The 2021–22 Phoenix Suns season was their 54th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as their 29th season at the currently named Footprint Center, their first full season under that name after taking over the naming rights to the previously named Phoenix Suns Arena on July 16, 2021, during the 2021 NBA Finals.
The Suns entered the season as the defending Western Conference champions and were attempting to return to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. On March 24, with a win over the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns clinched the #1 spot in the Western Conference and the league for the first time since 2005. With the Suns 63rd win over the Los Angeles Lakers on April 5 (which, coincidentally, also eliminated the Lakers from playoff/play-in contention), the Suns set a franchise record for most wins in a season, surpassing the 1992–93 and 2004–05 teams with 62.
In the playoffs, the Suns defeated the New Orleans Pelicans in six games in the first round, but were then upset by the 4th-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the conference semifinals, where they lost in seven games, becoming the third team to have 64 or more wins and not reach the conference finals after the 2006–07 Dallas Mavericks and 2015–16 San Antonio Spurs.
Off-season Draft
Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College / Club129Day'Ron SharpeCenter United StatesNorth Carolina The Suns entered the draft with one first-round selection. Per a 2018 trade, their original second-round selection was to the Brooklyn Nets as it landed outside the picks 31 to 35 restriction.
The Suns later agreed to trade their 29th pick and Jevon Carter to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Landry Shamet.SUNS ACQUIRE LANDRY SHAMET FROM BROOKLYN
Free agency
For this season, free agency began over a month later than it usually does, starting on August 2, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. EST instead of by June 30 or July 1 like in previous free agency periods due to the aftermath of the 2019–20 NBA season suspension affecting some of the timing for a few things with this season's offseason period. However, instead of starting the free agency period to something like July 31 akin to last season's free agency period starting two days after the last season's draft back on November 20, 2020, free agency began on the proper five days off before free agency begins. Furthermore, official signings were made four days after the starting free agency period (which in this case began on August 6, 2021, instead of by late November like last season), which was on schedule for the five day moratorium period the NBA holds. For this season, the Suns had (starting with the most expensive players downward) E'Twaun Moore, Langston Galloway, Cameron Payne, Abdel Nader, Frank Kaminsky III, and Torrey Craig all entering free agency this year due to all of them signing (or agreeing to) their veteran's minimum salaries for their respective deals last season. In addition to them, superstar point guard Chris Paul also declined his player's option that would have allowed him to get $44,211,146 in the final season of his massive contract he first signed back when he was with the Houston Rockets in 2018, though he's expected to receive a 3-year deal worth $90 million with the Suns in free agency. Not only that, in addition to all of these players, Ty-Shon Alexander's two-way contract was projected to go into its second year with Phoenix, which initially left them only one likely open two-way contract for the season earlier on.
On August 2, the Suns agreed to new deals for not just back-up point guard Cameron Payne, but also All-Star point guard Chris Paul, both of which became official by August 6.SUNS RE-SIGN CAMERON PAYNESUNS RE-SIGN CHRIS PAUL With Payne, his new deal gave him a three-year contract that's worth a total of $19 million, with his third year only guaranteeing him $2 million out of $6,500,000 that would be received there. However, with Chris Paul, his new contract allows him to receive a partially guaranteed four-year deal that would fully grant him up to $120 million, though only his first two years are fully guaranteed, with his third year being partially guaranteed (half of his salary is fully guaranteed for that season) and his final season in that deal being non-guaranteed. Not only that, but they also agreed to sign Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee (who was also a part of Team U.S.A. for the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Devin Booker) to a one-year deal for $5 million, though his agreement on August 2 was made official on August 16 instead.Suns Sign JaVale McGee However, the Suns also lost Torrey Craig to the Indiana Pacers on August 2, with Craig agreeing to sign a two-year deal worth $10 million for Indiana, which was made official by August 20. A day after that, the Suns also re-signed Abdel Nader to a two-year deal worth $4,200,000 (second year being a team option), with his signing also being official on August 6.SUNS RE-SIGN ABDEL NADER On August 5, Frank Kaminsky III agreed to another one-year deal worth his veteran's minimum to return to Phoenix, with former Suns point guard Elfrid Payton agreeing to a one-year deal worth his own veteran's minimum to reunite with the Suns, albeit as a third-string point guard this time around. Kaminsky's deal was made official by August 9,SUNS RE-SIGN FRANK KAMINSKY III while Payton's was completed a day later.SUNS SIGN ELFRID PAYTON
