Suns By the Numbers: Payroll, Cap Hits and a 1-2 Preseason

$216.2 million payroll. Phoenix carries $216.2 million in salary across 18 contracts, clearing the $209.0 million apron threshold and the $200.4 million luxury tax line. That buys depth on paper. It does not guarantee the roster stays healthy enough to use all of it.

$57.1 million cap number. Booker's salary this year is $57.1 million, the largest number on the roster and more than a quarter of the total payroll. It funds a go-to scorer. It says nothing about who finishes games next to him once health sorts itself out.

+1.4 net rating. Last season Phoenix scored at a 114.2 offensive rating and allowed 112.9, a net mark of plus-1.4. That's a team playing roughly even, not a contender's number. It also predates the coaching change and the deals that reshaped the bench.

45-37 last season. Phoenix finished 45-37 last season, in 2025-26, good enough for the play-in picture but no further. The record reflects last year's group under a different coach. It carries no weight on what a retooled roster does under Jordan Ott.

1-2 in preseason. Three exhibition games are in the books: losses at Detroit and Chicago, then a win over San Antonio on October 10. Preseason scores don't count in the standings. They do show early minutes and rotations before the opener on October 21.

2027 first-round pick owed. Houston holds Phoenix's 2027 first-round pick, with swap rights running through 2030, the price for landing Green, Brooks and the draft rights to Khaman Maluach last July. That pick is the clearest cost of the roster now on the floor. It doesn't say whether the trade pays off.