Collin Gillespie shined this previous season for the upstart Phoenix Suns. Early in his second go-around with the staff, the previous Villanova guard helped fill the void of an injured Jalen Green. He thrived in a bigger position, a lot in order that he maintained a significant presence within the Suns’ rotation the remainder of the 2025-26 marketing campaign.
The 6-foot-1 guard, who embodied the grit that made Phoenix a shock playoff staff a yr after it stated goodbye to Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, greater than doubled his scoring common, clocking out with 12.7 factors, 4.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per recreation as a third-year NBA participant.
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The Suns reportedly aren’t letting certainly one of their spark plugs get away in free company. Gillespie intends to signal a four-year, $48 million deal to return to Phoenix, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Saturday.
Another NBA insider, Jake Fischer, reported Saturday that Gillespie’s long-term contract is totally assured. It’s reportedly arriving after the soon-to-be 27-year-old backcourt scrapper performed this previous season on a minimal wage and his first three seasons out of school on two-way offers.
Once undrafted, Gillespie is now a valued a part of the Suns’ future.
Before this previous season, Gillespie had appeared in a complete of 57 NBA video games. He began solely 9 of these.
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This time round, he appeared in 80 regular-season video games, 58 of which he began, after which averaged 28.5 minutes per contest within the Suns’ first-round playoff sequence towards the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC swept Phoenix, however the Suns emerged from the 2025-26 marketing campaign with loads of causes for optimism.
Gillespie was an ingredient in Phoenix’s unexpected success, right from the jump. He made a team-leading 232 3-pointers for a 45-37 Suns squad that wound up with the No. 8 seed within the Western Conference. Gillespie completed as certainly one of 5 NBA gamers who averaged 2.9 or extra 3s per recreation whereas taking pictures not less than 40% from deep this previous season. The others in that group? Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets, Duncan Robinson of the Detroit Pistons and AJ Green of the Milwaukee Bucks.
But Gillespie isn’t a one-dimensional scorer, neither is he a one-way participant. He’s showcased his effort all 94 toes since he was at Villanova, the place he gained a nationwide championship in 2018 with Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo.
Gillespie suffered a serious left knee injury throughout his senior season with the Wildcats. But he got here again for a fifth yr and led Villanova to the final Final Four look of Jay Wright’s tenure as this system’s head coach.
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Gillespie’s first regular-season NBA motion got here with the Denver Nuggets. He performed 24 video games for them amid the 2023-24 marketing campaign. The Suns then landed him on a two-way deal in July 2024. Gillespie, after averaging 5.9 factors in 33 outings throughout the 2024-25 season, acquired a one-year contract final summer time.
A yr later, his already upward trajectory in Phoenix is reportedly hovering to new heights.