addition to that, the Los Angeles Lakers' first round pick that had belonged to the Suns before the 2014–15 season came and went was originally perceived to be conveyed to the Philadelphia 76ers this year, but the Lakers still wound up with pick #2 again to keep their pick for this season; that 2018 pick could later be potentially given to the Boston Celtics in order for them to trade away their #1 pick this year to Philadelphia.
With the fourth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, the Suns selected freshman small forward Josh Jackson from the University of Kansas. During his only season with Kansas, Jackson showcased his talent. In the 35 games Josh played with the Jayhawks, he recorded averages of 16.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game while also earning the Big 12 Conference's Freshman of the Year Award, First Team All-Big 12 honors, and mixed honors with the NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans; more specifically, he'd get Second Team honors from the Sporting News, while he had Third Team honors from the Associated Press and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Meanwhile, with the Suns' first second round pick, they selected senior shooting guard Davon Reed from the University of Miami in Florida. Throughout his career in Miami, Florida, Reed managed to provide career averages of 10.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, but managed his best work as a senior with 14.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Davon's considered handiwork, however, comes on the defensive end, as he managed to earn All-ACC Defensive Team honors in 2017 alongside being a member of the All-ACC Third Team and holding great academics throughout his college career. Finally, with the last second round pick, Phoenix selected power forward Alec Peters from Valparaiso University. Under Alec's last season at Valparaiso, he became one of only two players to record over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game in the NCAA's Division I with 23.0 points and 10.1 rebounds per game recorded for them in his senior year. As a result, Peters won named the Horizon League Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2017. He also was named the Horizon League Tournament's MVP in 2015, an Academics All-American First Team member in 2017, became a three-time member of the All-Horizon League First Team from 2015-2017, and was even twice mentioned as an honorable mention for the Associated Press' All-American Teams. Like first round pick Josh Jackson, Alec Peters was also named a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' All-American Third Team in 2017 himself. Peters was originally projected to be a late-first round pick before his right leg injury near the end of his senior season led to his draft stock slipping to the late second round; he also became the team's second two-way contract of the season on September 18, meaning he'd split his playing time between the Phoenix Suns and their NBA G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, for the vast majority of the season.

