The Phoenix Suns are working towards launching a G League affiliate and are eyeing the 2024-25 season as a possible debut, Suns owner Mat Ishbia told The Athletic's Shams Charania.
"Bringing a G League team to the Valley has been a priority for us, and I am excited that we have begun the process and the wheels are in motion to have a team in Phoenix as early as the 2024-25 season," Mat Ishbia, owner of the Suns and WNBA's Mercury, told The Athletic in a statement. "Not only will this allow us to develop young players within our winning culture, but also will serve as an opportunity to expand our reach and connect with even more basketball fans across the region."
Entering this offseason, 28 of the 30 NBA teams had G-League affiliates. The Portland Trail Blazers are set to make that 29 out of 30 in time for the 2023-24 season, when the Rip City Remix debut in the G League. The Suns previously had a G League team in the Northern Arizona Suns, but ex-owner Robert Sarver sold them to the Detroit Pistons in 2020. They are now the Motor City Cruise. When the new Suns G League affiliate debuts, the entire league will be covered.
That is more important for the Suns than ever both because of their draft philosophy and the way that the league is changing. The new CBA allows teams to employ three two-way players, who split their time between the NBA and G League. Under the current system, a two-way player playing for an NBA team without a G League affiliate spends his time in the G League playing for an unaffiliated team, which costs the NBA team a degree of control over that player's growth and development.
That developmental infrastructure will be extremely important to the Suns moving forward as they do not control any of their own first-round picks between now and 2029. They will have to develop second-round picks and undrafted players into viable rotation pieces if they hope to cultivate real depth. The Suns have had recent success with two-way players Saben Lee and Ish Wainwright, and they'll have to replicate that success moving forward. A G League team will only help them do that.
