2020–21 Phoenix Suns season

• March 11, 2020: The NBA announced the suspension of their previous season just hours after announcing two of their games were immediately suspended due to COVID-19 being caught by both a player and a referee before their respective matches of the Jazz-Thunder and Pelicans-Kings began, eventually freezing all lottery teams' records to where they were by the end of that day for this season's draft (though those teams competing in the 2020 NBA Bubble ultimately kept their final records from after that period as official records for that season instead of the records they had from before the suspension).
• March 15, 2020: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published guidelines recommending no events holding 50+ people for up to at least two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding the prior season's suspension period throughout a longer than expected period of time, which by extension also delayed the start of this season as well.[11]
• March 19, 2020: The Suns began reconstruction of the Talking Stick Resort Arena and continued construction of their new practice facility in Arcadia ahead of schedule after it was announced the previous season was suspended until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][13] A majority of the arena was projected to have reconstruction done by the start of this season, with the rest of it completed by next season.
• March 21, 2020: The NBA allowed for teams to begin remote scouting for the 2020 NBA draft through programs like Skype or Zoom.[14]
• April 28, 2020: 205 early entry draft candidates declared their initial entries for the 2020 NBA draft.[15]
• May 1, 2020: The NBA suspended the 2020 NBA draft lottery and NBA Draft Combine, both of which were originally scheduled for later in May 2020.
• May 13, 2020: The NCAA postponed their early entrant withdrawal date of June 13 for the 2020 NBA draft to August 3, affecting the date of the actual draft even further.[16]
• May 31, 2020: The Talking Stick Resort Arena had been vandalized during one of the protests involving the death of George Floyd, potentially delaying reconstruction for the arena during that time.[17][18]
• June 1, 2020: The NBA gave out guidelines to recall players back to their respective markets, with some players needing a mandatory quarantine period; they also received guidelines for a proper expansion for players to practice under groups again and announced the official delay of the 2020 NBA draft.
• June 3, 2020: The NBA detailed their plans to continue the prior season under a modified format for the 22 teams (including the Suns) competing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex nearby Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, as well as their plans revolving around the eight teams leftover for the 2020 NBA draft, officially moving its original start date of June 25, eventually ending it successfully on October 11. They also detailed their plans revolving around the eight teams leftover for the 2020 NBA draft (as well as those that failed to qualify for the playoffs properly in this scenario), with the eight leftover teams holding a "mini-camp" to train under by late September and early October, starting and completing the early training camp setting after they and the teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs looked at August 20 for the new day of the NBA draft lottery, but before November 18 for the actual draft. After that, the free agency period for this season was set on November 20 at 6 P.M. EST, with training camp for the new season planned for December 1, 2020, and the beginning of the 2020–21 NBA season having a set date on December 22, 2020, eventually settling on a 72-game schedule for that date with 3-4 preseason games for each team, a March 2021 All-Star Weekend in Indiana (later being played for Atlanta instead, with Indiana getting a make-up year for 2024), and an expanded play-in tournament including the seventh-best and tenth-best teams from each conference.[19][20]
• June 4, 2020: The NBA voted with a 29-1 majority decision (with the Portland Trail Blazers ironically being the only dissenters in the vote) to resume the prior NBA season with 22 teams (including the Suns) competing in Orlando, as well as agree upon the general guidelines for this season going forward.[21]
• June 5, 2020: The NBPA unanimously approved of the NBA's plans to resume the previous season, though continued discussions on issues like health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, revisiting and renegotiating the collective bargaining agreement for this season entering free agency, and the official starting date for this season.[22]
• July 23, 2020: Governor Doug Ducey enacts an executive order in the state of Arizona to extend the pause of operations on multiple businesses and prohibition of large events, which continued long after the start of this season and likely affected the Suns' crowd capacity earlier in this season.[23]
• July 29, 2020: The Phoenix Suns announced the sale of their NBA G League affiliate squad, the Northern Arizona Suns, to the Detroit Pistons, effective by the start of the 2021–22 NBA G League season.[24][25] This makes this season their last with the Northern Arizona affiliate franchise as direct owners of the team before that squad moves near Detroit, Michigan and is renamed the Motor City Cruise.[26] Once done, Phoenix will join the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets as the only teams without an NBA G League affiliate team during that period of time.