Free agency

This season, the only player on the Suns set to become an unrestricted free agent as of the end of the 2016–17 NBA season was the twice-returned Ronnie Price. However, for restricted free agents, both centers Alex Len and Alan Williams were given qualifying offers on June 27, 2017, and could have opportunities to remain with the team if the Suns wanted to keep both of them. T.J. Warren also stayed for a longer period of time, signing a four-year deal worth $50 million on September 25, 2017. In addition, veteran guard Leandro Barbosa and small forwards Derrick Jones Jr. and Elijah Millsap, all have team options for another season, with the latter two having them near the mid-season deadline on January 7, 2018, although neither player got to that point in time. Alan Williams also qualified for the NBA's Early Bird rights due to previously debuting late in the 2015–16 NBA season and essentially signing a two-year deal around that time. This season also marks the first season where NBA teams get to add 16 or even 17 players to their official roster using two-way contracts, which allows NBA teams to add players with less than three full years of NBA experience to enter the league with the condition of staying on their NBA G League team for the majority of the season for higher salaries than they could otherwise get in the recently rebranded league.
Summer League invite Mike James, a point guard who previously went to Eastern Arizona College and a Greek Basket League star with the Panathinikos Superfoods, announced prior to free agency that he would try to earn a two-way contract. On July 2, the Suns gave Alan Williams a four-year deal worth around $24 million to stay with his hometown team. A day later, the Suns renounced their rights to Leandro Barbosa making him a free agent in the process. Mike James also officially signed a deal with the Suns the same day they announced their team for the 2017 NBA Summer League. After originally being offered a four-year deal worth $24 million from the Suns, Williams officially received a three-year partially guaranteed deal worth $17 million on July 9 and signed it on July 26. A day before Williams signed with the Suns, however, it was reported that Brandon Knight tore his ACL during a pickup game in Florida. With the announcement of Knight's ACL injury causing him to be out for most of the season, the Suns qualified to have an additional $6.8 million to spend as a disabled player exception, likely extending their roster to 18 players at some point this season. The roster potentially required that extra player again on August 25 with the announcement of rookie shooting guard Davon Reed being out for four to six months due to surgery on his left meniscus and then on September 22 with center/power forward Alan Williams being out for a currently undetermined time with a partially torn meniscus of his own. A day before his teammate got injured, though, the Suns signed their other center, Alex Len, to a one-year qualifying offer worth $4.2 million to remain on their squad. On November 11, 2017, it was announced that Leandro Barbosa would return to his native land of Brazil for a second time, this time being a part of the Franca Basquetebol Clube. Ronnie Price ultimately was the only player from last season's roster to not play at all entering this season.
On August 22, 2017, the Suns signed former Iowa University shooting guard Peter Jok to a partially guaranteed deal to prove his worth in training camp. On September 11, it was originally announced that the Suns signed shooting guard and former first round draft pick R.J. Hunter as a possible temporary replacement for injured rookie Davon Reed. It was later reported from The Arizona Republic on that same day that Hunter alongside shooting guards Isaiah Canaan, Andre Dawkins, and Northern Arizona Suns' player Xavier Silas had all come to Phoenix for workouts, but none of them received a training camp offer with the Suns. On September 22, after Len's agreement was announced, former 2013 NBA Draft number-one pick Anthony Bennett was confirmed as a partially guaranteed training camp deal player alongside Peter Jok. Furthermore, that same day also lead to them gaining Troy Daniels from a trade to help shore up the shooting guard spot. Furthermore, on the same day Alex Len officially signed his qualifying offer, it was confirmed that T. J. Warren signed a four-year contract extension with the Suns worth $50 million. On October 11, the Suns cut Peter Jok and Anthony Bennett before their final preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers began. Two days later, before their actual last preseason game began against the Brisbane Bullets from Australia, the Suns signed a French power forward from Canada named Tidjan Keita. All of these players were part of the Northern Arizona Suns G League squad instead, with both Keita and Elijah Millsap being cut a day later.
On December 7, 2017, after point guard Mike James finished the last day of his original two-way contract with Phoenix, he'd be retained by them with a full-blown contract, albeit at the price of being forced to waive small forward Derrick Jones Jr. earlier than expected. On the same day, after a loss to the Washington Wizards, the Suns signed Danuel House to a two-way contract, filling up the spot originally held for Mike James earlier in the year. However, Phoenix used their disabled player's injury exception to sign recent Northern Arizona Suns and former Houston Rockets combo guard Isaiah Canaan on December 13, 2017, with the tipping point involving star shooting guard Devin Booker being out for a few weeks. Isaiah was previously acquired by the Northern Arizona Suns trading their 2018 first round pick to the Agua Caliente Clippers expansion squad for him. Canaan stayed with Phoenix even after Devin Booker returned from his injury by converting his deal into a standard one year, veteran's minimum contract, while the Suns waived former two-way contracted point guard Mike James from the team on December 22, 2017. However, after Canaan fractured his tibula on the same day they officially waived center Greg Monroe from the team, the Suns signed Northern Arizona Suns point guard Josh Gray to a 10-day contract a day later. In the aftermath of the February 8, 2018 NBA trade deadline, the Suns were forced to waive Isaiah Canaan in order to gain Elfrid Payton in their trade with the Orlando Magic in exchange for a second round pick from Memphis. However, Canaan still got paid the full salary for the season and use the team's facilities to help his body recover from his season-ending injury. Meanwhile, Josh Gray signed his second 10-day contract with Phoenix on February 11, although he was waived on February 21 with fellow Northern Arizona Suns player Shaquille Harrison signing his own 10-day contract that day. Harrison signed his second 10-day contract on March 3 before signing a multi-year contract with Phoenix on March 13.

Trades

On September 22, 2017, the same day they had former #1 pick Anthony Bennett join their training camp roster, the Suns traded their own top-55 protected second round pick to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for shooting guard Troy Daniels and a second round pick of their own, which was the middle choice between the Charlotte Hornets, Memphis, and the Miami Heat. A month later, before the Suns fired head coach Earl Watson, star point guard Eric Bledsoe released a Tweet on Twitter saying he didn't want to be with the team. As a result of that tweet, he was sent home for the disruption. Teams that had talked with the Suns for their disgruntled star point guard included the Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Cleveland Cavaliers. While waiting for a potential trade, they eventually let Bledsoe return for practices with the squad, but didn't allow him to play in games. Ultimately, a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks was made November 7, 2017. In that deal, the Suns received center Greg Monroe, a protected first round pick that'd be conveyed in 2018 (if it was at picks #11-16; 2019 if it's at picks #4-18; 2020 if it's at picks #8-30; or 2021 as a fully unprotected pick, and a second round pick that was conveyed to Phoenix if it was at picks #48-60 or be conveyed to the Brooklyn Nets later on by the end of the season; and Greg Monroe was waived by having his contract be bought out on January 31, 2018. Finally, on the February 8, 2018 trade deadline, the Suns traded the Charlotte Hornets' second round pick they previously acquired from the Troy Daniels deal in exchange for point guard Elfrid Payton from the Orlando Magic for at least the rest of the season.

