This is a question that many fans have pondered since the end of the season. The Phoenix Suns could have converted Collin Gillespie’s two-way contract to a standard NBA contract up to the last day of the regular season and tacked on at least an non-guaranteed 2nd year to ensure that he would definitely be on the team’s roster when training camp rolls around in September...but they didn’t.
Many were upset at this as Collin proved himself to be at the very least a competent rotation player with a very nice three-point shot (43.3% in 33 games played). He may not be the Suns’ point guard of the future, but in many ways, he often looked like the best point guard on the roster at times last season.
Sounds like a guy you’d want to keep, right?
Collin Gillespie brings energy and toughness each time he’s in the game. Please bring him back.
— Karen Kline (@KarenK03) April 22, 2025
Well, I’m certain that they would have converted his two-way if the Suns had made it into the postseason Play-In stage. There wouldn’t have been much hope of making it past the Play-In games and into the playoffs with or without him, but with him, their chances would have been at least a little bit better. That chance never materialized though and Collin’s two-way was never converted.
Why was that? Did the Suns not think enough of his play to ensure that he’d be back in September? Or was there something else to it?
I think it was something else.
The fact is that Collin is still a restricted free agent, which gives the Suns the power to retain him next season even if some other team makes him a contract offer. Another fact is that to convert Collin’s two-way contract to a standard one at the end of the regular season, the Suns would have had to have waived another player to create an open roster spot for him. Yep, they already had the league limit of 15 guys signed to standard NBA contracts, so someone would have had to go in order to make room for him.
“So what’s the big deal with that?” you might ask. If the rumors that the Suns would work to get under the second tax apron this summer are true, then some of the players without guaranteed contracts for 2025-26 are probably going to be waived anyway, so why not do it then?
Well, the only logical explanation I can come up with is that the Suns wanted to hang on to those non-guaranteed contracts to possibly use as trade chips between now and July 1. Non-guaranteed contracts can essentially be expiring contracts that other teams may want to use to shed some salary, or perhaps they might even find some value in obtaining a certain player. The Suns actually have three contracts they could use in this way: Vasilije Micić ($8.1 mil team option), Cody Martin ($8.7 mil non-guaranteed), and Nick Richards ($5 mil non-guaranteed).
Phoenix Suns v Sacramento Kings Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
While I very much doubt that Richards would be waived or traded as part of a cost-cutting measure, Micic and Martin are a different story.
Either one of them could possibly be traded before July 1 for another player on a longer-term deal and possibly a 2nd round pick as a sweetener to a team that’s looking to shed some salary next season. I won’t say that the odds are good that a deal like this happens, but it’s a possibility that I can understand the front office not just wanting to throw away by waiving someone before at least exploring that option...and that’s what they would have done if they had waived someone to open up a roster spot for Collin after they were eliminated from the play-in games.
As I said earlier, Collin is still a restricted free agent, which means that he can’t easily be stolen away by another team. Sure, there is the possibility that some other team might make him an offer that the Suns might not want to match, but I really doubt that happening, and I’m fairly certain that the Suns’ FO came to the same conclusion.
Two seasons ago, some fans were worried that the Suns might lose Josh Okogie in free agency to another team willing give him a big payday. Last season it was Bol Bol that fans were worried about. Neither time it happened and I don’t think it’s going to happen with Collin this year either.
What I do think will happen is that the Suns will bring Collin back to training camp this year, either on another two-way contract or a standard minimum salary contract. There just aren’t really any significantly better free agent PGs that the Suns could obtain, especially on a veteran minimum contract, so unless the Suns make a big trade this summer that gets them a starting-level point guard, bringing back Gillespie is basically a no-brainer.
The guy is a good player, smart, still young and actually hustles and works hard when he’s in the game, all qualities the Suns are going to need as they move forward.
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