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In a sign of the franchise’s progress under coach Jordan Ott and general manager Brian Gregory, the Phoenix Suns officially announced on July 7 that they had re-signed three players from last season’s roster: center Mark Williams and guards Jordan Goodwin and Collin Gillespie.
All were free agents, and all saw the benefit of returning to the Suns.
Gillespie is signed through the 2029-30 season, with Williams and Goodwin’s deals until 2028-29.
“Today's a great day for our organization as we re-sign three players that obviously were instrumental in our success last year and, as we look to the future, are going to play a significant role as we continue to build on the stuff that we did last year and move forward and improve as a franchise, as a team,” Gregory said. “All three, I believe, have their best basketball in front.”
Each has worked through their own personal challenges to get to this point. While Williams had more financial security on his rookie contract compared to Goodwin and Gillespie, he had to overcome the injury-prone label after a much-publicized trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was rescinded due to a failed physical.
Gregory said Williams has proven his durability with his work ethic, “bulletproofing” his body like the team asked him to. Williams played in 60 games last season, a career high, but missed 15 straight late in the regular season with a foot injury that also kept him out of five postseason games.
“It's definitely nice to have that off your shoulders, I guess, relief in a sense,” said the 7-foot Williams, who met with the media along with Gillespie and Goodwin on Tuesday. “At the same time, it's more time to prove. I have the opportunity to do that here. Each year, I play more and more games, I want to continue to keep that train going.
“Obviously, being available at the end of the year, it’s just unfortunate timing on that part. But I'm excited. I think having a good plan in place, continuing to build, modify, and go from there, just being able to play meaningful minutes every single night.”
Goodwin came into the NBA on an Exhibit-10 contract and spent years between two-way contracts and rest-of-season deals. He has made the most of his opportunity since rejoining the Suns in July 2025, coming up big against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Play-In Tournament and establishing himself as a key defender and rebounder.
“Still trying to let it settle in a little bit,” Goodwin said. “I've had a long journey. Definitely blessed. I want to thank Matt (Ishbia), J.O. (Jordan Ott), Josh (Bartelstein), and everybody, BG (Brian Gregory), for just seeing the talent and taking the chance on me. With that said, I'm just going to get back to work, keep grinding, and try to get another one.”
Like Goodwin, Gillespie had yet to have a multi-year contract. He’s found a home now.
“Obviously, I believed in myself at a high level,” Gillespie said. “There's a lot of other people that did too, behind the scenes, former coaches, obviously family, friends. But from the outside perspective, probably not a lot people coming into the league. But I always believed it at a higher level. I think that's the most important thing. If you believe it, then you can kind of do whatever you want to.”
With the re-signing of all three players, that now means a majority of last season’s roster is returning.
Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal will be moved once the Miles Bridges trade is completed with Charlotte, but outside of those two players, there is strong continuity.
“Continuity and internal development is a big key for us, and I think we're on the right track with that,” Gregory said. “Today is a big day because all three of those guys were critical to our success. They're also, like we like to call it, they're our kind of guys. They're beloved by this city. They're engaged with the fans. They do all the stuff that we ask them to do off the court. And then they've performed extremely well on the court.”
There’s been a tremendous amount of upheaval in Phoenix recently, with four coaches since 2023.
Just having something as simple as the same people back in the building from the previous year has been welcomed by the players.
“It’s going to be huge,” Goodwin said. “We had the chemistry on the court, off the court. We were all brothers, no arguments, everybody's locked in. So it's gonna be real fun.”
At the same time, that continuity means the Suns are less likely to fly under the radar, like they did this past season.
“Last year there wasn't really as much expectation for us with how new we were,” Williams said. “But how we competed in the year, I think now it's a little bit more like, ‘Okay, we know what they're capable of.’ So we got to really grow, now that people kind of know what we're able to do.”
Continuity will be the word of the Suns’ offseason with so many key players coming back.
The question is, how much will that impact the next season?
“I think that's something that the front office was trying to do, just to get some continuity with the guys that we have back,” Gillespie said. “You see, a lot of our guys are back, so just try to gel as much as we can. We got some time last year where everybody was together, but there were guys in and out of the lineup with injuries. That's a battle in itself. But trying to keep everybody on the floor together. Growing that continuity that we have together is going to be really important.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Key Phoenix Suns players talk about why they re-signed with team
Continue reading...