• July 31, 2020: The Suns announced the layoffs of around 30 individual jobs of varying occupations within the franchise, with reasons varying from being redundant to being outdated to being positions that impacted performance in a negative way and the layoffs not being related to any sort of renovations to the Talking Stick Resort Arena, plans with building their new practice arena, or even being related to COVID-19's impact on the world.[27]
• August 3, 2020: NCAA players had this as their last day to withdraw their entries for the 2020 NBA draft and return to their respective colleges (or enter college in the case of postgraduate high school students like Makur Maker) for this season.[28] It left 72 total undergraduate students declaring initial entry for the draft this season, with 92 of them returning to school for at least one more year.
• August 8, 2020: The NBA began discussions on moving the start of the season from December 1, 2020 to a later date (initially to either Christmas 2020 or some time in 2021 like January 18, 2021 instead of December 22, 2020).[29]
• August 17, 2020: International players that weren't in the NCAA had this as their new early entry deadline for the 2020 NBA draft instead of August 3.[30] This left 36 international players having their official entries set for at least before the NBA draft lottery, with 7 international players exiting from draft entry this year.

• August 20, 2020: The NBA draft lottery took place in the United Center with virtual attendance from general manager James Jones and the other lottery teams' representatives this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The Suns held the most likely odds to select at pick 10 this year due to them having a better record than every team in the Eastern Conference that missed the playoffs last season before their suspension period began, but also holding the worst Western Conference record for all teams that resumed their seasons in Orlando before their season properly concluded (though they officially concluded with a tie for the best overall record of those lottery teams). During this year's draft lottery, the NBA also hinted that the start of the season will be delayed from their original December 1, 2020 projection.
• August 25, 2020: The NBA and the NBPA agreed to postpone discussions of the modification or temporary termination of their collective bargaining agreement from September 10 to October 15, with the intent to delay the start of this season's NBA draft, free agency period, and the start of every team's training camp, potential preseason, and regular season going forward.[31]
• August 28, 2020: All NBA teams agreed to (at least try to) utilize their team arenas for the purpose of helping out people to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election, which was done to help the players feel more comfortable with resuming the prior season's playoffs as an aftermath to the 2020 American athlete strikes.[32][33] The Suns and the state of Arizona later agreed to utilize the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum for voting purposes instead of the Talking Stick Resort Arena or their new practice facility due to renovation and construction complications respectively during the previous season.[34] This news happened the day after the 2020 NBA Playoffs were temporarily suspended due to the shooting of Jacob Blake, which happened months after the death of George Floyd and how it impacted the previous season.
