Phoenix Suns: 3 goals for Dragan Bender in 2018-19

3. Come out firing in October

Dragan Bender has two preseason games and six regular season games to prove he’s worth hanging onto for another year.

Phoenix has until Oct. 31 to pick up his $5.9 million team option for 2019-20. If it decides not to, Bender will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. In that situation, even if Bender thrived in 2018-19 and proved himself worth re-signing, the bridge would be all but burned.

Aside from the decay in trust if his team option isn’t picked up, the Suns wouldn’t be able to offer more than the $5.9 million he would’ve received. There’s a chance another suitor would offer more than that in free agency if he impressed, so if his team option isn’t picked up, there’s a good chance his tenure with the team would come to an end next summer.

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That puts an inordinate amount of pressure on Bender for his next eight games in a Suns uniform, not only to salvage his role with the Suns, but possibly to prove he belongs in the NBA altogether. The problem is, the competition for minutes is going to be stiffer than in years past.

"“He thinks the game and sees the game pretty well for a young big, but he needs to take a step and be consistent because as we talked about earlier, there is a lot of competition, especially on the wing, 2-4 or even 5, that we have lot of depth there — more than we’ve had in the past,” McDonough said. “We told Dragan and all our guys it’s an open competition, so whoever earns the minutes will play and whoever doesn’t, won’t.”"

If preseason minutes are any indication, Kokoskov is no Khaleesi; he’s not going to wait for five seasons just to see if his baby Dragan grows into the kind of mythical beast that rains down fire upon his enemies.

In the team’s first preseason game, Bender shot 0-for-5 from the field and was a -17 in his 14 minutes. He only saw the floor for eight minutes the following game, and was once again a train wreck.

"“We’ll talk to him,” Kokoskov said after the game. “Basketball players play the game. We’re not here to bury anybody. I can’t say it any different than what you’re saying right now [about being in his head] the last two games. He didn’t have an impressive performance by any means, but he’s got to fight through. We still believe he’s a good player, it was just two bad games.”"

Though Bender played better in the third preseason and earned 18 minutes, by the time he first checked in, the Portland Trail Blazers were already up 16 in the third quarter. It was garbage time.

These kinds of performances won’t be enough to secure his spot on the roster in 2019-20. Step one to having a successful 2018-19 campaign is coming out firing in the last two preseason games and the first six regular season games. If he doesn’t, and the Suns don’t pick up his team option, he’ll be auditioning for the rest of the league just to keep his career alive.