Free-agent forward agrees to multiyear deal with Suns

Phoenix Suns forward Royce O'Neale.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, free agent forward Royce O’Neale intends to sign a four-year, $44M contract to remain with the Suns.

Zach Lowe of ESPN adds that the deal won’t feature a team or player option and will be fully guaranteed. It will be the most lucrative contract of O’Neale’s career, topping his previous four-year, $36M extension that will expire.

The No. 19 player on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents, O’Neale has been a reliable, durable wing since entering the league in 2017, never appearing in fewer than 69 games in a season across stints in Utah, Brooklyn, and Phoenix. The Suns acquired the former Baylor standout from Brooklyn in a three-team deal at February’s trade deadline.

A versatile defender with the size to match up against bigger wings and forwards, O’Neale isn’t much of an offensive threat, having never averaged more than 8.8 points per game in a season. But he’s a solid three-point shooter, with a career rate of 38.1% from beyond the arc, and he has averaged 3.2 assists per game over the past two seasons.

Because Phoenix projects to operate over the second tax apron in 2024-25, the team would have had no means to replace O’Neale or Grayson Allen with an equivalent player in free agency, so there was an expectation that both players would be re-signed. The Suns extended Allen in April and have now reached a deal to retain O’Neale.

Since O’Neale was expected to receive interest on the open market from rival suitors, the belief was that Phoenix would have to go up to three or four years to beat out clubs who might offer a higher starting salary. That was the case, with the Suns making a guaranteed four-year commitment to the 31-year-old.

As cap expert Yossi Gozlan reports, adding O’Neale’s new deal to the Suns’ books increases their projected team salary for next season to nearly $217M. The luxury tax line is expected to come in at around $171.3M. There may be more moves pushing the Suns’ salary in one direction or the other, but based on the current projections and tax penalties, it would be the second-most expensive roster in NBA history, says Gozlan.

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