• September 8, 2020: The Phoenix Suns hire former Minnesota Timberwolves player development coach and three-time Israeli Basketball Premier League's Best Defender Brian Randle as an assistant coach, replacing one of the two assistant coaches that were fired during the 2020 NBA Bubble.[35] The NBA & NBPA also agreed to push back the starting dates of the 2020 NBA draft (from October 16), free agency (from October 18), and the start of this season (from December 1), though no new dates were set for these periods at that time.[36] Some of the delays were set due to the 2020 American athlete strikes as a response to the shooting of Jacob Blake, which also led to the 2020 NBA Playoffs being temporarily delayed.[37]
• September 9, 2020: The NBA & NBPA began looking into starting the 2020 NBA draft on November 18, 2020 instead of sometime in late October.[38]
• September 11, 2020: After first considering the idea of moving the 2020 NBA draft to November 18 instead of their original October 15 or October 16 rescheduled dates, as well as suggesting this season can begin around Christmas Day similar to the 2011–12 lockout season, the NBA announced they will have the new season's structure ready in about eight weeks time before this season actually begins properly.[39]
• September 12, 2020: The NBA decided to make the 2020 NBA Draft Combine a two-part draft combine instead of a regular, multi-day event; the first part in September and early October involved in-market medical exams alongside on-court drills and virtual interviews with teams, while the second part in October and early November revolved around teams conducting in-person interviews with players, though no workouts were planned to be set on that part for the teams to watch directly at first.[40]
• September 13, 2020: The Memphis Grizzlies announced the signing of former Suns assistant coach Darko Rajaković as a part of their coaching staff for the new season going forward, leaving Phoenix to find a replacement for him alongside the other assistant coach spot that was left open during the 2020 NBA Bubble.[41]
• September 16, 2020: The NBA confirmed that the 2020 NBA Draft will begin on November 18, 2020 instead of on October 15 or 16, 2020.[42]
• September 17, 2020: The NBA unveiled a preliminary schedule for the 2020 NBA Draft Combine, which was done in a two-part manner this year (one part for standardized, virtual interviews via videoconferencing and the other part for proper evaluations on draft prospects this year) as an aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.[43]
• September 18, 2020: After setting a date for completion first on August 1 and then by early September, the Suns set a new completion date for their privately funded practice facility to be done by October via setting their courts down and painting the facility properly.[44]
• September 23, 2020: A new video of the renovations involving the Talking Stick Resort Arena revealed some new features to the arena, including dark theater lighting similar to the Staples Center or Madison Square Garden (requested personally by Devin Booker), bigger, blacker seats; a larger, center video board; more entertainment options, a newly renovated locker room with a look that's consistent with their new practice facility (including lockers imported from Germany), and a new, alternative court design for this season, though the last one wasn't revealed in the video itself.[45][46] The NBA also confirmed that the 2020 NBA Draft Combine shall be in multiple phases lasting from September 28 until November 16, two days before the 2020 NBA draft officially commenced.[47]
• September 28, 2020: The 2020 NBA Draft Combine began for the league, with this event being in two phases; 60 players that were confirmed for the event began the first phase by doing video interviews with both teams of interest and the league itself from this date all the way until October 16, with standard, 10 question NBA interviews for every team under a half-hour interviewing period.[48] Then during the month of October and most of November, in addition to players beginning their second phase with medical examinations (including COVID-19 tests), every draft eligible prospect can travel to their current, nearby NBA team facilities (those closest to their initial home markets before entering the draft) for a "Pro Day" video (a unique video using the "HomeCourt" mobile app involving the players showing off their skills (alongside potentially either a coach or trainer) that's up to 45 minutes long), eight on-court shooting drills, strength and athletic tests, and anthropometric measurements for their bodies. Team personnel were initially not allowed for this part of the event due to COVID-19 concerns, but it later allowed for up to three team executives to meet these players and up to three of their guests that were invited in this time period. The NBA also allowed an expanded use of their "Combine HQ" tool to help gather information properly and allowed teams and scouts to compare prospects with other prospects and current NBA players.
