Suns waive Nassir Little, EJ Liddell to open up roster spot

Portland thought enough of Nassir Little’s potential to sign him to a four-year, $28 million contract in 2023 — a contract that was also a good size for a trade. That is how Little ended up in Phoenix, he was part of the three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee and Jusuf Nurkic to the Suns.

After one season, the Suns waived Little, along with forward EJ Liddell, a story broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic. Little is still owed $21.5 million over three years on his current contract, which will be stretched, according to the report.

Little responded to the news in an Instagram post.

Waiving these two takes the Suns roster from 16 guaranteed contracts to 14, opening up a roster spot in Phoenix and giving the franchise some flexibility to make a move during training camp or at the trade deadline (although, as a second apron tax team, the moves the Suns can make are limited). It also reduces the Suns’ tax bill, rather than paying Little $6.75 million this season he will cost just $3.1 million on the books (and will be on the books at that number for six years beyond this one).

Liddell being waived was expected after the Suns acquired him a few weeks ago in a salary dump trade of David Roddy. Liddell, a second-round pick out of Ohio State in 2022, missed what would have been his rookie season with a torn ACL. He played most of last season in the G-League but came up to the Pelicans for eight games.

Little being waived was more surprising, although Phoenix drafted Ryan Dunn in the first round last June and wants to give the 6’6″ wing out of Virginia a chance, taking minutes that would have gone to Little. Last season Little continued to battle injuries, as he has much of his career, and fell out of Frank Vogel’s rotation after the All-Star break. Little played in 45 games last season averaging 3.4 points in 10.2 minutes per game.

For a rebuilding team, taking a flier on the 24-year-old Little on a minimum deal might be worth it, he showed enough flashes in Portland to earn that $28 million contract.