2021–22 Phoenix Suns season

Round	Pick	Player	Position(s)	Nationality	College / Club
1	29	Day'Ron Sharpe	Center	United States	North Carolina

The Suns agreed to trade their 29th pick and Jevon Carter to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Landry Shamet.[8]

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.[9][10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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,[13] while Payton's was completed a day later.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16][17] 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.[18] 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,[19] while Landry Shamet was given a 4-year, $43 million extension with Phoenix a day later.[20] 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.[21]

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.[22][23] 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.[24] 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.[25] 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.[26][27] 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.[28] 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.[29]

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.[30] 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,[31] the actual report on Sarver was released on November 4, detailing all the problems involved with the majority of his time there.[32] While Sarver and a majority of team personnel released public statements on their official website in response to the allegations at hand,[33][34][35][36][37] the NBA began their investigations on the team's executive conduct the same day ESPN's report was released.[38]

For this season, the salary cap was set at $112,414,000, with the luxury tax line now being set at $136,606,000.[39][40]

• Chris Paul – 12th All-Star Game
• Devin Booker – third All-Star Game
• Monty Williams – first NBA All-Star Game head coach

• On October 22, 2021, the team's second game of the season, Chris Paul became the 47th player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points for their career. Not only that, but he became the first player in league history to ever get to both 20,000+ points and 10,000+ assists in a career, getting his first eight points off of free-throws alone. Paul finished up the night with a double-double of 23 points and 14 assists in a 115–105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.[52]
• On November 2, Chris Paul overtook both Mark Jackson and Steve Nash respectively to become the new third-highest assist creator of all-time, surpassing both former players in the second quarter of that game. Paul finished the night with another double-double performance, this time recording 14 points and 18 assists, in a 112–100 win at home over his first team, the New Orleans Pelicans.[53]

• On October 30, 2021, Chris Paul tied Antawn Jamison as the 46th highest all-time scorer in NBA history with 16 points scored alongside 10 assists recorded in a 101–92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
  • Two days later, on November 2, Paul overtook not just Jamison, but also former Suns player Tom Chambers' position to become the 45th highest all-time scorer in NBA history. He also overtook both Mark Jackson and former Suns player Steve Nash's positions for the all-time assist leaders to become the new third highest assist creator in league history behind only former Suns player Jason Kidd and John Stockton, finishing the night with a double-double of 14 points and 18 assists in a 112–100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

• On October 30, 2021, Devin Booker overtook Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor member (and former assistant coach) Dan Majerle to become the second-greatest three-point shooter in franchise history, making two three-pointers to also break through the 800 made three-point shots barrier in a blowout loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
• On November 6, Devin Booker overtook Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor member (and former head coach) Paul Westphal to become the team's newest eighth highest scorer in franchise history. He finished the night off with a current season-high of 38 points in a 121–117 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
  • He also tied Amar'e Stoudemire for overall field goal attempts with the team by attempting 21 shots that night, tying Stoudemire at eighth for most field goal attempts in franchise history. Booker later surpassed him two days later on November 8 against the Sacramento Kings, while also being the 12th player in franchise history to break the 14,000 minutes played barrier with the Suns.

^ a: Despite the length of the deal, only the first two years of Chris Paul's deal fully guarantee him up to $60 million total. However, his third season in that deal is only partially guaranteed for him, while his fourth and final season includes a team option that is not guaranteed for Paul.
^ b: For Cameron Payne's third year, he is only guaranteed $2,000,000 out of the $6,500,000 he could receive that season.
^ c: Abdel Nader's second year has a team option on whether he'll be back by then on that same deal (which will have a value of $2,200,000 in that season) or not.

Player	Signed	Former team(s)
Elfrid Payton	Signed 1-year deal worth $2,389,641	New York Knicks
JaVale McGee	Signed 1-year deal worth $5 Million	Denver Nuggets
Chandler Hutchison	Signed a two-way contract worth $462,629[d]	San Antonio Spurs / Washington Wizards[e]
Ish Wainright	Signed a two-way contract worth $462,629[d]	SIG Strasbourg / Toronto Raptors[f]

^ d: As of the 2020–21 season, two-way contracts now have their salaries at six-digit figures instead of the initially planned five-digit salaries planned back when two-way contracts were first created. That means instead of earning $84,414 for only 45 days in the NBA (excluding the early and later parts of the regular season, regardless of whether they played or not) this season, two-way contracts like Chandler Hutchison and Ish Wainright can now earn half of this season's rookie scaled minimum contract (which is $462,629 for this season) while being eligible to play for the entire regular season (but not the NBA Playoffs this season). Players like Hutchison and Wainright are also eligible to play for the 2021–22 NBA G League season for the affiliate team they've signed up for. However, since the Suns officially joined the Portland Trail Blazers as the only team without an NBA G League affiliate team as of this season, any team that isn't the NBA G League Ignite will be eligible for Hutchison and Wainright to join up with for the NBA G League this season, so long as the Suns themselves agree to the team(s) they join up with for this season.
^ e: Chandler Hutchison was originally last a part of the San Antonio Spurs from August 6 to September 4, 2021 as a part of a very rare five-team trade that also featured the Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, and Los Angeles Lakers. However, he last played for the Washington Wizards as a part of the squad that made it to the 2021 NBA playoffs after once being considered the worst Eastern Conference team earlier in the season. Even so, because his final year on his previous contract was fully guaranteed due to him being a first-round draft pick back in 2018, he will still receive the full $4,019,459 he was originally going to receive from San Antonio in addition to the two-way contract salary Hutchison is going to get in Phoenix.
^ f: Ish Wainright previously last officially played for the SIG Strasbourg in France's LNB Pro A league before signing a two-year non-guaranteed deal with the Toronto Raptors on August 7, 2021, though he was later waived by the end of the preseason on October 17. Wainright was then given a two-way contract with the Suns five days later on October 22, giving him his best chance to play in the NBA for the first time ever with Phoenix.

Player	Reason left	New team(s)
Jevon Carter	Traded	Brooklyn Nets
Torrey Craig	Unrestricted free agent	Indiana Pacers
Ty-Shon Alexander	Waived two-way contract	Segafredo Virtus Bologna
E'Twaun Moore	Unrestricted free agent	Orlando Magic
Langston Galloway	Unrestricted free agent	Golden State Warriors[g]

^ g: Langston Galloway originally signed with the Golden State Warriors on September 24, 2021. However, he was waived from the team on October 9, failing to join them officially during the preseason period.