Front office changes

While general manager Ryan McDonough was originally confirmed to remain as the team's general manager and President of Basketball Operations on April 19, 2017 for at least one more season, he was given a contract extension to remain for both roles throughout the end of the decade on July 19, 2017. While McDonough never lead the team to the playoffs throughout his original tenure, what won him over was the youth movement that he arranged.. Furthermore, on that same day, it was announced that former Suns player and three-time NBA Finals champion small forward/shooting guard James Jones was the new Vice President of Basketball Operations, to oversee basketball matters for the team like upcoming draft picks, trades, and free agency moves.

Coaching changes

On October 22, 2017, after having two of some of the worst losses in franchise history to start the season, the Suns fired head coach Earl Watson. That same day, the Suns hired Canadian associate head coach Jay Triano to be interim head coach for the rest of the season. Later on that day, the Suns also fired assistant coaches Nate Bjorkgren, Mehmet Okur, and Jason Fraser. A day later, it was announced that the head coach of the Northern Arizona Suns affiliate team, Tyrone Ellis, was named as one of the new assistant coaches, with Marlon Garnett also being promoted as a full-time assistant coach that same day. However, Tyrone wasn't officially called over until October 24, 2017, alongside Northern Arizona Suns assistant coaches Bret Burchard and Brandon Rosenthal taking over some of the vacant coaching spots for the Phoenix Suns. For Northern Arizona, they found their newest assistant coaches to join Tyler Gatlin on November 20 with Nick Friedman and two-time former Phoenix Suns center Earl Barron joining that newly completed coaching staff for the season. During the season, Phoenix also looked to target potential new coaching candidates, including former Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale, former Suns and current Utah Jazz assistant coach Igor Kokoškov, and Villanova University head coach Jay Wright around the conclusion of the season. In fact, on March 23, 2018, it was confirmed by general manager Ryan McDonough that the team has begun their coaching search earlier than anticipated.

Roster

Salaries

This season was the first season since the 2011–12 season where the Suns no longer paid for the contract they gave to Michael Beasley, since they paid the total amount needed to remove him on their roster on September 3, 2013. However, after waiving Leandro Barbosa, the Suns still owed him about $500,000 of guaranteed money. Similarly, because the Suns waived both Derrick Jones Jr. and Mike James earlier than anticipated, they'd only receive $385,625 and around $250,000 of guaranteed money this season respectively. The Suns also bought out Greg Monroe's contract for the year, which cost $17,884,176 for this season only, as well as give Isaiah Canaan his full salary of $1,069,308 after he was waived. Furthermore, because of the sliding scale, the newly implemented two-way contracts, earning as little as $75,000 and about as much as $279,000 in a season, depending on where they play under a majority of their time, players like Mike James at the time, late second round rookie Alec Peters, and Danuel House did not affect their salary cap, regardless of how much they get paid for throughout the season.

Pre-season

This pre-season marked the first pre-season where the number of games was intentionally shortened for the purpose of better quality control as the season continued onward, going from the usual 7-8 games to 5 games. It was also announced on July 31 that the Suns would play a preseason game against the Brisbane Bullets from the NBL in Australia on October 13 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena. Their official preseason schedule was announced a day later, with the only other NBA teams the Suns being the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz both on the road and at home. While the Suns started and closed the preseason out strongly, they had a tough time in the middle of it, ending the preseason with a 2–3 record.

Regular season

According to a Twitter leak on the Los Angeles Clippers' home schedule, it revealed that the Phoenix Suns would play the Clippers at the Staples Center on October 21 and December 20, 2017; the former date being the first game the Clippers will play on their home court. Phoenix's full schedule was be released on August 14, 2017.

Standings

Game log

Player statistics

Awards and records

Awards

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Re-signed

Additions

Subtractions