The Phoenix Suns are set to have the most expensive roster in NBA history with a $421 million bill in salaries and luxury tax for 2024-25.
The Phoenix Suns have put the finishing touches on what looks like the most expensive roster in NBA history after re-signing Josh Okogie to a two-year, $16 million deal. The Suns will officially have a salary bill of $198 million and are expected to pay $223 million of luxury tax in the 2024-25 NBA season, totaling a cost of $421 million, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
As Marks said, the Okogie re-signing is more about having a player worth $8 million annually who they can later use in a trade, with the team being unable to aggregate multiple contracts for one player in a trade as they’re comfortably above the second apron of the cap.
The contracts on the Suns’ roster for next season are as follows:
Kevin Durant: $51,179,021
Bradley Beal: $50,203,930
Devin Booker: $49,205,800
Jusuf Nurkic: $18,125,000
Grayson Allen: $15,625,000
Royce O’Neale: $9,875,000
Josh Okogie: $8,000,000
Nassir Little: $6,750,000
Bol Bol: $2,919,013
David Roddy: $2,847,240
Ryan Dunn: $2,530,800
Mason Plumlee: $2,087,519
Damion Lee: $2,087,519
Monte Morris: $2,087,519
Oso Ighodaro: $1,157,153
Jalen Bridges: Two-Way
Collin Gillespie: Two-Way
(Contract data taken from Spotrac.com)
Naturally, the three names at the top make up a bulk of the salary, which would put the Suns in a tough spot financially regardless. On top of that, they have to fill out a robust 15-man roster, which has caused some massive spending from the Suns.
Due to the second apron, the Suns will be operating under major financial restrictions this season. They won’t be able to take any extra money in a trade and won’t be allowed to trade two salaries for one either, a tool that will severely restrict them from improving their roster.
The best bet for the Suns is to find like-for-like contractual replacements for the likes of Okogie, Nurkic, and more on their roster if they struggle to open the season.
Is The Suns’ Roster Worth The Price?
We have seen the title of most expensive roster shift every year, with the Warriors and Clippers having a stranglehold over that topic over the last five seasons, But both the Clippers and Warriors lost players making over $40 million a season this summer, with Klay Thompson leaving the Warriors and Paul George leaving the Clippers.
You could make an argument that most players on the roster are making what their status in the league should entitle them to, but the Bradley Beal contract is hurting the Suns deeply here. He’s not a player who should be making over $50 million annually, out-earning franchise cornerstone Devin Booker this season. Jusuf Nurkic also is a questionable asset for over $16 million per season, but he has the experience and winning intangibles that could make him useful.
The roster is definitely strong enough to make a playoff push and possibly secure a No. 6 seed or higher like they did last season, but it’s hard to say this team can win a title.
There aren’t any veteran defenders in their primary lineups, with the franchise asking a lot of Royce O’Neale. They won’t trust rookie Ryan Dunn with big minutes instantly, even though Dunn might be the best perimeter defender on the roster already.
Josh Okogie has been intentionally overpaid to make him a trade asset this season, with the Suns likely looking to use the multiple second-round picks they acquired through small trades over the Draft cycle. While there aren’t any obvious upgrades to be found, the Suns could use him if any become available over the season.
The contract for Grayson Allen could fire back on them. He earned the contract with his excellent two-way play last season, shooting 46.1% from three on 5.9 attempts per game. However, a shooting regression of any sort could lead to Allen’s contract looking too undesirable to keep on the franchise. They just extended him as well, so it’ll be interesting to see what they can achieve.
The price of the roster is untenable for the level of expectations they have. Nobody would expect the Suns to outperform the Thunder, Nuggets, Mavericks, and Wolves based on this preseason roster, but it’ll be exciting to see this group play it out on the court and hopefully, the Suns don’t end another season with 0 playoff wins as they did in 2023-24.