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On July 6, the Suns signed undrafted Brewster Academy point guard Jalen Lecque to a partially guaranteed four-year deal . Four days later, Kelly Oubre Jr. agreed to a two-year extension worth $30 million to return with the team, which he signed on July 16. The next day (which was also Kelly Oubre Jr.'s signing day), the Suns agreed to a two-year, $3.5 million deal with former New Orleans Pelicans power forward Cheick Diallo, which he signed on July 23, and a two-way contract spot with Auburn University point guard Jared Harper, which he signed on August 3. On July 21, George King signed a multi-year deal with the Dolomiti Energia Trento in Italy.
The team also started wearing special cloth face masks during the remaining games played this season, as well as wore "Black Lives Matter" t-shirts before games and kneeling down for the national anthem. Every game these 22 teams competed in during this stretch counted for their overall regular season records. They also provided a potential jump up with playoff and draft placements in the 2020 NBA draft in the event the Suns made it to the playoffs properly, though they would not count for any potential impact in the NBA draft lottery for that upcoming draft. With their resumed season, the Suns managed to get a perfect 8–0 return in the 2020 NBA Bubble to end their regular season at 34–39. However, they did not reach the play-in tournament due to the Portland Trail Blazers having a better record and the Memphis Grizzlies having the tiebreaker over Phoenix this season. On August 8, 2020, Cameron Johnson broke a record previously set by Wesley Person for the fastest player to reach 100 three-pointers made in franchise history.
Phoenix Suns - Schedule
Throughout the team's first seven games of the season, the Suns scored 89 three-point field goals, breaking a team record set back in the 2009–10 season. On November 5, 2019, Devin Booker became the first player in franchise history to score at least fifteen field goals and 3 three-pointers while making 75% or more of his shot attempts in both areas. On October 12, 2019, the Suns set a preseason record for most three-pointers made in a single game with 24 made in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers. On March 6, 2020, Aron Baynes became only the second player in league history to score 35+ points with 9 three-pointers made and grab 15+ rebounds in a single game, with the first player being James Harden. The Hagerstown Suns, Class-A Affiliate of the Washington Nationals, are excited to reveal their schedule for the 2019 South Atlantic League regular season.
On April 22, 2019, the Suns fired head coach Igor Kokoškov after only one season with the team, despite giving him a three-year deal, later firing the rest of the coaching staff the following day. After this period, the Suns interviewed former New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans head coach and Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams and Portland Trail Blazers assistant coaches Nate Tibbetts and David Vanterpool. Monty Williams agreed to a five-year deal to coach the Suns on May 3, which became effective on May 12 at the conclusion of the 76ers' playoff run against the eventual 2019 NBA Finals champions, the Toronto Raptors. Every scheduled game the Suns played in the 2020 NBA Bubble still aired on Fox Sports Arizona, though their entire broadcasting crew was working remotely in Arizona during these games.
Trades
The 2019 season will be Hagerstown's 39th with the Suns playing 140 games, 70 of which will be held at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns return to Mexico City as part of the NBA Mexico City Games 2019, when the Suns host the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 14. Phoenix made history in 2017 when it became the first team to ever host two consecutive regular season games in Mexico City. They play each other two more times in Phoenix with the first one Feb. 16 before the All-Star break and the second April 9 to end the regular season.
The Suns return home for three games against Lakewood August but have a six-game homestand August with Greenville for three games and Delmarva wrapping up their season set with the Suns in the final three games of the Governor's Cup series. May will see the Hickory Crawdads, Kannapolis Intimidators, Rome Braves, and Lakewood all visit Historic Municipal Stadium for the first time in the 2019 season. Lakewood will be in town May 8-10 for a three-game set, but the month will be highlighted by an eight-game homestand May with both Hickory and Kannapolis visiting for four games. The Suns re-ignite their Governor's Cup rivalry with the Delmarva Shorebirds on May with a four-game set on the other side of Maryland.
Scrimmage games
They also began wearing cloth face masks to protect themselves from catching COVID-19 for safety purposes. Each team's first game in the scrimmage had only 10-minute quarters for 40-minute games instead of the usual 12-minute quarters for 48 minute games due to a combination of easing players back into action and how teams like the Suns did not have everyone arrive initially on their respective dates. Their last game began the experiment of virtual fans seeing the game live due to the temporary setup for the complex under this period, which was to be used for the rest of the season. Phoenix finished their scrimmage games with a 2–1 record, winning their 40-minute game against the Utah Jazz, but losing to Boston and winning against Toronto in their regular, 48-minute matches.
Bukstein was moved back to his original assistant general manager role by that time, while Jeff Bower became the senior vice president of basketball operations. On April 30, 2019, the Suns announced the departure of long-standing athletic trainer and senior vice president of athlete health and performance Aaron Nelson. Nelson left the Suns to be the new head athletic trainer for the New Orleans Pelicans, reuniting with David Griffin and Alvin Gentry there. Starting with this season, Nelson's position was replaced by a newly created sports medicine and performance team.
12.15.22With the new lottery projections, the Suns were one of three teams with the best overall odds for a top-4 pick alongside the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers. Due to them having a tied record with the Cavaliers at the end of last season, a tiebreaker coin-flip to determine which team acquired the second-best odds for a top pick in the draft was held. The Suns lost the tiebreaker, resulting in them getting the third-best odds at #1 with a chance to fall as far back as pick #7. The tiebreaker also flipped for the second-round picks; Phoenix received the #32 pick while the Philadelphia 76ers via Cleveland received the #33 pick. At the night of the draft lottery, the Suns fell to #6, the furthest a team with the third-best odds had fallen in the NBA draft lottery as of this season, as well as the worst drop-off a team with less than 20 wins received after a season. Phoenix also held a chance to acquire the Milwaukee Bucks' first-round pick the prior season, though it would not be acquired via the Bucks having the best regular-season record that season.
Despite that setback alongside multiple serious injuries to the team, under the original schedule, the Suns put up a 26–39 record for the season, which already was their best record in over five seasons. On December 21, 2019, Devin Booker surpassed his one-time former teammate, Leandro Barbosa, to become the 13th highest scoring player in franchise history with 19 points scored in a loss to the Houston Rockets. After the conclusion of the team's prior season, the Suns named James Jones their permanent general manager after serving as a coinciding interim general manager with Trevor Bukstein during the previous season.
J. Warren to the Indiana Pacers and their second-round pick of the draft to the Miami Heat for cash considerations from Indiana for the purpose of opening up their salary cap in free agency. Their second trade had the Suns trade the 6th pick of the draft to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for power forward Dario Šarić and Minnesota's own first-round pick at #11. That selection became forward Cameron Johnson from the University of North Carolina, who became an All-ACC First Team member in the 2018–19 season. Johnson later became an efficient bench player for most of the season before performing as a capable starting power forward in the 2020 NBA Bubble.
However, Bolden was not renewed for another 10-day contract by February 24 and did not sign with another team during this season, either before or after COVID-19 suspended this season. During the 2019–20 NBA season suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suns waived Jared Harper's two-way contract on March 14, noting the eventual cancellation of the 2019–20 NBA G League season as a consideration for him. However, because his waiver was first announced on the day after the season was first suspended, his waiver was not regarded as official until June 23.
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