Suns GM James Jones on new additions: 'Something that we desperately needed'

The Phoenix Suns are approaching the season's second half with an addition-by-subtraction approach to gear up for the NBA postseason.

General Manager James Jones spoke to the media at the team's practice facility on Friday before Royce O'Neale and David Roddy were introduced as the team's new roster members. They were acquired at Thursday's trade deadline.

“I knew that we wanted to come out of it with a player that could help us in the playoffs,” Jones said. “This is all about getting better and get ready to run that race in the postseason. In looking at what our options were, Royce and David provided us something that we desperately needed.”They came in a three-team deal that sent four of the Suns' reserves to the new players' respective former employers — the Brooklyn Nets and Memphis Grizzlies.

The 6-foot-6 swingman O'Neale came from Brooklyn for guard Jordan Goodwin, forward Keita Bates-Diop and three future second-round draft picks. Phoenix also sent 3-point specialist forward Yuta Watanabe, four- and five-man Chimezie Metu — along with a swap of 2026 first-round picks — to Memphis for the second-year power forward Roddy.

O'Neale has the reputation of a solid 3-point shooter on the wing who can defend well and bang inside with his 226-pound frame. His career averages are 6.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals per game, and .427/.381/.776 shooting splits.

Roddy, a former Colorado State standout, is undersized as a 6-foot-4 power forward, but his burly 255-pound wide body helps in small-ball schemes as a screener and strong rebounder. He's producing 8.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 23 minutes this season, and his numbers slightly went up to 10.2/5.6/2.6 during his last 10 appearances from the injury-marred Grizzlies.

Roddy's looking forward to going from playing with the Grizzlies' young superstar Ja Morant to three veteran stars in Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.

“It just gives more opportunity to learn," Roddy said. "Those three guys are elite players and some of the best in the world, so for me to come in and really just try to learn from them as much as possible and really just try to help them make their job easier.”

Jones added that O'Neale and Roddy having physicality, defensive toughness, and perimeter shooting skills will seamlessly fit into the team’s fabric in preparation for the daunting but fun, as he put it, Western Conference playoff race starting in April.

Phoenix (31-21) is currently fifth and five games out of first in the West standings, looking to get in one of the top four spots to get postseason home-court advantage. The third- and fourth-place teams, Oklahoma City and Los Angeles Clippers, are within one game of first. Minnesota and defending champion Denver are tied at the top. New Orleans, Sacramento, and Dallas Mavericks are within two games of fifth.

The Suns' trades cease speculation that they'd possibly go for a point guard or a big to heighten their rebounding and rim protection on their bench for a deep playoff run.

“If you look at the NBA in general, if you look at the Western Conference as a whole, there’s no cookie-cutter way to win games," Jones said. "It really comes down to creating advantages. So if our advantage is being small, we’ll play small. If our advantage is being big, I think you saw it last night, we played three 7-footers, we play big. It helps when you have elite players and elite shotmaking because it gives you the ability to do a lot of different things.”

Following the Suns trade activity, they have two roster spots open that they’ll fill from the buyout market. Jones said the Suns front office is looking to get players off waivers who fulfill their fundamental needs for “more shooting, more defense, more passing, more rebounding.”

O'Neale's cause was helped by having Durant praise him to Jones. They were teammates in Brooklyn during the first half of last season.

“I always check with our guys to just make sure that the players that we’re targeting are our type of players,” Jones said. "Across the board, at every level, everyone we spoke with internally and externally, they talked about how great a competitor Royce was, and that made it easy for me.”

O’Neale was traded to Brooklyn from the Utah Jazz when free agency began in late June 2022. Then Durant was acquired by Phoenix at last season’s trade deadline.

After Phoenix beat Utah at home on Thursday, Durant described his experience playing with O'Neale.

“IQ. Playing with guys that can score the ball. Underrated passer. He can shoot the basketball. He is just a basketball player to be honest. His position is basketball player," Durant said. "That is going to help us out and he will fit in so, I am excited about him. I love being around Royce and I can’t wait to build with him as a person first and then as a teammate.”

Durant and O’Neale also have a previous connection via Texas. O'Neale, a Baylor product, is a native of Killeen, Texas, close to where Durant played for the Texas Longhorns during his one year in college during the 2006-07 season.

Now playing on his third team within two years, O’Neale feels right at home with Durant.

“Just the opportunity and luxury to play with him again, he told me we was gonna be teammates again after he left (Brooklyn), so here we are,” O’Neale said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns general manager discusses why he traded for O'Neale, Roddy