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The Phoenix Suns have gone all-in under team governor Mat Ishbia with the sole purpose of winning a championship under the core of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. After falling well short of the NBA Finals last season, Phoenix has now built the most expensive roster in NBA history.
With NBA revenue on the rise, salaries for the highest-paid NBA players have erupted. The Suns roster is home to three of the league’s highest-paid players, which already creates one of the largest payrolls in the NBA. Now, recent moves are making history.
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After previously signing Mason Plumlee and re-signing Damion Lee, Bol Bol and Royce O’Neal, the Suns roster got even deeper with the recent signing of Josh Okogie. He recently signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the second year of the deal only partially guaranteed.
As a result, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Suns are the first team in NBA history to have a $400 million payroll. The total includes $223 million being spent on layer salaries with an additional $198 million from the projected tax.
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The issue for Phoenix is what happens if it doesn’t win a championship. The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement was designed to prevent superteams from staying together long-term. Multiple penalties are in place that come with severe consequences if the Suns don’t get under the second apron.
If the Suns remain over the second apron next season, they can lose trade exceptions, be prevented from trading cash for draft picks and their original draft picks can be moved down in the order. Phoenix will start facing financial penalties for its record-setting payroll this season, but the greatest ramifications will come if the payroll isn’t lowered by next season.
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