On August 26, the Suns announced that they had officially waived Ty-Shon Alexander from his second year of his two-way contract he had signed from his previous season with the team. On September 7, the Suns confirmed that they replaced Alexander's spot with that of former Washington Wizards (and technically San Antonio Spurs) player Chandler Hutchison as a two-way contract player for this season only due to it being his last eligible year for such a contract, with Ty-Shon Alexander confirmed to join the Segafredo Virtus Bologna in Italy later on that same day.SUNS SIGN CHANDLER HUTCHISON The next day, E'Twaun Moore agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Orlando Magic after last playing with Orlando from 2012 to 2014. On September 22, Chasson Randle was confirmed to be a training camp signing for the Suns that's looking to gain a spot on the roster properly in October, which was made official on September 26.SUNS SIGN CHASSON RANDLE However, Randle was officially waived after their preseason ended on October 16. Then, on September 24, Langston Galloway was confirmed to sign a training camp deal with the Golden State Warriors, though he was waived from the Warriors on October 9. With regards to rookie scale contract extensions, Mikal Bridges was given a 4-year, $90 million extension with the Suns on October 17,SUNS SIGN MIKAL BRIDGES TO CONTRACT EXTENSION while Landry Shamet was given a 4-year, $43 million extension with Phoenix a day later.SUNS SIGN LANDRY SHAMET TO CONTRACT EXTENSION However, Deandre Ayton failed to get a contract extension of his own before the deadline passed, making him a restricted free agent entering next season. On October 22, the Suns filled their second two-way contract with small power forward Ish Wainright, a Ugandan-American that previously last played for the SIG Strasbourg in France before signing a non-guaranteed contract with the Toronto Raptors in the preseason.SUNS SIGN ISH WAINRIGHT
Coaching changes During the 2021 NBA Finals run on July 12, assistant coach Willie Green agreed to become the new head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans to enter this season.Willie Green named New Orleans Pelicans head coach On July 25, the Suns agreed to hire Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Bryan Gates as a replacement to Willie Green going forward entering this season. On August 7, the Suns officially announced not just the promotion of Kevin Young to Willie Green's former position of associate head coach and the confirmed hiring of Bryan Gates, but also hired former NBA and NBA G League Ignite player Jarrett Jack and Oklahoma City Thunder player development coach Steve Scalzi to initially round out the rest of the coaching staff.SUNS ANNOUNCE COACHING STAFF ADDITIONS On August 22, player development coach Riccardo Fois officially left his position with the Suns to become an assistant coach for the University of Arizona's Wildcats men's basketball team.Arizona Basketball and Tommy Lloyd to hire Riccardo FoisRiccardo Fois Joins Arizona Staff as Assistant Coach Finally, on September 24, the Suns confirmed that both Riccardo Fois and Ben Strong left their positions as player development coaches for the team, being replaced by the Suns' assistant video coordinator Corey Vinson and the Portland Trail Blazers' video coordinator and player development coach Jamal Gross as a combination of video coordinator and player development coaches for the team.Suns announce coaching staff additions Not only that, but Fort Wayne Mad Ants assistant coach Michael Ruffin was confirmed to be the official assistant coach replacement for Steve Blake, with Jarrett Jack joining Steve Scalzi as player development assistant coaches going into this season.Michael Ruffin latest assistant added to Phoenix Suns coaching staff
Front offices changes and Robert Sarver controversy On July 24, Jeff Bower had a mutual agreement with the Suns to officially leave his position as Vice President of Basketball Operations for them going forward.The Phoenix Suns and Jeff Bower are parting ways after Finals run With Larry Fitzgerald confirmed to not be playing in the NFL for at least the majority of the 2021 Arizona Cardinals season, it is presumed likely that Fitzgerald will be given a much greater role with the Suns franchise going into this season under Robert Sarver's ownership group. However, a report from Jordan Schultz on October 22, 2021, suggested that ESPN was going to release a major exposé piece on majority team owner Robert Sarver with regards to rampant racism, sexism, and misogyny involved with him on the team both on and off the court throughout his entire tenure as team owner. While Sarver and other front office members explicitly denied any problems in mind there before the report's release,STATEMENTS FROM ROBERT SARVER, JAMES JONES AND JASON ROWLEY the actual report on Sarver was released on November 4, detailing all the problems involved with the majority of his time there.Allegations of racism and misogyny within the Phoenix Suns: Inside Robert Sarver's 17-year tenure as owner While Sarver and a majority of team personnel released public statements on their official website in response to the allegations at hand,ROBERT SARVER, MANAGING PARTNER, SUNS LEGACY PARTNERS, LLCJASON ROWLEY, PRESIDENT & CEO ON BEHALF OF SUNS LEGACY PARTNERS, LLCSTATEMENT FROM ANDY KOHLBERG, VICE CHAIRMAN - PHOENIX SUNSSTATEMENT FROM MEMBERS OF THE PHOENIX SUNS AND PHOENIX MERCURY OWNERSHIP GROUP the NBA began their investigations on the team's executive conduct the same day ESPN's report was released.
Roster
Salaries Player 2021–22 Salary Devin Booker$31,650,600 Chris Paul$30,800,000 Deandre Ayton$12,632,950 Jae Crowder$9,720,900 Dario Šarić$8,510,000 Cameron Payne$6,500,000 Mikal Bridges$5,557,725 JaVale McGee$5,000,000 Jalen Smith$4,458,000 Cameron Johnson$4,437,000 Landry Shamet$3,768,342 Elfrid Payton$2,389,641 Frank Kaminsky III$2,239,544 Abdel Nader$2,000,000 Chandler Hutchison$462,629 Ish Wainright$462,629 Total $129,664,702 For this season, the salary cap was set at $112,414,000, with the luxury tax line now being set at $136,606,000.
Preseason