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Let's assume CP3 opts into his $44M contract. The Suns still have some key players that will be free agents including:

Cam Payne
Abdel Nader
Frank Kaminsky
E'Twaun Moore
Langston Galloway

Whose key to bringing back into the fold and what should they be paid.

At first I thought Cam Payne would consume most if not all of our MLE... but if we finish the season as a top seed... don’t we become a top FA destination again? We might want to start considering names we could attract with our full MLE.

BTW I believe we have early bird rights for Cam Payne... anyone know what the biggest EB contract we could give Payne without using our MLE?

Crives wrote:At first I thought Cam Payne would consume most if not all of our MLE... but if we finish the season as a top seed... don’t we become a top FA destination again? We might want to start considering names we could attract with our full MLE.

BTW I believe we have early bird rights for Cam Payne... anyone know what the biggest EB contract we could give Payne without using our MLE?

Early bird exception is 105% of league average salary or 175% of player's existing salary, whichever is higher.

I think league average salary this year was 10 million, so we should be easily able to sign Payne using the early bird exception if he's eligible.

I don't think any of these are must keep at all. Far from it even if they are playing well right now.

Nader seems promising but it's too early to tell.

bigfoot wrote:Let's assume CP3 opts into his $44M contract. The Suns still have some key players that will be free agents including:

Cam Payne
Abdel Nader
Frank Kaminsky
E'Twaun Moore
Langston Galloway

Whose key to bringing back into the fold and what should they be paid.

That's a tough one. Shockingly I chose Frank.

I tried to think of it in terms of this season, if one of those guys got injured for an extended period, who would we miss the most?

Payne, Moore and Galloway are all good players and I love having them, but if any of them got injured I think we'd be fine with Point Book, CP3 and Carter as our PGs, we wouldn't be as good, but we'd be fine.

Nader was a tough one because while I LOVE his game, he hasn't gotten consistent enough burn to showcase it. If he plays like this the rest of the season, I'd probably change my vote to him.

But Frank does so much good stuff for us on the floor right now. He can shoot, he can score in a bunch of different ways. His defense isn't great but he knows when to be big inside. He moves the ball well and can find cutters.

The good news about Frank too is....I think he realizes Phoenix is the best situation for him fit wise. I mean, Sacramento straight up cut the dude. SACRAMENTO who is terrible thought he wasn't good enough for them. So I think he kind of sees that this is where he belongs and would probably take a very reasonable deal to stay.

The good news is, if we make a good run in the playoffs, I think we PROBABLY are willing to go into the luxury tax for the last season of CP3s deal to make a last push, and I doubt guys want to leave a team that could be on the verge of winning a championship. So maybe you get some friendly discounts on Frank, Payne and Nader.

I choose Payne but there are multiple guys from that list I’d like to have back.

Even someone like Galloway has value as a 3pt threat for depth but thankfully we’ve been fortunate injury wise so haven’t needed to use him.

Payne, strictly because we have no PG depth. Next would be Nader, but we have plenty of depth there so Payne HAS to be more of a priority.

It is early so answer this question...but for what I have seen so far I want Payne and Kaminsky back next season.

But I would like to bring back Moore, Galloway and Nader too, all of them are doing his job and they will be cheap.

Payne is the clear answer right now. Nobody else on the list is definitively a rotation player on this team. Ideally we’d draft/add a young PG that would make this question much more difficult. Not sure there are any prospects in the late 20s that could supplant Payne though. Unfortunately we used likely our last lottery pick for a long while on a backup big but it is what it is.

Definitely want Cam Payne back first.

Torn between Kaminsky and Nader for number 2, though I would probably take Kaminsky due to his playmaking ability. However I am liking Nader the more he gets to play.

