Phoenix Suns Insider Provides More Insight on Duop Reath Signing

The Phoenix Suns have now made a move to address the months-long absence of center Mark Williams.

Phoenix reached an agreement with free agent big Duop Reath on Wednesday night to a deal that brings the former Portland Trail Blazer into the fold for training camp.

While there's still aspects of the process that resulted in the Australian signing with Phoenix, there are tidbits that are useful moving forward.

Local insider John Gambadoro revealed a major caveat that comes with Reath's agreement to play for the Suns during Thursday's "Burns and Gambo" show.

This caveat is that Reath is still under the service time ceiling that prevents players from taking advantage of two-way deals.

The most important development of this is that the Suns have the ability to roster the 7-footer without having to choose between guard Jamaree Bouyea or wing Haywood Highsmith for the final standard contract spot on the 15-man roster.

Phoenix has the capability to utilize Reap for up to 45 NBA contests, which more or less spans the timeline of Williams' potential return in February. It gifts head coach Jordan Ott flexibility to roll with different lineups on any given night, while also allowing Reath to further develop in the G-League as needed.

The other tidbit from Gambadoro resides in Reath choosing to play for the Suns over the defending champions in the New York Knicks.

This seems to be a trivial piece of information at the surface, but there's so much to be taken from the decision. Players simply want to play in Phoenix, for the Suns organization, regardless of how high of low-profile they are. This is a theme that has continuously been in the fold during this decade, starting with Chris Paul in 2020, extending to Kevin Durant, and now is paying off with the organization signing low-risk, high reward pieces. 

This includes guards Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin, who are now each slotting to be major fixtures in the organizations' future. It's quite clear that players trust Ott, the staff in place, and Phoenix's ownership to properly support them/keep them on a path towards becoming great.

Time will tell whether this process results in landing another "big fish," but Phoenix is surely playing their cards correctly at the moment.

The Suns (and Reath) open up training camp on Sept. 29 in anticipation for the October 5 preseason opener.