Phoenix Suns’ Brandon Knight: ‘My heart was here in Phoenix’

Brandon Knight wants his career to move forward, but he had no interest in moving on.

His free agency period, restricted as it was, went by quickly and without stress.

Virtually from the very moment he could, the point guard agreed to a five-year, $70 million deal to stay with the Phoenix Suns, the team who traded for him last February.

“As stress-free as it could be,” Knight told Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday. “I don’t think these situations are always 100 percent stress-free because there’s always a little bit of uncertainty. But everything that the Suns have been saying was consistent. They followed through with everything they said, so they made it as stress-free as possible.

“And I wanted to do the same thing for the team.”

Mission accomplished.

Knight, 23, was acquired by the Suns at last season’s trade deadline. An ankle injury limited him to just 11 games with the team, in which he averaged 13.4 points, 4.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting .357 from the floor and .313 from 3-point range.

Prior to the trade, though, he averaged 17.8 points, 5.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game while shooting .435 from the field and .409 from 3.

But besides his statistics, the former No. 8 overall pick out of Kentucky also provides leadership, which is something the Suns talked about lacking last season.

Knight said his willingness to take charge stems from experience as well as having respect from his teammates and peers. Also, he noted, as long as everyone on the team understands winning is the ultimate goal, then it’s easier to get a message across.

Looking at that last reason is part of why Knight, a point guard his entire career, is happy to come back to Phoenix even with another point guard, Eric Bledsoe, on the roster. The Suns have employed a dual-point guard lineup which has been both effective and combustible.

Knight said he’s not worried about being the point guard.

“My role is just to make the right play,” he said. “I know I’m going to play, I’m going to be on the court. Once I get the ball, whether I’m starting a play or finishing a play, it’s just to make the right decision.”

Knight added that Bledsoe feels the same way, which will help them coexist in the same backcourt.

If everything goes according to plan, the Suns will with Knight more closely resemble the team that won 48 games in 2013-14 than the one that earned just 39 victories last season.

The hope is that a full season of a healthy Knight as well as some of the other additions the team made — including center Tyson Chandler — will get the franchise’s ascension back on track.

Of course, as Knight pointed out, they would have been even better off if LaMarcus Aldridge had chosen the Suns instead of the San Antonio Spurs.

Knight, who was part of the meeting where the Suns tried to sell Aldridge on Phoenix, said everyone left feeling like the four-time All-Star was on his way to the Valley.

“Can’t knock him for doing that,” Knight said of Aldridge choosing the Spurs. “But I think it just shows how good our team can be and will be in the future, just having a chance to get a player like him who would really consider coming here. He can definitely see where our team is headed.”

As can Knight, who said there was no need for him to lead other interested teams on with regards to his free agency.

“There was definitely interest from around the league, but my heart was here in Phoenix,” he said. “I try to be professional about everything that I do, and there was no point in wasting their time if I knew I was going back to Phoenix.”