Millsap waived as Suns work to finalize the roster for opening night

The Phoenix Suns made their final required roster move on Saturday, releasing Elijah Millsap to get down to the maximum 17 players under contract.

Millsap, the brother of Paul and a D-League veteran of many seasons, was on the Suns roster from late season last year through training camp this season. But in the end his story is not much different than that of catch-and-release Tidjan Keita, or training camp invitees Anthony Bennett and Peter Jok.

The four players will be the Suns “affiliate players” for assignment to the G-League’s NAZ Suns, who play in Prescott Valley. Being “affiliate players” simply means an initial assignment to the affiliated G-League team, but still allows those players to be called up by any of the 30 NBA teams this season because they will be signing G-League contracts and not be under contract with the Suns.

Joining them off and on will be Alec Peters, who is on a new type of contract called a two-way contract. This new contract affords the Suns exclusive rights to them while they earn regular G-league money while playing down there vs. Suns money while with the Suns.

Mike James is also on a two-way contract, but won’t be spending any time in Prescott, according to reports.

Don’t be surprised if Derrick Jones Jr. joins them at times. He is still just 20 years old himself and IS on a full Suns contract meaning he makes a ton more money than any of the aforementioned. But he appears to be the odd man out of the expected Suns rotation that will have Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, T.J. Warren and veteran Troy Daniels playing nearly all the wing minutes.