• September 30, 2020: Commissioner Adam Silver revealed some of their current stances on where the NBA is at for this season, from the idea of potentially still starting this season on Christmas Day in 2020 to seeing if rapid testing for COVID-19 can help mitigate the need for a cure before the start of this season, as well as where the NBA is at with free agency this season, the salary cap space available for everyone moving forward, and whether the Toronto Raptors can even play their season in Canada at all due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.[49][50][51]
• October 6, 2020: Michele A. Roberts, the executive director of the NBPA, stated the NBA could likely set their free agency period no later than December 1 instead of November 20, a date closer to this year's NBA Draft. In addition, she also stated that there were discussions on both having the NBA start certain things outside of the draft at later periods altogether and how to best deal with a modified split of revenue between players and owners moving forward.[52][53]
• October 9, 2020: The Phoenix Suns hired former Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Kevin Young as their second new assistant coach replacement for this season.[54]
• October 15, 2020: Four days after the conclusion of the 2020 NBA Finals, the NBA and the NBPA began discussing how to best modify their collective bargaining agreement going forward with these next few seasons after dealing with the effects of last season's suspension period from a long-term point of view.[31] This led to the NBA & NBPA agreeing to delay their decisions on what to do with the new collective bargaining agreement for these seasons again to October 30, with discussions on filled up arenas, an escrow on player's salaries, and audits on basketball related income in mind alongside plans for starting out this season.[55]
• October 16, 2020: The first phase of the 2020 NBA Draft Combine ended and the second phase of the event began, with players finally able to travel to any team's practice facilities that they can participate in before the 2020 NBA draft begins, as well as teams now able to travel to the city a player resided in during this time. For this second phase, each team now held up to 10 in-person meetings with players testing negative for COVID-19 in advance, with an extra visit on any one prospect cutting into their allowed meetings for the year. These meetings allowed for three team executives and one physician to properly prepare themselves with that prospect.[56] Players can allow themselves to wear team practice gear in the event it costed less than $500, as well as allowed multiple teams to do visits at the same time for a meeting, though all of these meetings would last for up to 4½ hours and count toward each limit set. However, players still had to maintain proper social distancing regulations set back in March 2020 and everyone involved with these workouts still needed to check themselves up to make sure they all tested negative for the virus hours afterward.[57]
• October 21, 2020: While the NBA admitted some people were still looking for a Christmas 2020 start for the season, they still expected a start on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a full schedule to be more likely at this point in time instead. They also expected to get a schedule that can help get themselves back into a more traditional scheduling period of October-June for the upcoming 2021–22 season, as well as potentially allow the Toronto Raptors to at least temporarily play home games outside of Canada for this season due to COVID-19 still impacting the world for the foreseeable future.[58]
• October 23, 2020: The NBA & NBPA started discussing a 72-game schedule this season, now starting on December 22, 2020 and ending the regular season by May instead of doing a full schedule for January 2021, with the purpose of still trying to get the season to close in time for players to participate in the upcoming, branded 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and get back to the October-June schedule format for the next season.[59] To help combat COVID-19 for this season, the NBA planned to include testing for the virus for the fans in their arenas once they're allowed in and improved air purifiers to help stop further spreading of the virus from inside the arenas.[60] Also included in their discussions was the return of the play-in tournament format introduced last season,[61] a shorter travel distances for games with potentially a Major League Baseball style system of playing games in place,[62] and potentially cancelling the 2021 NBA All-Star Game in Indiana in order to make this season happen.[63]
• October 27, 2020: Marc Stein reported that the NBA shall begin their training camps on December 1, 2020, hinting that the free agency period for this season will begin on November 20 after all instead of December 1.[64] Michele A. Roberts also stated that the NBPA was close to making their final decisions on what to do with the salary cap and when free agency will start for this season.[65]
• October 28, 2020: Michele A. Roberts also claimed that due to some players like LeBron James needing some extra time to rest their bodies for the newest season before actually beginning things properly, discussions on whether this season would truly begin on December 22 with 72 games or January 18, 2021 with potentially a full season still open to go beyond both the salary cap limit and when free agency will begin, if necessary.[66][67]
• October 29, 2020: Some NBA teams' newest City jerseys were leaked onto the Internet, with the Suns' City jersey being one of them;[68] their new jersey revealed a black sunset over the night sky on a stylized, pixelated version of Camelback Mountain with "The Valley" on it as a nod to the "Valley of the Sun" nickname the city of Phoenix gives itself, as well as the "Valley Boyz" moniker first created by Kelly Oubre Jr. during their 2018–19 season.[69]
