The Phoenix Suns are signing stretch five Duop Reath, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday.
The Suns are no strangers to hoping former Blazers centers are the solution to their frontcourt woes. From Deandre Ayton to Jusuf Nurkic, and now Reath, expectations are at least more tempered this time around.
Phoenix quietly gets an underrated addition to its frontcourt depth, looking to fill the void of an injured Mark Williams in the aggregate.
Duop Reath extends his NBA career with the Phoenix Suns
Williams is unfortunately expected to be sidelined for several months after recently undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. While Reath isn't the solution to fill that void, he at least offers Phoenix depth and another dimension as one of the most reliable floor-spacing bigs in the league.
It seems like a win-win scenario, serving as a reminder that Reath's journey to the NBA was incredibly impressive in itself.
Going undrafted in 2023, he looked the part of a hidden gem for Portland. That rookie campaign resulted in 9.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.0 assist in 17.9 minutes per game on 46/36/74 shooting splits. He even started in 20 of those 68 games played!
That led to Reath sticking around in Portland for what turned out to be a total of three seasons. After trading for Robert Williams III and drafting Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen with consecutive first-round picks, the Blazers suddenly found themselves with a center logjam. That made Reath expendable, despite his niche ability to space the floor that still provided value to Portland.
He was actually trending downwards before they ultimately shipped him to the Atlanta Hawks in a package for sharpshooter Vit Krejci at February's deadline. While his stretch-five impact remains, Portland struggled to find him minutes because of his tweener status in the modern NBA.
Sure, Reath's 35.7% career three-point shooting from beyond the arc remains valuable in a league where stretch fives matter more than ever. But unfortunately, the Blazers couldn't use that to their advantage consistently because the 6-foot-9 Reath came with limitations of his own.
He lacked the physical tools to anchor the Blazers' interior defense at center, and he also didn't have the lateral quickness to guard power forwards in the modern NBA (typically wings) on the perimeter.
All things considered, Reath has already exceeded expectations for his NBA career, and it's incredible to see him getting another opportunity with the Suns.
He could benefit from a change of scenery with a team better equipped to make up for his tweener status, and he should at least get a chance to prove he fits in Phoenix until Williams returns.
In general, Blazers fans find it easy to root for players who continue their career elsewhere. Still, I have a feeling this Duop Reath story is going to be one fans follow even more closely given all the obstacles he's had to overcome.
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