Restricted free agent point guard Collin Gillespie has agreed to a guaranteed one-year contract to return to the Suns, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The lack of financial details in Charania’s report suggests it’ll probably be a minimum-salary deal for Gillespie, though that hasn’t been confirmed.
Even if it is worth the minimum, that will represent a substantial pay increase for the 26-year-old, who has played on three consecutive one-year, two-way contracts since entering the NBA as an undrafted free agent out of Villanova in 2022.
After spending two seasons in Denver, Gillespie joined the Suns last summer and enjoyed his best season as a pro. He averaged 5.9 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game across 33 appearances (nine starts) and made 43.3% of his three-point tries.
Phoenix made Gillespie a restricted free agent over the weekend by tendering him a qualifying offer that would have been the equivalent of another one-year, two-way contract. Many two-way free agents end up simply accepting that QO, but Gillespie’s solid play in 2024/25 gave his representatives the leverage to negotiate a fully guaranteed standard deal and a spot on the Suns’ 15-man roster.
A one-year, minimum-salary contract would pay Gillespie a projected $2.38MM while counting against the cap for just under $2.3MM.
Good job on the age, Luke! jk
Surprised Suns didn’t lock him in for a little longer given that he may get more playing time to show his worth this year. But flexibility is useful.
He was somewhat surprisingly good last season. Who knows – he could even start for the new coach.
Finally they get a non-shooting guard.