Which Suns are Over, Underpaid? Real Value Assesses Contracts
With team success comes a large amount of money, and the Phoenix Suns are no strangers to that.
The core players that have helped reinvigorate basketball in the Valley (Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges) are set to make a combined $114.14 million during the 2022-23 season.
As it stands, the Suns are set to enter the luxury tax for just the fifth time in franchise history.
With any large sum of money, talk will be had on which players are either over or underpaid for their respective efforts. HoopsHype created an advanced metric called "real value".
How Real Valued is Defined
Here's HoopsHype's definition of the metric:
"Valuing every player in the league, no matter if they are under contract or free agents, is one of the most important duties for NBA execs around the NBA. To bring that knowledge to you without having to ask your favorite GM, we introduce Real Value, a new statistical measure to calculate the market value of every NBA player.
"Using Global Rating as the main performance metric, Real Value takes into account the productivity of each player from the last three seasons, giving extra value to the official NBA games played in the last 365 days. That includes regular season, play-in and playoffs. With that base, we calculate how that would translate to the “deserved” average salary per year.
"Also factoring into Real Value: A player’s age, availability, defensive performance and off-court issues. For example, if a player gets admonished by his team due to detrimental conduct, it will be directly reflected in his value. Our NBA insider Michael Scotto will help us with direct insight from executives, coaches and scouts around the league to make Real Value as accurate as possible."
Unsurprisingly, superstars dominate the top of the list. Guys such as Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic top the list for the upcoming season.
Using the "best value" table that takes their real value metric and compares it to their 2022-23 salary, here are the Suns who are currently marked as undervalued/underpaid compared to their current deal:
Best Valued Suns
SG Devin Booker
NBA Rank: 12
2022-23 Salary: $33.83 million
Real Value: $62.46 million
Difference: +$28.62 million
Booker finished as the highest ranked Suns player on the list, landing just above Desmond Bane and right behind Jordan Poole.
PG Chris Paul
NBA Rank: 34
2022-23 Salary: $28.4 million
Real Value: $40.51 million
Difference: +$12.1 million
Paul is the second-highest ranked Suns player on the list, barely eclipsed by Kevin Durant and ahead of freshly paid Jalen Brunson.
SF Mikal Bridges
NBA Rank: 37
2022-23 Salary: $20.1 million
Real Value: $31.7 million
Difference: +$11.61 million
Bridges ranks as No. 3 for Phoenix players in terms of best value. He finishes just over Immanuel Quickley and one spot behind RJ Barrett.
PF Cameron Johnson
NBA Rank: 45
2022-23 Salary: $5.88 million
Real Value: $14.74 million
Difference: +$8.85 million
Johnson is the fourth-best Suns player in terms of contract value, finishing behind Fred VanVleet and one spot above Bobby Portis.
C Deandre Ayton
NBA Rank: 108
2022-23 Salary: $30.91 million
Real Value: $33.6 million
Difference: +$2.69 million
Ayton is the fifth and final starter for the Suns on this list, finishing behind Cam Thomas and just above Trendon Watford.
Just About Right Valued Suns
There's always going to be some difference when it comes to exact monetary value. For this category, we're using a difference of $2 million or less on either end of the spectrum.
Cameron Payne: +$1.49 million
Duane Washington Jr.: +$1.12 million
Josh Okogie: +$967,148
Damion Lee: +$626,480
Jock Landale: +$74,448
Ishmail Wainright: $0
Bismack Biyombo: -$38,892
Worst Valued Suns
These are the players deemed overpaid by the Real Value metric. For reference, Russell Westbrook was ranked as the worst player based on his current salary.
Jae Crowder: -$2.80 million
Torrey Craig: -$3 million
Landry Shamet: -$3.97 million
Dario Saric: -$4.96 million
In short, there’s little to complain about when it comes to Phoenix’s spending.
Thank you for making Inside The Suns your destination for Phoenix Suns news. Please be sure to give us a like on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube and follow us on Twitter @InsideTheSunsSI for news, updates, analysis and more!
Top Phoenix Suns News
Durant Expected to Return to Brooklyn
Bismack Biyombo Named Celtics Trade Target
Mock Trade Sends Harrison Barnes to Phoenix
Suns Open as Vegas Favorites to Pace West in Wins
Dario Saric Excited for Return to Court
Phoenix Only Team in NBA Without Young Prospect
Suns Players Finish Poorly in NBA Award Predictions
