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The Suns are reported to be giving 21-year-old rookie Ray Spalding a look on a 10-day contract.
The #Suns plan to sign forward Ray Spalding to a 10-day contract, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA. He was most recently on Dallas’ roster and was waived in late January after the Porzingis trade. The only game he appeared in with the Mavs was...the opener against Phoenix.
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) February 19, 2019
Spalding was was selected with the 56th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by Philadelphia and traded to Dallas. He appeared in only one game for the Mavericks this season (their season-opener against the Suns) and has spent the majority of his time playing for the Mavericks’ G League team, the Texas Legends.
Spalding averaged 15.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.6 steals in 30.1 minutes per game with the Legends. In college, he played three seasons for Louisville and averaged 12.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 1.5 steals per game in his final year.
At 6’10” and 225 lb., Spalding could get some minutes at both power forward and center for the Suns. His shot blocking and steal numbers indicate that he could be a nice pickup for the defensively challenged Suns if they translate to the NBA game.
He is fairly limited offensively, though. Most of his G League offensive highlights are of dunks with a few short range jumpers thrown in. His three point percentage is just 23.1% and he connects on only 56% of his free throw attempts.
He seems like a solid 10-day pickup for Phoenix that should add some defensive depth to their frontcourt. The team had to get its roster back up to 14 by tomorrow, Feb. 21, two weeks after the trade deadline after waiving Wayne Ellington last week sunk the roster down to just 13 players, which is below the NBA baseline.