Phoenix Suns: Grading their moves in NBA free agency

The Phoenix Suns came within a whisker of winning the NBA championship this past season. They got to within two games of winning Chris Paul his first NBA title. Unfortunately for the Suns, the Milwaukee Bucks proved too strong and as a result, they won their first title in a long time.

The Suns went from missing the playoffs during the 2019-20 season to the second-best team in the league. This is the position they finished in for the 2020-21 regular season, just a single game behind the No. 1 seed in the NBA, the Utah Jazz.

There were two main reasons for this improvement in the standings, one was the signing of Jae Crowder. The other was the trade they made prior to the season where they received one of the best point guards ever to play the game, Chris Paul, from the OKC Thunder. Let’s look at the free-agent signing they made during this offseason.

Phoenix Suns NBA free agency move No. 1: Re-signing Abdel Nader

Abdel Nader came over last season as a part of the Chris Paul trade and while he was not as influential as Paul, Nader provided valuable minutes off the bench. which was vital last season as depth was a huge part of how a team made it to the finals.

While Nader only played 24 games last season, he averaged 6.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. He was also very efficient, helping out with floor spacing. He shot the ball at 41.9 percent from beyond the arc meaning that defenses had to respect his shot when he was on the floor.

Grade: B-