Suns’ Bismack Biyombo chose Phoenix over ‘a lot of teams’

The Phoenix Suns have had many different signings due to COVID-19 but center Bismack Biyombo earned himself more than a 10-day contract after reportedly being inked for the rest of the season on Thursday.

Biyombo has appeared in only two games for the Suns, averaging a solid 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.

“There was a lot of teams along the way that we actually passed on,” Biyombo told reporters Thursday. “Since the passing of my dad, the one thing I wanted was to be in a (good) environment. It is honestly just about finding the right situation.”

General manager James Jones mentioned that whenever you bring a player in on a 10-day contract, the hope is to always sign the player onto a longer deal.

“We have always targeted him (Biyombo) because we think he represents what we are about,” Jones told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday. “He is a guy that competes at a high level, cares about winning and is a great teammate.”

Suns’ Deandre Ayton, JaVale McGee, Frank Kaminsky and Jae Crowder all have missed time due to either injuries or COVID-19 related issues.

That has resulted in not only increased time for Biyombo, but No. 10 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Jalen Smith.

Smith has averaged 15.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in the five contests of increased minutes. The second-year player has already seen his minutes per game (13) more than double and points per game (7) more than triple from the previous season.

Although Ayton, McGee and Crowder all were cleared out of NBA’s health and safety protocols, they will miss Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers as they undergo return-to-competition reconditioning.

Catch all the action from the Footprint Center at 8 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.