Suns, Grizzlies, Green Bay Get Active in NBA Offseason

The NBA offseason has started to show its real shape.

Some moves are loud while some others are strategic. Some are about star hunting. Others are about keeping the right piece before the market gets messy.

The Phoenix Suns made one of those decisions by moving to keep Collin Gillespie, who has reportedly agreed to a four-year, $48 million deal after the best season of his NBA career. The Memphis Grizzlies also received clarity, with veteran guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope reportedly exercising his $21.6 million player option to remain in Memphis for next season.

Away from the NBA floor but still inside the larger basketball picture, Green Bay made a long-term statement of its own by extending head coach Doug Gottlieb through the 2030-31 season after a sharp program turnaround.

ALSO READ: Why OKC moved Aaron Wiggins to Atlanta

Together, the three stories say plenty about where basketball decision-makers are putting their trust: shooting, continuity, veteran experience, and program stability.

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Suns Bet on Collin Gillespie’s Shooting and Fit Beside Devin Booker

Phoenix’s reported agreement with Collin Gillespie is not just a reward for one strong season.

It is a bet on a specific kind of roster logic.

The Suns are keeping a guard who can shoot, handle, defend enough to stay on the floor, and function alongside Devin Booker without constantly needing the ball. In the modern NBA, that profile carries real value. Phoenix’s reported four-year, $48 million commitment suggests the front office sees Gillespie as more than a good regular-season surprise.

They see him as part of the structure.

Gillespie emerged last season as one of the Suns’ most useful perimeter weapons. He averaged career highs of 12.7 points, 4.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals across 80 games, including 58 starts. More importantly for Phoenix, he shot 40.1 percent from three-point range and set a franchise record with 232 made threes.

That record matters.

Quentin Richardson’s 226 made threes in 2004-05 had stood for more than two decades. Gillespie passing that mark gave Phoenix a reliable spacing weapon at a time when every team in the West needs shooting that travels from October to May.

The fit with Booker also shaped the decision. Booker remains the face of Phoenix’s offense, but he needs guards who can relieve pressure without hijacking rhythm. Gillespie gave the Suns another ball-handler, another shooter, and another decision-maker who could punish defenses for loading up elsewhere.

That kind of fit becomes even more valuable when a team posts a solid 45-37 record but still exits in the first round, as Phoenix did against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Suns were competitive. They were not complete.

Keeping Gillespie does not solve every roster question, but it protects one area that worked. That is not a small thing in an offseason where overreaction can become expensive fast.

Why the Gillespie Deal Makes Sense for Phoenix

Gillespie’s rise also gives the Suns a development win.

He was not selected in the 2022 NBA Draft after a strong college career at Villanova, where he earned third-team All-American honors in each of his final two seasons. He then spent time with the Denver Nuggets before finding a larger role in Phoenix.

That journey helps explain why this deal feels significant.

The Suns are not simply paying for a known brand. They are paying for production, fit, and growth. Gillespie’s ability to move from undrafted guard to franchise-record shooter gives Phoenix proof that he can handle a larger role.

It also gives the team cost control on a player who fits its offensive identity.

At $48 million over four years, the reported contract lands in a range that can look reasonable if Gillespie sustains his shooting and secondary playmaking. In a league where high-level shooting commands a premium, Phoenix likely preferred to secure him early rather than let free agency raise the price.

The concern is obvious. Gillespie now has to prove the breakout was not a one-season spike.

Opponents will guard him differently. Scouts will adjust. He will no longer surprise teams. That is where his next jump must come: not just making shots, but surviving being treated like a known threat.

For Phoenix, the bet is that his shooting, composure, and chemistry with Booker will hold.

Memphis Keeps Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, But the Questions Remain

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s decision to exercise his $21.6 million player option gives Memphis certainty, but it does not remove the larger questions around his role.

Caldwell-Pope is a proven NBA veteran. He has two championship rings, one with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and another with the Denver Nuggets in 2023. His career has been built on perimeter defense, floor spacing, professional habits, and the ability to fit next to high-usage stars.

That profile still matters.

But last season did not give Memphis the full version of what it hoped to receive. Caldwell-Pope missed 31 games, including the final 29 after surgery on his right pinky finger in February. Before being shut down, he averaged 8.4 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.5 rebounds.

Those are functional numbers, not transformational ones.

The bigger issue is shooting. Caldwell-Pope is a career 36.5 percent three-point shooter, but his recent trend has moved the wrong way. After shooting 40.6 percent in his second season with Denver, he fell to 34.2 percent in 2024-25 and 31.6 percent last season.

