Suns Exercise Khaman Maluach Contract Option

According to Spotrac, Maluach's cap hit next season will be $6.6 million. If the Suns say yes to Maluach's fourth-year option, that number rises to $8.4 million.

All eyes are on the player affectionately known as Man-Man entering his second season. Maluach, last year's No. 10 pick, showed in spurts what he was capable of doing in terms of being an elite rim protector.

Maluach showed out during Summer League action, propping the Duke product up for a major step in the right direction in terms of his development.

With Mark Williams being out due to injury for the foreseeable future, that opens the door for Maluach to really establish his presence in Phoenix's rotation in 2026-27.

Suns general manager Brian Gregory raved on Maluach's development entering the 2026-27 season when asked about it at the team's Media Day:

"His body's changed. He's gotten stronger. He runs differently. He moves differently. He still just turned 20 years old, so there's a huge growth potential there. But when we talk about the work ethic and putting in the time for that development, he's done it every single day, a lot of times twice a day," said Gregory.

"He understands where he's at in the spectrum of where he wants to get to. I think that's a great trait for him because he's never going to get too high or too low because of that. I think last year when there was the stretch where he played, he showed his ability one on the defensive end to be a rim protector, to be an impactful defensive rebounder, and just the energy that he plays with is contagious.

"And then you saw the step this summer in Summer League as well, where his performance night in and night out was excellent. The good thing with him, it's all based on the energy and effort and intensity and concentration that he plays with. Any mistake, anything that doesn't go according to plan will probably be due to age and lack of experience. We can live with that because he's going to continue to grow."