• October 30, 2020: The newest date for modifying or terminating the collective bargaining agreement that was first set for this season concluded.[55] During this time, the NBA set up an ultimatum: either have a 72-game season starting on December 22, 2020 or a 50 or 60-game season start on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2021. They also allowed for NBA teams to start practicing in groups and do scrimmages again after previously being limited with what they were allowed to do together since the last season's resumptions period, though still holding a limit of 10 players at hand.[70] However, the end result of this meeting of theirs provided yet another delay, this time setting it for November 6, 2020.[71][72]
• October 31, 2020: Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury co-owner Richard J. Heckmann died at 76 years old due to complications from multiple system atrophy, confirmed by the Palm Springs Desert Sun.[73]
• November 2, 2020: The Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury allowed for early votes either in-person or via drive-thru drop box voting at the Suns' old home court arena for the 2020 United States presidential election.[74] The Suns also posted their own statement confirming Richard J. Heckmann's passing that day.[75]
• November 3, 2020: The United States of America casted their final votes in the 2020 United States presidential election, with some of Arizona's voters going to the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum to vote for who they wanted to inaugurate as President on January 20, 2021 alongside their Senate and House of Representatives members and determining which propositions should be set as state law as a part of the NBA's agreement from the previous season's playoffs to resume properly.[76]
• November 5, 2020: The NBA & NBPA began voting for whether to start this season with a 72-game season by December 22, 2020 (ending the season in the middle of May with the NBA Finals concluding by July 22) or a 60-game season for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 18, 2021 (ending the regular season in June and the NBA Finals concluding after the Olympics end by August 21). The NBPA voted for the NBA's plan to start this season with 72 games from December 22, 2020 until the middle of May, with the 2021 All-Star Weekend set for March (with a game confirmed despite COVID-19 concerns at the time), an expanded play-in tournament involving the seventh-best and tenth-best teams from each conference included for this season in May, and the 2021 NBA Playoffs concluding before the beginning of the upcoming Olympics later in July.[77]
• November 6, 2020: The newest day for not just modifying or terminating the collective bargaining agreement that was first set for this season, but also settling on a plan to help finalize their new health and safety protocols against COVID-19 concluded.[71] During this time, the Talking Stick Resort lost their naming rights to the Talking Stick Resort Arena,[2] leading to the city of Phoenix renaming the arena as the PHX Arena until the end of November.[5] However, they could not get something with the collective bargaining agreement done by this time, though they did agree for one last delay on November 9.[78]
• November 7, 2020: The Suns first began trade talks with the Oklahoma City Thunder for 10x All-Star point guard Chris Paul around this date.[79]
• November 8, 2020: The early entrant withdrawal date for all overseas players was officially set for this date, eliminating any entrants that might want to stay in their current markets for at least one more year by then. The NBA later revealed that 25 players left by the final deadline set for this draft (23 international players, one college student playing overseas, and one high school postgraduate student potentially playing professionally elsewhere for this season), but one more high school postgraduate entered as a last minute replacement of sorts (and two more international players leaving after the official announcement was first released saying 21 international players left earlier on[80]), leaving the final amount of early entrant players entering the draft at 84 total players from around the world.[81]

• November 9, 2020: The last, final official date for modifying or terminating the collective bargaining agreement that was first set for this season finished with success.[78] During this time, the NBA & NBPA first agreed to create the "NBA Social Justice Coalition Board," an incentive first hinted at as a condition to resume the previous season, with players, coaches, and owners encouraging the advancement of equality and social justice across the nation.[82] However, the NBA & NBPA later announced that the collective bargaining agreement will officially be amended starting this season, with the salary cap level for this season officially set at $109,140,000 and the tax level for maximum spending teams this season now set at $132,627,000 (both numbers repeating last season's respective salary numbers).[83] Had the modifications for this season's salary cap not come around, the NBA's salary cap would have dropped down to around $90,000,000 (with the tax level for maximum spending teams being worse for them) instead of a projected increase to $115,000,000 that was originally planned for the season.[84]
• November 10, 2020: A new article released revealed that the team's new practice facility is now finished, if not close to done before the draft and/or free agency officially starts up.[7] The NBA's Board of Governors (team owners and Adam Silver) also unanimously approved the amended collective bargaining agreement and the new start date of this season, while the Suns were confirmed by major news outlets to be in trade talks with the Oklahoma City Thunder for Chris Paul.[85]
• November 11, 2020: All 30 NBA teams were sent memos outlining official protocols to help combat COVID-19 threats inside their respective arenas, with fans close to the courts requiring a negative test either two days before game day or on the day of the game they went to if using rapid testing and fans over the age of 2 requiring masks to be worn, social distancing measures, and taking symptom survey tests if they want to get in, though up to 25% capacity in arena suites won't require COVID-19 tests there.[86] However, most teams were not able to open up their arenas to the fans for at least the start of their seasons due to COVID-19 regulations in their areas.