For Memphis, that decline matters because Caldwell-Pope’s value depends heavily on defenses respecting him from deep.

If he shoots closer to his career norm, the Grizzlies get a championship-tested wing who can defend, space the floor, and steady difficult possessions. If the shooting remains cold, Memphis has an expensive veteran whose value becomes narrower.

Caldwell-Pope Still Has a Role If Memphis Uses Him Correctly

The Grizzlies acquired Caldwell-Pope last offseason in the trade that sent Desmond Bane to Orlando. That context still hangs over the move.

Bane was a major offensive piece. Caldwell-Pope is not that kind of player. He does not replace Bane’s shot creation or scoring force. He gives Memphis a different kind of value: defense, experience, and off-ball discipline.

That can work, but only if the Grizzlies build the role correctly.

Caldwell-Pope should not be asked to carry offense. He should not be forced into too many self-created shots. His best NBA work has usually come beside elite creators, where he can guard tough assignments, sprint lanes, relocate, and hit clean catch-and-shoot looks.

Memphis needs that version.

The player option gives both sides one more season to see if his shooting normalizes and his health stabilizes. At 33, Caldwell-Pope is not old by veteran wing standards, but the margin is thinner now. His legs, finger recovery, and rhythm from deep will shape how much value Memphis extracts from the deal.

For a Western Conference team trying to climb back toward relevance, keeping a veteran like Caldwell-Pope can help. But the Grizzlies need more than reputation. They need production.

For broader context on how basketball audiences remain locked into the NBA’s biggest stages, read The Sports Encounter’s analysis of why the Knicks-Spurs ratings boom showed the NBA still owns the big stage.

Green Bay Rewards Doug Gottlieb’s Turnaround

The third move comes outside the NBA, but it still fits the larger basketball theme of stability.

Green Bay has extended men’s basketball head coach Doug Gottlieb through the 2030-31 season, rewarding a sharp improvement after a difficult first year.

Gottlieb’s first season in 2024-25 was rough. Green Bay finished 4-28 overall and 2-18 in Horizon League play. That kind of record can bury a coaching project before it really begins.

Instead, the Phoenix improved dramatically.

Last season, Green Bay went 18-15 and finished 12-8 in conference play. The team also went 17-10 over its final 27 games, a sign that the turnaround was not built on one hot week or a soft patch of schedule.

That matters for a mid-major program.

Green Bay does not operate with the same margin as a power-conference giant. Program identity, recruiting fit, player development, and coaching stability are central to long-term progress. Athletic director Josh Moon praised Gottlieb for building a program the region can be proud of, pointing to recruiting, classroom standards, and community impact.

Gottlieb’s own comments focused on returning Green Bay to the top tier of the Horizon League.

That is the real test now.

A contract extension validates improvement. It does not complete the rebuild. Green Bay has moved from crisis to credibility. The next stage is turning credibility into sustained contention.

NBA Offseason: Three Moves, Three Different Kinds of Trust

These three basketball developments sit in different parts of the sport, but they share a common thread.

Phoenix is trusting a breakout shooter to remain part of its core rotation. Memphis is trusting a veteran champion to recover, stabilize, and provide value after an injury-hit year. Green Bay is trusting a coach who turned a 4-28 start into a legitimate foundation.

In the NBA, trust usually comes with risk.

Gillespie must prove his shooting record was not a ceiling moment. Caldwell-Pope must prove his health and three-point shot can rebound. Gottlieb must prove Green Bay’s jump was the beginning of a climb rather than a one-season correction.

That is what makes these moves worth watching.

None of them reshapes basketball by itself. But each tells us how front offices and athletic departments are thinking. Teams want shooting. They want experience, continuity, and leadership they can believe in before the next pressure cycle begins.

Final Word

The Suns made the cleanest move by keeping Gillespie before the market could complicate the situation. His shooting, growth, and fit beside Booker gave Phoenix enough reason to commit.

The Grizzlies get another year of Caldwell-Pope, but they need his shot and health to return if the option year is going to pay off. Championship experience is valuable, but Memphis needs him to be more than a name on a résumé.

Green Bay’s extension for Gottlieb reflects a different kind of basketball patience. After a brutal first season, the program improved quickly enough to earn a longer runway.

That is the common lesson across the update.

Basketball teams are not only built through blockbusters. Sometimes they are built by keeping the right shooter, holding onto the right veteran, or backing the right coach before the rest of the market catches up.

The NBA offseason is only getting started, but these moves already give three organizations a clearer idea of who they want to be next season.