What does Royce O'Neale bring to Phoenix Suns in three-team trade for players, picks?

The Phoenix Suns made a move before Thursday’s 1 p.m. NBA trade deadline even after their primary target, Hornets forward Miles Bridges, decided to stay in Charlotte, as he had a no-trade clause.

The Suns traded for Royce O’Neale as part of a three-team deal. The 6-6 Nets guard is averaging 7.4 points and shooting 36.6% from 3 in 49 games this season.

O'Neale, 30, is in his seventh NBA season out of Baylor. The Suns also acquired David Roddy to from the Grizzlies.

The rest of the three-team trade breaks down in this fashion. The Suns dealt Chimezie Metu, Yuta Watanabe and a 2026 first-round pick swap to Memphis for Roddy and moved Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin and three future second-round picks to the Nets for O'Neale.

This leaves them two open roster spots for the buyout market as they had a full 15-man standard roster.

Phoenix had limited assets to trade after acquiring Kevin Durant before last season’s trade deadline and Bradley Beal last offseason in separate blockbuster deals.

The Suns are $21.5 million over the salary cap, have an estimated $50.6 million luxury tax bill and expected to remain over the second tax apron next season, but still made a move with multiple players and picks involved.

So what does O’Neale bring to the Suns?

‘Team player’

A league source told The Republic that O’Neale is a “great guy, team player, who is 'unselfish' and a 'shooter.'” Out of Baylor, O’Neale has attempted 325 shots from the field with 265 coming from 3 this season.

That helps explain his 38.8% shooting from the field this season, but he’s shot as high as 47.5% playing for Utah in his second NBA season. He’s averaged more 3-point attempts in his two seasons in Brooklyn (5.5 in the 2022-23 season and 5.4 in the 2023-24 season) than his previous five in Utah (4.0 highest in 2021-22).

Another league source said the Suns should get him if they could and called him a "good spot up shooter who doesn't need the ball" and "plays hard." O’Neale is in the final year of his four-year, $36 million deal as he’s due $9.5 million this season. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Familiarity with Durant

O’Neale played with Durant last season before Durant was traded to Phoenix. Going into his return game at Brooklyn last month, Durant mentioned O’Neale’s name when talking about his last season with the Nets.

“I know people won’t believe it, but it was some fun, fun times playing there,” Durant said. “We had some adversity, but getting to know other players who had to step up in those moments throughout that adversity. The Edmond Sumners, the Royce O’Neales, these dudes had to step up and do some things that they’ve never done in the league before and fill in for what we were missing and they did that at a phenomenal level and we all had fun in the process.”

What happened with Watanabe, Goodwin, Metu and Bates-Diop?

The Suns probably wouldn't have felt a need to make these trades had Watanabe, Goodwin, Metu and Bates-Diop played to their expectations.

Goodwin was viewed as a potential backup point guard when he came to the Suns from the Wizards in the Beal deal. He saw consistent minutes early, is aggressive but didn't fulfill that role and fell out of the rotation. Goodwin hadn't played more than 10 minutes in a game since Christmas against Dallas.

Goodwin shot just 28.7% from 3 in his first season with the Suns. With the attention Booker, Durant and Beal draw, Goodwin needed to shoot a higher percentage from 3.

The same definitely can be said for Watanabe. Signing in the offseason after spending last season in Brooklyn, Watanabe shot 32% from 3, his lowest since his rookie year in Memphis in 2018-19.

He's not the best defender to start. Combine that with struggling to make 3s after shooting a career-best 44.4% from deep last season, Watanabe was expendable.

As for Metu, he provided versatility in terms of being able to play the center in a small-ball lineup. He can play the four, can shoot the 3, but only made 29.4% of them in his first season in Phoenix.

Plus he's not a strong rebounder, a must skill when playing the four or five in a small lineup. The 6-9 Metu averaged just three rebounds for the Suns.

Lastly, Bates-Diop came into the season looking like someone who could be that fifth starter with Phoenix's Big 3 of Devin Booker, Durant and Beal with Jusuf Nurkic at center. At 6-8, he showed the ability to defend as well as knock down 3s (career-high 39.4%) with the Spurs last season.

He went from that to only hitting 31.3% of his 3s. Like Metu, Bates-Diop wasn't a presence on the boards as he averaged just 2.6 rebounds. Bates-Diop had standout defensive moments, had gotten minutes of late, but the emergence of Bol Bol may have factored into this as well.

What about Roddy?

Very unique player.

He's an undersized four in terms of height at 6-4, but weighs 255 pounds. Very powerful young man who can provide some physicality.

He averaged 8.4 points on 40.2% shooting (30.1% from 3) and 4.2 rebounds in 48 games with the Grizzlies this season.

Start O'Neale or bring him off the bench?

Grayson Allen has established himself as the fifth starter with Booker, Durant, Beal and Nurkic. Having a career year, Allen is averaging 12.9 points and leading the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage at 49.2%.

The 6-4 guard out of Duke has played in 45 games this season after being acquired by the Suns from Milwaukee in a three-team trade right before training camp. Phoenix is 12-5 with the lineup of Booker, Durant, Beal, Nurkic and Allen.

However, O’Neale gives them a defensive presence that could work in a starting lineup. At 6-6, he could guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player, a responsibility Durant has taken on as well as Allen.

Having Allen come off the bench could give the Suns that three-guard look with the 1 and 2 spots filled by Booker and Beal, Booker and Gordon or Beal and Gordon. Phoenix could easily stick with Allen in the starting lineup and have O’Neale come off the bench to provide defense.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What Royce O'Neale brings to Suns after parting with four players