• November 12, 2020: The Suns not only officially revealed their new City Edition jerseys, but they also revealed the inside of their new practice facility (showing that it's ready to go) and an alternative court design that also showcases "The Valley" up front and center akin to their new jersey design.[87] It was later revealed that the younger players like Deandre Ayton and Kelly Oubre Jr. helped with designing the City Edition jerseys.[88] The NBA also gave a majority of their teams an aggregate of $384.4 million to help offset losses from last season for their tax brackets,[89][90] as well as confirm the estimated average salary and Early Bird Rights for this season.[91]
• November 15, 2020: In addition to setting up the new dates for this season's trade moratorium, regular season starting and closing dates, All-Star Weekend, play-in tournament, playoffs, NBA Finals, final dates to sign rookie scale and super-max extensions, and salary cap projections for future seasons (with an option to terminate the collective bargaining agreement at any time between the 2021 and 2023 off-seasons, if necessary),[92] the NBA also confirmed deadline dates for issuing qualifying offers for restricted free agents, waiving and stretching salaries of certain players, exercise options for a player's third year or fourth year, when certain players can be traded, when salaries are fully guaranteed (and the latest date to cut a player before they're fully guaranteed), when the latest date a player can still enter the playoffs after being waived, and when the season is officially considered concluded, as well as expiration dates for traded player exceptions originally set to expire in July 2020, how the initial waiver claim works for the start of this season, how the salary amount for 10-day contracts will work for this season, and the set limitations for two-way contracts with how many games they're activated for alongside a major salary increase to help out those interested in said contracts for this season.[93]
• November 16, 2020: The last meetings teams made with players in the 2020 NBA Draft Combine concluded by this date, with teams starting to prepare their choices for the 2020 NBA draft properly. The NBA also lifted away the previous free agency moratorium that was set back in July 2019, allowing for teams to start making trades again starting in the afternoon hours of the day.[92] For the Suns, they officially traded starting point guard Ricky Rubio, starting forward Kelly Oubre Jr., back-up guards Ty Jerome and Jalen Lecque, and a top-12 protected 2022 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for 10x All-Star point guard Chris Paul and Egyptian-American shooting guard/small forward Abdel Nader.[9][10]
• November 17, 2020: The NBA confirmed that this season will be in two segments: the first half will last from December 22, 2020 to March 4, 2021, with an All-Star Weekend break set for March 5-10, 2021. Meanwhile, the second half will last from March 11-May 16, 2021, which will also allow the NBA to reschedule any games lost in the first half due to COVID-19 risks into the second half of the season, provided they have enough realistic expectations to allow a redo date for a few games suspended by COVID-19 exposure.[94] This schedule allowed interconference games for opponents to play against each other a regular two times again, but each team's own conference foes will all play each other three times instead, with the NBA giving a guide for how each team will play against their conference foes in a separate PDF matrix file, leading to a total of 1,080 NBA games played in the event no serious damage is done by COVID-19 this season.[95] The NBA also sent a proposal to the Canadian government to try and allow for games to be played in Toronto for the Raptors without fans in the Scotiabank Arena and be exempt from self-isolating for 14 days after entering the Canadian border; if declined, games against the Raptors will be played in Florida instead.[96] Additionally, the Suns revealed the Verizon 5G Performance Center at Arcadia publicly on their official website.[97]
• November 18, 2020: After multiple delays, the 2020 NBA draft officially took place virtually at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut via videotelephony instead of their usual live settings inside an arena, with their original idea of hosting it at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York not seen as viable or safe to attend this year due to COVID-19 risks. This year, the Suns only selected power forward Jalen Smith from the University of Maryland. The Phoenix Suns also officially picked up Cameron Payne's second-year player option,[98] as well as opened up the inside of the Verizon 5G Performance Center for their players and staff, which includes technological advancements to help enhance training efforts for the players there.[8][99]
• November 19, 2020: On the newest deadline for both qualifying offers and some team option opportunities, both Dario Šarić and Jevon Carter got qualifying offers as restricted free agents, while both Frank Kaminsky III and Cheick Diallo had their team options declined.[93] They also agreed to a two-way contract with undrafted Creighton University guard Ty-Shon Alexander.
