Cap Watch: What Year Two of This Payroll Buys

By the Suns Nightly Desk · Friday, September 25

Phoenix opens the season carrying a $216.2 million payroll, above the $209.0 million apron and the $200.4 million tax threshold. Every first-round selection through 2030 is either owed outright or tied up in a swap, leaving the front office few asset levers beyond the roster already on the books.

Suns Nightly artwork — Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

The top-line number. Phoenix enters the season carrying $216.2 million in salary, clearing the $209.0 million apron and the $200.4 million tax threshold, against a $165.0 million cap. The $221.7 million second apron sits above all of it, the real ceiling this front office plans around.

Booker's anchor deal. Devin Booker carries the largest number on the books at $57.1 million this season, rising to $61.0 million in 2027-28 under the two-year, $145 million maximum extension running through 2029-30, still the richest annual salary in NBA history.

Green and Brooks. Jalen Green is signed for $36.3 million this season and holds a $36.0 million player option for 2027-28. Dillon Brooks is locked in at $20.0 million now and $22.5 million next season, with no options attached.

Bridges and Beal. Miles Bridges is on the books for $22.8 million this season. Bradley Beal holds a $19.4 million player option, the same figure listed for both this year and next on the cap sheet, giving him the call on staying through 2027-28.

What comes off. Mark Williams, Collin Gillespie, Khaman Maluach, Luke Kennard and Jordan Goodwin fill the middle of the cap sheet, all between $2.3 million and $11.7 million this season. Kennard's deal carries a $6.4 million player option for 2027-28, and Oso Ighodaro's $2.5 million team option is Phoenix's call that summer.

The pick cupboard. Every first-round selection Phoenix owns from 2027 through 2030 is either a swap or already owed elsewhere: Houston holds the 2027 pick outright, New York gets the 2029 second-rounder, and the rest are swap rights rather than clean selections.

The flexibility math. With the payroll already past the tax threshold and the second apron looming at $221.7 million, Phoenix has little room to add without subtracting salary first, and no clean first-rounder before 2031 to sweeten a deal even if one were needed.

On deck Preseason opens against the Pistons on October 5, with stops at the Bulls and two meetings with the Spurs before the regular-season opener at Portland on October 21.

Are the Suns over the luxury tax this season?

Yes. Phoenix's $216.2 million payroll is above the $200.4 million tax threshold and above the $209.0 million apron.

Do the Suns have their own first-round picks in the coming drafts?

No clean ones through 2030: the 2027 first is owed to Houston, and the rest are tied up in swap rights.