I will start by wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas. The holidays are for spending time with the people you love, so this morning I am spending a little time with you. Because I love this community. Because, knowing they’ll never love me back, I love this team. Because I love this organization, in every version it has shown us (and we’ve been through some dark versions, having we?). All right. Gushy portion complete.
Let’s talk about Royce O’Neale.
His name keeps popping up as the trade machine
starts humming louder. With a little over a month until the February 5 deadline, it makes sense. His $10.1 million contract is clean. It stacks nicely with others like Nick Richards. It helps the math. And once that happens, people start talking themselves out of liking him. It is easier to move on from a player once you have decided he is expendable.
Well, that is not very merry. I am not there. I am not ready to trade Royce O’Neale.
O’Neale has been with the Phoenix Suns for two and a half years. Over 134 games, he has averaged 9.1 points on 42/40/71 splits, with 4.9 rebounds in 25.7 minutes a night. He arrived at the 2024 trade deadline when James Jones was searching for stability around Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker. The veteran minimum carousel was not cutting it. Jones bundled contracts, rolled the dice, and Royce came back in the deal.
Since then, he has been a steadying presence. Not perfect. Not always loud. Someone who understands spacing, timing, and when to get out of the way. And when he catches fire, we have all seen it. He can lift a second unit and drag a team through a stretch when the waters get choppy. Every roster needs a few guys like that. Especially this one.
Yes, I get why people want to move on from him. Inconsistency comes with the territory at $10.1 million a year. That is the lane. Show me the player in that salary range who delivers the same thing every night. Lonzo Ball is not doing that. Caleb Martin is not doing that. Kyle Anderson is not doing that. If Royce were airtight in every area of his game, his number would look very different.
He has flaws. Transition playmaking can be shaky. The jumper goes cold. He does not pressure the rim. Defensively, there are nights where certain matchups turn into a struggle (Houston comes to mind). He also does not have the size everyone wants from the power forward spot, which is where he often ends up when he starts.
So yes, I understand why his name lives inside mock trades. I still am not ready to move him. Here is why.
There is no mystery deal waiting that drops the perfect player into Phoenix. Teams hold onto players who check every box. Anyone you bring back will come with their own issues. Size alone does not solve basketball.
Young teams need veterans. He is the oldest guy in the room. The players call him “Unc” for a reason. He does things off the court that never show up in a box score and still matter. On the floor, he remains a very good basketball player. His three-point advanced numbers are positive across the board. From shot quality to efficiency, percentage to talent, he’s one of the best three-ballers in the game. And the Suns have him on a damn good deal.
I like Royce. Off nights happen to everyone. He shoots it. He moves it. He defends on the perimeter. He fits the energy of this group. What magical upgrade are we pretending is sitting out there waiting to be claimed?
Size at the four is a real conversation. But let’s say that the team does find this mysterious unicorn power forward that another team is somehow willing to part with for a collection of Suns’ assets. That player will have their deficiencies as well, and if he’s obtained for stacked contracts from Phoenix, chances are he’ll have a compensation rate that doesn’t necessitate the same price-for-value-paid as O’Neale. Perhaps we get him here, and then floor spacing at the four becomes a problem. “If only we had a guy at the four who could hit the three!”
Royce brings a trait that eventually brings back the kind of assets people keep dreaming about. That requires patience, which has been the theme of this entire season. He still has two and a half years left on his deal. Which means he is not sitting in the sweet spot yet for teams hunting the trade market. Those teams want players with a little runway, not a quick fling.
Look ahead to this summer. He will have two years left on his contract. That is when things get interesting. Picture a team that flames out in the postseason and realizes it was one shooter short. That team does not care about draft picks the same way rebuilding teams do. They care about fixing a problem. With two years left, Royce is not a rental. He is a solution they can live with beyond one spring.
There is another angle too. Wait another year. By the summer of 2027, when his deal reaches its final season, that contract becomes attractive to a different group of teams. The ones struggling. The ones trying to get off long-term money. An expiring deal gives flexibility. That is where Phoenix could extract value, because the other side wants relief more than they want to hold talent.
This is where patience comes back into the picture. This team is outperforming expectations right now. Their second-best player, at least by contract and theory, has barely been available. Royce, like a lot of guys on this roster, has not even settled into what his true role looks like when everyone is healthy. Yet people want to move him whenever he has a couple of off nights in a role he will not be living in all season. And Rasheer Fleming could be the ultimate answer at the power forward position, so why handicap his development by acquiring someone who will stunt it on the cap sheet?
That is impatience. That is shaking the snow globe because you want to see it move. I do not get it. The Suns are 16-13. They have dealt with injuries. They have faced one of the toughest schedules in the league so far. And they are still standing. Why rush to rock the boat? For fun? I guess I get that part. I play with the trade machine too.
But if February 5 comes and goes and Royce O’Neale is still on this roster, I am perfectly fine with that. His value feels more likely to rise than fall, especially heading into next summer. There is something good happening here. No reason to stir it up.
Unless we are talking about Nick Richards. That conversation? I am fully ready for that one.
