Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
2025 Free Agents - Bol Bol
Bol fell far in the 2019 draft due to concerns over his health and work ethic, and after struggling to get any real playing time while bouncing around to multiple teams, Bol finally broke out in the '22-'23 season, starting a good chunk of games early, before tailing off near the end of the season. He didn't get consistent minutes for the Suns in '23-'24 or '24-'25, but did have some productive flashes when he did play. Although he has shown flashes of ball-skills, Bol has never been able to really put it all together offensively. He really likes to grab and go off rebounds, and has had some impressive coast-to-coast finishes. He shows good footwork with eurosteps, and knows how to use his length to stride to the rim or just finish over smaller defenders. He can sometimes get a little out of control in those situations, evidenced by his high turnover rate (which to his credit has decreased the last couple years), but he's a legitimate weapon with the ball in his hands in transition. Bol hit a whopping 83% of his shots at the rim from '22-'25, according to Cleaning the Glass. Similar to Kristaps Porzingis, he has a high center of gravity, which makes it difficult for him to get deep post position, which somewhat negates his height advantage, but as stated above - if he can get downhill with a head of steam his lack of strength becomes less of a problem. He had a hot start to the '22-'23 season from three, and shot well in '23-'24, but he's streaky and hit 32% from three overall over the past three seasons. On defense, Bol's length makes him a real shot-blocker. He has posted good block rates in the last three seasons. He can simply get a hand on shots that others cannot, including blocking jump shots without having to be right near the shooter. However, he still needs work on positional awareness to be a real rim protector that consistently bothers shots. His lack of strength also makes it difficult to play him at center, because he would get bullied in the post and on the glass by the stronger centers in the league.
Summary
Bol will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. Since the Suns will be operating over the salary cap, they will retain Bol's Early Bird rights until he is re-signed or signs elsewhere, so his cap hold is not really relevant. The Suns could offer Bol a starting salary of up to 5% more than the average salary (likely around $14.4 million) using the Early Bird exception, which will be more than enough should they wish to bring him back. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Bol as even teams without cap space could use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Bol only gets minimum offers, and he may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.
Cap Considerations
James Wiseman (2-1 year minimum, 2024) Kai Jones (1 year minimum, non-guaranteed, 2024) Jaxson Hayes (1+1 year minimum, 2023)