Suns trade for Royce O’Neale

[SunsRIt]

Well, you guys got what you wanted. I hope O'Neale is as good as you guys say he is. I am disappointed in losing all four of those players. They all had potential in different areas. Nobody mentioned Goodwin but he started out like gang busters defensively in preseason and then just steadily fell off from there and couldn't shoot. I'm just glad we still have Okogie.

All 4 of those players played like they didn't know what their role was. I won't miss any of them.

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I think it was 8.

[bajanguy008]

I was coming to post with the usual caveat
Anybody can look good in a highlights reel

Then I realized this is just one game, basically 1 half



I mean the commentator does say Career High so probably literally his best game but hey

What I'm fairly certain of is that he will play strong which again was my pet peeve with KBD n Yuta
Will wait and see what his opportunities look like

[Wally_West]

[Flagrant Fowl]

Great move given the Suns inflexibility. O'Neal is far more playable than anyone they gave up based on what we've seen from them on the Suns this season. I have no expectations for Roddy to be a part of the rotation, so it'll be a huge bonus if he manages to carve out a role.

Now they need to look for another space eating Center and someone to replace Goodwin's ball handling. It's fine if they're end of the bench players who hardly ever play, those are just the roles with holes.

[The Bobster]

Well, considering how disappointing Bates-Diop, Goodwin and Watanabe have been this season, Metu is the only body they'll miss at all. I guess they still have Little and their trade exceptions in hand in case another deal can be made, but I'm guessing they'll just hope there's something they like when players start getting bought out.

[Split T]

Deadline is over so no more trades. Buyout market for the last two spots is all we’ve got

[Superbone]

Well, you guys got what you wanted. I hope O'Neale is as good as you guys say he is. I am disappointed in losing all four of those players. They all had potential in different areas. Nobody mentioned Goodwin but he started out like gang busters defensively in preseason and then just steadily fell off from there and couldn't shoot. I'm just glad we still have Okogie.

All 4 of those players played like they didn't know what their role was. I won't miss any of them.

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I'm no medical doctor but isn't that eight?

[Superbone]

Well, you guys got what you wanted. I hope O'Neale is as good as you guys say he is. I am disappointed in losing all four of those players. They all had potential in different areas. Nobody mentioned Goodwin but he started out like gang busters defensively in preseason and then just steadily fell off from there and couldn't shoot. I'm just glad we still have Okogie.

All 4 of those players played like they didn't know what their role was. I won't miss any of them.

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I think it was 8.

I see you beat me to it!

[JeremyG]

4 players that weren’t in the rotation

Just so we can keep Little who is also not in the rotation? And add a player we have no use for in Roddy? We have no need for a 6’4 PF who can’t shoot.

I was excited to see we were making a trade and getting O’Neale, until I saw we gave up 4 players.

Even with Little we would’ve had to use 2 more players(unless one was Okogie or Lee). You also have to factor in what we do with the 2 open roster spots. We still have a TPE and we could still trade Little for 5 more minutes. We also keep Little to trade next year if we want.

And we got rid of the only player on the roster that was even close to being a point guard. I would have definitely traded Lee ahead of KBD or Goodwin.

Booker and Beal are much better PG’s than Goodwin…Did you think Goodwin was going to play for us? Again we still have 2 roster spots…we might add a buyout pg

We certainly could have used him if we have an injury, or multiple injuries.

[Split T]

And we wouldn’t have won anything if we needed to use him. We still have Saban Lee who has actually been better than Goodwin this year.

[Superbone]

Magic likes it.

[Superbone]

From ESPN+:

Phoenix Suns grade: A-

When I wrote about the biggest needs for contending teams last month, I argued that adding another 3-and-D wing was more important for the Suns than their ballyhooed lack of traditional point guards. Evidently, Phoenix agreed, landing O'Neale as their big addition at the deadline.

Aside from Phoenix's stars, O'Neale might be the strongest role player on the roster with balanced contributions at both ends. Limited because of his 6-4 stature and lack of athleticism, O'Neale is certainly a better defender than the Suns' best shooters (Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon) and with his career 38% from 3 he is more of a perimeter threat than Phoenix stoppers Josh Okogie (27% this year) and Bates-Diop (31%).