E'Twaun Moore
Langston Galloway

Payne - the value of a competent #2 PG is immeasurable
Nader - This kid can play and has proven he just needs the minutes
Kaminsky - Saric 2.0 at 1/3 the cost - he's peaked, he is what you get, but he fits SO WELL!

cberry78 wrote:Payne - the value of a competent #2 PG is immeasurable
Nader - This kid can play and has proven he just needs the minutes
Kaminsky - Saric 2.0 at 1/3 the cost - he's peaked, he is what you get, but he fits SO WELL!

I think Kaminsky comes back on a team friendly deal. He learned in SAC that Phoenix is the place he fits best, his best shot at minutes and a place where his contributions will be valued. I think he also genuinely likes our group. No reason for him to go anywhere else.

Kaminsky kind of reminds me of Kelly Olynyk. Not unfathomable he could play some back-up 5 in the playoffs if Dario is hurt/ineffective.

I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

bwgood77 wrote:I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

We may have wanted him, but had other targets that were priorities that maybe we didn't land and by the time those played out he had signed with Sacramento.

bwgood77 wrote:I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

I agree with this, but it’s also pretty funny.

Frank has been a clear positive player this year, he fits on a ton of teams as a stretch big, he’s only 27, and yet there is no market for him. Truly a testament to the program Monty is building. Redolent of the Spurs teams that had guys that only really maximized in SA.

Barkley6 wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

We may have wanted him, but had other targets that were priorities that maybe we didn't land and by the time those played out he had signed with Sacramento.

He signed pretty late. We signed Damian Jones, Galloway and Moore to deals a few days before Kaminsky signed. Our roster was full I'm pretty sure by the time he signed with them.

TouchPassDario wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

I agree with this, but it’s also pretty funny.

Frank has been a clear positive player this year, he fits on a ton of teams as a stretch big, he’s only 27, and yet there is no market for him. Truly a testament to the program Monty is building. Redolent of the Spurs teams that had guys that only really maximized in SA.

I agree...and while typing this was thinking "a team should want him if they watch him" for even more than the minimum, but given no one wanted him after his year in Charlotte..they didn't even want to keep him, even though he was little removed from his rookie contract, and no one wanted him after his year with us, and the influx of guys in the draft every year, it's unlikely that suddenly a team will decide they want him. He's not a guy most really good teams would target and not a guy a young team would want...he just fits nicely as like a 11-15 guy with us...nice chemistry and locker room mix.

bwgood77 wrote:

Barkley6 wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

We may have wanted him, but had other targets that were priorities that maybe we didn't land and by the time those played out he had signed with Sacramento.

He signed pretty late. We signed Damian Jones, Galloway and Moore to deals a few days before Kaminsky signed. Our roster was full I'm pretty sure by the time he signed with them.

You're right. I wonder if maybe thought he could get more than the minimum, and then waited too long.

bwgood77 wrote:

TouchPassDario wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:I think Kaminsky will likely come back on the minimum for as long as we want him. No one wanted him this past offseason and he only got a 1 year minimum from the Kings. Not sure why we didn't want him back on the minimum this year initially but I think there is a good chance we bring him back. Now perhaps due to his decent play someone offers him more but it's probably unlikely. He's probably worth more than someone like Carter, but Carter is probably not worth his deal.

I agree with this, but it’s also pretty funny.

Frank has been a clear positive player this year, he fits on a ton of teams as a stretch big, he’s only 27, and yet there is no market for him. Truly a testament to the program Monty is building. Redolent of the Spurs teams that had guys that only really maximized in SA.

I agree...and while typing this was thinking "a team should want him if they watch him" for even more than the minimum, but given no one wanted him after his year in Charlotte..they didn't even want to keep him, even though he was little removed from his rookie contract, and no one wanted him after his year with us, and the influx of guys in the draft every year, it's unlikely that suddenly a team will decide they want him. He's not a guy most really good teams would target and not a guy a young team would want...he just fits nicely as like a 11-15 guy with us...nice chemistry and locker room mix.

Agreed. Really interesting is how well he plays off our other starters/star players. Maybe it’s just a testament to Chris Paul, but I’m no longer worried if Frank starts. Monty does a good job matching up.