All were free agents, and all saw the benefit of returning to the Suns.
Gillespie is signed through the 2029-30 season, with Williams and Goodwin’s deals until 2028-29.
“Today's a great day for our organization as we re-sign three players that obviously were instrumental in our success last year and, as we look to the future, are going to play a significant role as we continue to build on the stuff that we did last year and move forward and improve as a franchise, as a team,” Gregory said. “All three, I believe, have their best basketball in front.”
Each has worked through their own personal challenges to get to this point. While Williams had more financial security on his rookie contract compared to Goodwin and Gillespie, he had to overcome the injury-prone label after a much-publicized trade to the Los Angeles Lakers was rescinded due to a failed physical.
Gregory said Williams has proven his durability with his work ethic, “bulletproofing” his body like the team asked him to. Williams played in 60 games last season, a career high, but missed 15 straight late in the regular season with a foot injury that also kept him out of five postseason games.
“It's definitely nice to have that off your shoulders, I guess, relief in a sense,” said the 7-foot Williams, who met with the media along with Gillespie and Goodwin on Tuesday. “At the same time, it's more time to prove. I have the opportunity to do that here. Each year, I play more and more games, I want to continue to keep that train going.
“Obviously, being available at the end of the year, it’s just unfortunate timing on that part. But I'm excited. I think having a good plan in place, continuing to build, modify, and go from there, just being able to play meaningful minutes every single night.”
Goodwin came into the NBA on an Exhibit-10 contract and spent years between two-way contracts and rest-of-season deals. He has made the most of his opportunity since rejoining the Suns in July 2025, coming up big against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Play-In Tournament and establishing himself as a key defender and rebounder.
“Still trying to let it settle in a little bit,” Goodwin said. “I've had a long journey. Definitely blessed. I want to thank Matt (Ishbia), J.O. (Jordan Ott), Josh (Bartelstein), and everybody, BG (Brian Gregory), for just seeing the talent and taking the chance on me. With that said, I'm just going to get back to work, keep grinding, and try to get another one.”
Like Goodwin, Gillespie had yet to have a multi-year contract. He’s found a home now.
“Obviously, I believed in myself at a high level,” Gillespie said. “There's a lot of other people that did too, behind the scenes, former coaches, obviously family, friends. But from the outside perspective, probably not a lot people coming into the league. But I always believed it at a higher level. I think that's the most important thing. If you believe it, then you can kind of do whatever you want to.”
With the re-signing of all three players, that now means a majority of last season’s roster is returning.
Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal will be moved once the Miles Bridges trade is completed with Charlotte, but outside of those two players, there is strong continuity.
“Continuity and internal development is a big key for us, and I think we're on the right track with that,” Gregory said. “Today is a big day because all three of those guys were critical to our success. They're also, like we like to call it, they're our kind of guys. They're beloved by this city. They're engaged with the fans. They do all the stuff that we ask them to do off the court. And then they've performed extremely well on the court.”
There’s been a tremendous amount of upheaval in Phoenix recently, with four coaches since 2023.
Just having something as simple as the same people back in the building from the previous year has been welcomed by the players.
“It’s going to be huge,” Goodwin said. “We had the chemistry on the court, off the court. We were all brothers, no arguments, everybody's locked in. So it's gonna be real fun.”
At the same time, that continuity means the Suns are less likely to fly under the radar, like they did this past season.
“Last year there wasn't really as much expectation for us with how new we were,” Williams said. “But how we competed in the year, I think now it's a little bit more like, ‘Okay, we know what they're capable of.’ So we got to really grow, now that people kind of know what we're able to do.”
Continuity will be the word of the Suns’ offseason with so many key players coming back.
The question is, how much will that impact the next season?
“I think that's something that the front office was trying to do, just to get some continuity with the guys that we have back,” Gillespie said. “You see, a lot of our guys are back, so just try to gel as much as we can. We got some time last year where everybody was together, but there were guys in and out of the lineup with injuries. That's a battle in itself. But trying to keep everybody on the floor together. Growing that continuity that we have together is going to be really important.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Key Phoenix Suns players talk about why they re-signed with team
Continue reading...