Since O'Neale isn't elite at either end of the court, it's possible he's squeezed out of Phoenix's postseason finishing five in favor of Okogie for defense or Allen's superior shooting. (Allen leads the NBA by making 49% of his 3s this season.) Still, O'Neale got a better chance of finishing games than a point guard who would have been stuck spotting up with the Suns' offense running through Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.

As a bonus, O'Neale is an underrated passer who's averaged better than four assists per 36 minutes each of the last two seasons. He might not have as many assisting opportunities but with Goodwin's departure, no Suns reserve has averaged more than Gordon's 2.7 assists per 36 minutes.

The mechanics of how Phoenix acquired O'Neale without including any players making more than the minimum salary are interesting in their own right. By including Memphis in this deal, the Suns were able to take Roddy into their trade exception from last year's deadline deal that sent Dario Saric to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then all four minimum contracts were aggregated, giving just enough spending power to add O'Neale.

Because Phoenix's salary will exceed next year's second luxury-tax apron, Thursday was the last day the Suns could aggregate salaries together. Now, they can re-sign O'Neale -- an unrestricted free agent at season's end -- for any amount and potentially trade him for smaller salaries down the road.

That creativity comes with a luxury-tax cost. Before Phoenix fills either of the roster spots created by this trade, their tax bill has already increased $13.5 million with this trade to a total of $64 million -- third-highest in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers.

[specialsauce]

Well, you guys got what you wanted. I hope O'Neale is as good as you guys say he is. I am disappointed in losing all four of those players. They all had potential in different areas. Nobody mentioned Goodwin but he started out like gang busters defensively in preseason and then just steadily fell off from there and couldn't shoot. I'm just glad we still have Okogie.

All 4 of those players played like they didn't know what their role was. I won't miss any of them.

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I'm no medical doctor but isn't that eight?

Each is a single cheek representing the half ass in results and effort they gave

[Superbone]

Well, you guys got what you wanted. I hope O'Neale is as good as you guys say he is. I am disappointed in losing all four of those players. They all had potential in different areas. Nobody mentioned Goodwin but he started out like gang busters defensively in preseason and then just steadily fell off from there and couldn't shoot. I'm just glad we still have Okogie.

All 4 of those players played like they didn't know what their role was. I won't miss any of them.

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I'm no medical doctor but isn't that eight?

Each is a single cheek representing the half ass in results and effort they gave

Excellent recovery.

[specialsauce]

All 4 of those players played like they didn't know what their role was. I won't miss any of them.

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I'm no medical doctor but isn't that eight?

Each is a single cheek representing the half ass in results and effort they gave

Excellent recovery.

Pulled that one right from between both cheeks

[Superbone]

We traded 4 ass cheeks. I'm fine losing them.

I'm no medical doctor but isn't that eight?

Each is a single cheek representing the half ass in results and effort they gave

Excellent recovery.

Pulled that one right from between both cheeks

Please don't pull any more from there!

[Superbone]

[pickle]

RoLo over Biyombo please? I’m surprised we didn’t make a play for Delon Wright but I guess hard to get that and O‘Neale deal done.

Like others I was intrigued by Metu of the four that were shipped out. Am disappointed that we are about to trot out KD and 4 6’4 guys for the playoffs.

[Flagrant Fowl]

RoLo over Biyombo please? I’m surprised we didn’t make a play for Delon Wright but I guess hard to get that and O‘Neale deal done.

Like others I was intrigued by Metu of the four that were shipped out. Am disappointed that we are about to trot out KD and 4 6’4 guys for the playoffs.

I'm pretty sure no one who was traded and available to the Suns would've solved that, so they just improved the shooting of that lineup with O'Neal taking Okogie's spot.

[Bucktastic365]

What I thought we needed more than anything was a secondary rebounder for when our bigs switched. Is he a good rebounder?

If we can secure the 1st defensive rebound consistently I can't see many teams beating us