Gambo: Suns could “consider signing” lengthy center

The 23-year-old was waived by the Magic two days ago. Suns fans have been hoping the team could land him since.

The 7-foot-2, 220-pound son of 7-foot-6 NBA legend Manute Bol has been an intriguing prospect dating all the way back to high school.

After an injury-riddled freshman season at Oregon, Bol was selected by Miami with the 44th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. He played his first three seasons with Denver, only appearing in 53 games and averaging under 10 minutes in that time for the Nuggets.

He had a much better year in his first and only season with the Magic, as he played in 70 games, starting 33 of them. He averaged 9.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.2 BPG and 0.4 SPG on 55/27/76 splits in 21.5 minutes per game for the year.

If Bol came to Phoenix, he would have a lengthy in shooter in Kevin Durant to mentor him and help him improve his shooting. Bol has only shot 29.3% for three-point range in his career, but has converted on 61.5% of his two-point attempts.

Bol could also develop into a nice rim-protector off the bench behind Ayton. He could have the chance to play his way ahead of recently-signed center Drew Eubanks. However, he would also have to compete for minutes with Chimezie Metu. If Bol’s shooting improved, the Suns could play him at the four as well.

Bol does come with a lot of question marks, however. The Suns would take a risk having a raw prospect on their roster in a season where they’re trying to win a championship.

Gambadoro has been right on several things this off-season. He predicted the signings of Keita Bates-Diop and Yuta Watanabe, the Suns not trading Deandre Ayton, the hiring of Frank Vogel and assistants Kevin Young and David Fizdale, and much more.

The Suns already have 16 players on standard contracts. If Bol signs a standard contract with the team he would have to battle it out in training camp for one of the 15 available roster spots. However, the Suns still have three open two-way spots. Ideally, Bol would sign a two-way contract instead of a standard contract.

The two-way contract could always be converted to a standard contract, but not vice versa. The Suns would have to waive any player on a standard contract and then could re-sign them to a two-way contract if they go unclaimed on waivers.

See all the Suns free agent signings here: