Suns reportedly extend qualifying offers to Mark Williams, Koby Brea
Williams averaged 11.7 points and 8.0 assists in 23.6 minutes per game last season, setting career highs in minutes and games played.
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The Phoenix Suns have triggered qualifying offers to starting center Mark Williams and second-year guard Koby Brea, making them restricted free agents, Spotrac’s Keith Smith reported on Thursday.
Williams’ qualifying offer is for $9.6 million, according to Smith. He received a slight bump because he reached a threshold by starting 55 games.
The move allows Williams to fall back on a one-year deal for 2026-27 at that offer amount if the Suns or another team doesn’t give him an appealing long-term contract. Phoenix can match an offer sheet he signs with another team, as the team last did when center Deandre Ayton signed an offer sheet at the maximum with the Indiana Pacers in 2021 that was matched to retain him.
The downside until Williams is no longer a free agent: the center has a cap hold of $18.8 million that will be on the Suns’ books as they navigate free agency.
Functionally, the move also puts the 24-year-old Williams in a position to also be moved in a sign-and-trade if 1) another team values Williams and 2) the Suns want to hand the keys at center to the duo of the 2025 draft’s No. 10 overall pick Khaman Maluach and third-year pro Oso Ighodaro.
Williams averaged 11.7 points and 8.0 assists in 23.6 minutes per game last season, setting career highs in minutes and games played in his fourth NBA season.
He missed games due to injury management for a knee issue as well as a foot injury that took him out of Phoenix’s postseason rotation, leaving that job mostly to Ighodaro.
Ighodaro averaged 8.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists after the All-Star break, while Maluach showed flashes of improvement in small stints of action late in the year.
As for the other qualifying offer extended Thursday, Brea was Phoenix’s No. 41 overall pick in 2025 and made just 12 appearances for the NBA squad on a two-way contract. In limited run, he proved his shooting chops with 43.4% accuracy from 3-point range.
In 25 games with the Valley Suns of the G League, Brea averaged 15.0 points per game on 38% shooting overall and 36% accuracy from deep. He added 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists in his 33.4 minutes per game.
His cap hold is at $2.2 million.
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Comments
6 Comments
Suns reportedly will be average at best next season. Bank on it
If we go into the season with Oso as our starting center, we are in trouble. He is a good bench role guy, but he can't go against the top centers in the West day in and day out for 30 minutes. And his lack of offense outside of dunks on pick and rolls leaves us 4 vs 5 on offense, which is ok in spurts but not a majority of the game
Keep Williams or sign and trade that brings in another big man (either for about 2-3 years), Oso and Dunn should be on the trading block, Oso could get us something for a team needing a bench big (Dunns trade value is pretty low since he still can't shoot). Maluach should be #2 so he can continue his upward trajectory in development. He's still a teenager, so he has a few years to reach his full potential
Suns will regress if Jalen Green is healthy when the season begins.