Jordan Goodwin's New Contract With Suns Rewards Years of Hard Work

PHOENIX -- It took a little bit of time for Jordan Goodwin to earn a long-term NBA contract, but he has now found a home after signing a three-year, $19 million contract with the Phoenix Suns this offseason.

The road was not easy for the 27-year-old Goodwin, but he stayed persistent with his hard-nosed style of play and improved in areas he needed to, such as shooting, and finally was rewarded with the new deal.

"I mean it's a blessing, especially me coming in (the NBA on an) Exhibit 10 (contract)," Goodwin said. "Really, wasn't on no draft boards or nothing like that. So it's kind of crazy when you think about it, just being here.

"But it just shows just the hard work I put in to stay with it. I'd say I battled through a lot in my little five years in the league, so just having that mindset to stay with it and just keep going every day."

Goodwin was not really well known coming out of college at St. Louis in 2021, but after some time in the G League, he worked his way up to a two-way deal with the Washington Wizards, which eventually led to a standard contract with the team in Feb. 2023.

Then, Goodwin went on a rollercoaster ride of teams, first going to Phoenix in the Bradley Beal trade that summer, and he was next traded away from the Suns before the 2024 trade deadline and waived, which led to him signing a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies for the rest of the season.

He spent the beginning of the 2024-25 season in the G League before signing a two-way deal with the Los Angeles Lakers in February that later was converted to a two-year, rest-of-season contract.

The Lakers decided to waive Goodwin last offseason, and Phoenix claimed him on a non-guaranteed contract, and he ended up making the team in the final roster spot and worked his way into a key contributor.

"Usually around this time I'm nervous, don't know if I'm gonna have a job or not," Goodwin said. "So having that right there, it's a really good thing. I've been here all summer working out, so it's home."

Goodwin embodied one of the key pillars of coach Jordan Ott's style of play of generating extra possessions, ranking first on the team in steals per game (1.5) and second in offensive rebounds (2.0) at just 6-foot-3 and in only 22.5 minutes per game.

This contract Goodwin agreed to before he hit the open market shows just how great the bond is between him and the team.

"When we talk about the blueprint for what we wanted to start building last spring, (Goodwin) fits it perfectly, and he plays that way every single day. Unbelievable effort, unbelievable competitiveness," Suns general manager Brian Gregory said of Goodwin.

"When you think about it, he went into camp last year as a non-guaranteed player, fighting for that 14th spot. Number one, there's not a lot of guys that would put themselves in that position, and would accept that challenge. Number two, he not only accepted that challenge, but within a month, five weeks of the season, all of a sudden is in the playing group and making a huge impact for us, and that just continued throughout the year.

"The ability to get him back into the organization and re-sign him with all the qualities that he brings, and then you also saw a basketball piece improve in him as well. He's not just a hustle guy, the extra possession guy, even though that's his calling card, you saw other pieces of this game dramatically improve, and again, having him around for the first time in his career, he's got a home.

"When we put together a little video footage of his career, and going from St. Louis to the G League, and back and forth, and then finally finding a home, it was neat to see, because he knew how important that was. It's also important, because now he's got stability in terms of what he needs to get done for us."

Add us as a preferred source on Google