PHOENIX — The NBA’s deadline for rookie contract extensions on Monday came and went without one for Phoenix Suns center Mark Williams, an expected outcome that Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro first reported and now will send the recently acquired big to restricted free agency next summer.
Williams, who turns 24 years old in mid-December, has had significant issues staying healthy over the course of his young career, playing in only 43% of the possible games across three seasons. His games played by season are 43, 19 and 44, respectively.
While Phoenix trading for Williams put itself in the unenviable position of paying him and figuring out what a proper number would be, the Suns do also have just about all of the leverage.
It would take a phenomenal season from Williams in order for him to generate enough interest from another team next summer to receive an offer sheet given the track record of his health, and recent history shows this is even more unlikely in general. It has now been two full offseasons since a restricted free agent agreed to an offer sheet with another team.
This offseason, negotiations for rRFAs like Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas, Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey and Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga ran well through the summer into September and October.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks had a projected offer for Williams sitting at three years and $51 million, most notably with an injury clause that could make some of the money non-guaranteed depending on games played qualifications. That type of exemption included in the deal is all but a certainty if the Suns can have it their way, even if Williams plays 60-plus games this year. And if he doesn’t while facing more meaningful health setbacks for the fourth straight year, the Suns would be wise to avoid much guaranteed money at all. Williams’ camp will obviously push for as much as possible, so it would be surprising to see a quick resolution in June or July of next year.
Staying on the court is step one, two and three for Williams.
Phoenix has attempted to rehabilitate his physical makeup, putting Williams to work since the start of July to build up his strength and slowly reshape the foundation for his long-term health. Despite how early they started in the offseason, this still has Williams at a slow pace, with his status for Wednesday’s season opener still in question.
Williams is still going to miss games. But can the Suns get him in a good enough spot to where he can play deeper into them? He’s only reached the 30-minute clip in 32 of his 109 appearances, the type of figure you’d like to see more often later on in his Suns career, especially if they make their way back to the postseason. How about back-to-backs? Phoenix has 14 this year, and Williams being able to endure some of those is another box to try and check to show real progress.
His track record as a player when healthy is clear. Williams is very productive and one of the better offensive bigs in basketball. He’s a great finisher around the basket and a tremendous threat on rolls with his size and mobility as a lob threat. Williams is a very good offensive rebounder as well and has improved his work in the short roll to make the right pass when defenses collapse on him.
On the defensive side of the ball, Williams provides a major presence as a shot-blocker, while the major growth point for him is positioning as an anchor.
Phoenix will plan on using some coverages where it funnels ball-handlers into the lane, and that’s where Williams will have to be sound being in the right spot, a part of his game that has received criticism in the past.
Head coach Jordan Ott also wants his bigs to play higher up on ball-screen coverage. Can Williams appease his coach when he’s traditionally been in a “deep drop”? If he is able to tidy that up and have more consistency as a defender, you’ve got yourself a borderline top-10 center.
To the point on Williams’ injury concerns and where he stands as a player, there is some wonder if Phoenix ever arrives at a scenario of moving on from Williams after just a season, even with all that leverage.
Williams was acquired for the 29th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and a 2029 first-round pick that is the least favorable between the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz. The latter pick almost certainly lands in the 20s, but anyone claiming to be clairvoyant about the NBA more than three years out is a fool, so who knows?
It’s wonky value to peg down because although it’s not that expensive of a price in a vacuum, it was to the Suns, who burned through almost all of their tradeable draft pick equity they had left during that draft in that deal and the others in the second round to move up for Rasheer Fleming. Letting Williams walk for nothing would still sting quite severely.
At the same time, if Phoenix isn’t confident that Williams will stay healthy or cannot develop/maintain his form as a top-15 center, then it should hesitate greatly to pay him. Because in terms of the grand vision of what the Suns are trying to do over the next three years, part of that would be aided by Williams holding value on the trade market.
No. 10 overall pick Khaman Maluach figures to be the long-term starting 5. He almost certainly won’t be that guy this year and maybe not even the next due to his inexperience and age (19), which is the main reason why the Suns got Williams.
Whether you find that logic sound or not, Maluach will be the guy eventually. At least he better be.
When that day comes, unless two-center lineups featuring bigs with limited lateral mobility are all the rage, Williams should move on. And the odds are he will still hold some type of red flag as an injury risk, so when Williams does play, showing he is a good two-way center is imperative. An underrated subplot of trading for Williams is that it’s not immediately clear who the Suns were bidding against or who else even wanted him.
Will interest rise based on his first year in Phoenix? Or will it continue floundering?
A sliver of the pie chart in forming the complete reasoning for this upcoming decision will include the play of Phoenix’s other bigs, and it goes beyond Maluach.
Second-year big Oso Ighodaro is the best fit for what Ott wants out of his center. As a secondary playmaking hub who can handle the basketball some, Ighodaro also has the agility to move his feet in more aggressive defensive coverages. While Ighodaro is undersized and there are valid offensive concerns with the limited areas where he can score and how efficient he is with where he does actually score, it’s a skillset that fits in today’s league.
Nick Richards has looked to be in much better shape this year and is a more traditional center with his high-level finishing around the basket and strong rebounding. While it wasn’t an encouraging stint for him after coming over in a midseason trade, he was chucked into the clown car and no one is really going to have a chance to adapt properly while having that happen to them. Like Williams, it’s all about if he can pick up on the spots he needs to be in on the floor at all times.
There’s an outside chance one of those two flashes and Maluach proves that he’s ready for a legit role by the end of his rookie season. If that’s the case, there’s your center rotation done and dusted.
Then what do you do with Williams? That all depends on how he performs himself.