Keeping Bol Bol in The Valley

After reading John’s article, Suns Roster, Salaries, Cap Space, Available Draft Picks and More, I decided to write this as a lot of fans have voiced concerns over whether the Suns can re-sign Bol Bol during the offseason. This article outlines how it could be done. Mind you, a lot of this depends upon Bol’s desire to stay in Phoenix which we can only guess at for now.

First, this offseason the Suns can only use the Non-Qualifying Veteran Free Agent (aka “Non-Bird”) Exception to make him an offer.

Non-Bird Exception: A team may re-sign its own free agent who is neither a “Bird” nor an “Early Bird” player to a contract with a first-year salary of up to the greater of (a) 120% of the player’s salary in the last season of his prior contract, (b) 120% of the player’s applicable minimum salary for the current season, or (c) if the player is a Restricted Free Agent, his Qualifying Offer amount.

Next season will be the beginning of Bol’s 6th in the NBA and the vet minimum for a player with 5 years previous experience will be $2,581,275. 120% of that equals $3,097,530. Not exactly a great offer but it’s the best that the Suns can do under the circumstances. The size of offers he gets from other teams makes his re-signing with Phoenix for this amount iffy but the options get even better after that first year which needs to be clearly explained to him in the pitch to re-sign.

As an extra incentive, the Suns should offer him a two-year contract with a 2nd-year player option. In the 2nd year, his contract could have as much as an 8% raise (8% is allowed when re-signing with their own team, 5% when signing with a new team) equaling $3,345,332. The 2nd year option is mostly for Bol’s security. If he plays above his pay grade in 2024-25, he can opt out and seek a new contract. If he doesn’t, the 2nd year is still there for him.

If he signs the 2-yr contract and doesn’t opt out, the Suns would have his full Bird rights at the end of that 2-year contract and could offer him more than any other team in his next contract year. If he does opt out of the 2nd year, the Suns will then have his early-Bird rights and can offer him the following.

Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agent (aka “Early Bird”) Exception: A team may re-sign its own free agent to a contract with a first-year salary of up to the greater of (a) 175% of the player’s salary in the last season of his prior contract, or (b) 105% of the average player salary for the prior season, if he played for the team for some or all of each of the prior two consecutive seasons (or, if he changed teams, he did so by trade or by assignment via the NBA’s waiver procedures). A contract signed using the Early Bird Exception must be for at least two seasons (not including any option year).

Photos by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Option B would allow the Suns to offer the most money.

Other teams could still offer more but it’s the best option for the Suns. In 2023-24 the average player salary is $10,277,000. That number will be going up next season but using this season’s average 105% of that average equals $10,790,850. Not as much as the $12,405,000 Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception but well above the $5,000,000 Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception that many other contending teams could only offer.

And again, re-signing with the Suns would allow 8% yearly raises as opposed to the 5% he would get signing elsewhere. Make that contract for 3 years with a player option in the 3rd and the Suns would then have his full Bird rights and could re-sign him for pretty much whatever he wanted up to and including a max contract.

It’s not a great situation for the Suns but not as bad as many might think it is. One additional thing in the Suns’ favor is that Bol likes playing with KD and learning from him. I don’t think there’s a better mentor for him in the NBA and it’s possible that he believes this too. Add to that the fact that Suns assistant coach David Fizdale has taken a special interest in Bol and has been putting in extra work with him on developing his game as factors that could also come into play in his offseason decision on whether to re-sign with the Suns or look elsewhere.

There is of course the possibility that some team makes Bol an offer this offseason that’s so big he’d be thought a fool to turn it down. That mostly depends on just how well he plays for the rest of this season though. It is possible that he continues to improve rapidly and plays himself completely out of the Suns’ price range but that’s not a certainty.

Is the outlook on Bol Bol re-signing with the Suns during the offseason good? All things considered, I’d say it’s fair but it’s far from a slam dunk and it may just come down to how much he wants to stay in the Valley.