Back on November 17, it was announced that the Suns had waived two-way contract player CJ Huntley, and then they promptly signed another guard, Jamaree Bouyea, to fill that open two-way slot.
The first
question that came to many fans’ minds was, “Who?”
Well, it wasn’t long before Jamaree introduced himself and schooled everyone on why that change was made.
To put it plainly, he’s good…really good. In fact, he’s so good and valuable to the team that it’s quite likely that his two-way contract will eventually be converted to a standard NBA contract.
Many have clamored for the Suns to go ahead and do it right now, but that really wouldn’t make much financial sense for the Suns because the sooner they do it, the more dollar signs it adds to their luxury tax bill. Financially, it just makes more sense to wait, but there is a limit to just how long they can wait.
Two-way contract players are limited to playing in only 50 games with the parent team per season and are generally assigned to their G League squads for most of it. It’s been the opposite for Jamaree as he’s played only one game with the Valley Suns and 19 with the parent team. Normally, that gives him 31 more games of eligibility, but as he wasn’t signed until after the Suns were already 14 games into the new season, his game eligibility was prorated to just 42 instead of 50, so he has just 23 more games left to play on his two-way contract.
That means his eligibility could run out as soon as the end of February, and I believe that is the most likely time for his contract conversion to occur…if it actually happens.
I’m a big fan of Jamaree and of converting his two-way to a standard contract, but when you consider the timing of his signing, keeping him may not be a part of the Suns’ long-term plans. He was signed 9 days after Jalen Green pulled his hamstring and 4 days after Grayson Allen’s quad injury. The Suns were down to just three healthy guards on the roster (Book, Gillespie, and Goodwin). Sure, some of their SFs/wings could — and did — fill in during that time, but the team needed another true guard for at least insurance purposes in case of more injuries. Jamaree was that guy, but he has done way more than just provide insurance.
But, if the plan was for him to just be “insurance”, has his performance on the court been enough to warrant his two-way contract being converted to a standard NBA contract? I believe most fans would reply with a definitive, “YES!” I don’t believe that the Suns’ front office would actually disagree, but with Allen back and Green soon to return, will there be a real need for another guard — even one as good as Bouyea — on this roster?
That last question is the one that Brian Gregory and his front office staff will eventually have to make a decision on.
An additional thing that will likely factor into that decision is what happens before the trade deadline. It’s possible that, after a trade or trades, the Suns won’t even have an open roster spot after the deadline for Bouyea to convert his contract…or they might wind up with two open roster spots, one of which would have to be filled within two weeks to get the team back up to the minimum of 14 players on standard contracts. If either of those scenarios plays out, Bouyea could either not be converted at all or quickly converted to get the roster back up to the league minimum.
While Jamaree has proven that he deserves a roster spot, the Suns’ biggest need this season has been at power forward, so would they give what might turn out to be their only open roster spot to Bouyea instead of Isaiah Livers, another two-way contract player who has also proven to be productive at their position of most need? I won’t try to debate which of the two could be the most valuable to the team here but by the end of February, the Suns’ injury situation could be very different, and they might determine that they need depth at power forward more than guard depth.
And then there’s the buyout market to consider.
At the moment, I have little knowledge of who might be buyout candidates this season, but now that the Suns are below both tax aprons, they are no longer restricted to signing only bought-out players whose contracts were less than the non-taxpayer MLE ($14.1 million). If the Suns haven’t solved their power forward problem before the buyouts begin, might there be someone available then that they would value more than either Bouyea or Livers?
By that time, the playoffs will be edging nearer and nearer, and the decision on what to do could be influenced by what the team’s playoff hopes are. If those hopes fall apart for some reason, that could play into their decision on whether to convert anyone, even if they still have that roster spot open just to keep their luxury tax bill as low as possible. Both Jamaree and Livers will be restricted free agents if they’re contracts aren’t converted, so the danger of losing either would be low in that case.
Considering all of the questions/variables I mentioned above, I can understand why the Suns have held off on converting Jamaree’s two-way contract, and why they will likely continue to keep that decision on hold at least until after the trade deadline.
If the Suns ultimately do decide they want to convert Jamaree’s two-way to a standard NBA contract, there are basically three paths forward.
- At any time, they can convert his present contract from a two-way to a standard vet minimum rest of the year NBA contract. That is completely up to them as to whether to do it or not.
- They can convert his two-way to a 2-year standard NBA deal at the vet minimum IF Jamaree agrees to tacking on the extra year. They cannot add the extra year without his permission.
- They can convert his two-way to a 2-year standard NBA deal and use the taxpayer MLE to pay him up to $5.7 million in the 1st year IF he agrees to it. Again, the Suns cannot add the extra year unless he agrees to it.
At some point, production stops being theoretical and starts demanding a decision, and Jamaree Bouyea is rapidly approaching that line. Whether it comes at the deadline, in late February, or not at all, the Suns are going to have to decide if what he has become outweighs what they thought he was meant to be.