• November 20, 2020: The free agency period for this season finally began on this date at 6:00 P.M. EST, continuing the new time period from last season, but moving the free agency period closer to the NBA draft date this time around. Before that period began, the Canadian government rejected the NBA's proposal for games, later confirming the Toronto Raptors will play their home games at the Amalie Arena (home of the Tampa Bay Lightning) at Tampa, Florida for at least the first half of the regular season.[100] It was also confirmed during the start of that period that Suns employees from within the organization had to take pay cuts from around 5%-20%, with 30 more employees being furloughed in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact on the world.[101]
• November 21, 2020: The Suns managed to agree to a 3-year, $30 million deal with Jae Crowder, signing him away from the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, as well as get Jevon Carter to agree to re-sign with them on a 3-year, $11.5 million deal. The NBA also addressed that anyone who declined playing this season due to increased risks of COVID-19 exposure will have this season be prohibited from their contracts signed, effective by December 1.[102]
• November 22, 2020: The NBA free agency moratorium officially began, with the earliest agreements in free agency now able to sign their new deals for this season; Damian Jones agreed to sign a partially guaranteed 2-year deal worth the veteran's minimum that he'd receive for both this season ($350,000 already guaranteed) and potentially the next,[103] while E'Twaun Moore agreed to a veteran's minimum deal for one year with the Suns.
• November 23, 2020: Dario Šarić agreed to sign a 3-year deal worth $27 million to stay in Phoenix, while Jevon Carter officially re-signed with his 3-year deal for Phoenix;[104] Langston Galloway also agreed to sign a veteran's minimum deal of his own to play for Phoenix this season, while Élie Okobo was waived from the team by this date.[105]
• November 24, 2020: The Suns decided to fully guarantee this upcoming season for Abdel Nader.[106] Jalen Smith also signed his rookie scale contract, while Ty-Shon Alexander officially signed his two-way contract for the Suns.[107]
• November 25, 2020: The NBA announced that the events for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game originally set in Indianapolis, Indiana will officially be postponed from the original February 12-14, 2021 planned dates to new set dates of February 16-18, 2024 as the official hosts for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, making up for their lost appearance in 2021.[108] Chris Paul, President of the NBPA, also helped launch the Commit To C.A.R.E. Now program to help combat against negative stereotypes against black people and players in the United States of America with education, challenging those stereotypes, and advocating for legislative change like in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.[109]
• November 27, 2020: The NBA announced every team's preseason schedules.[110] For the Suns, they'll only have two road games against the Utah Jazz and two home games against the Los Angeles Lakers in their newly named arena, with their last game being nationally televised on ESPN.[111]
• November 28, 2020: The NBA sent every team an updated Health & Safety Protocol Guide on what to do if a player, coach, or other staff member gets infected with COVID-19 (anonymous hotline number included for them), though they also will be fluid with how many cases would require a shutdown of play if players reveal positive cases before a game similar to last season;[112] Jae Crowder officially signed his 3-year deal with the Suns,[113] while Dario Šarić re-signed with the Suns through his own 3-year deal.[114]
• November 30, 2020: E'Twaun Moore, Langston Galloway, and Damian Jones officially signed their contracts with the Suns, while Johnathan Motley signed a training camp deal with the Suns, having a chance to earn either a fully guaranteed contract or a two-way contract moving forward.[115]
• December 1, 2020: After originally planning to start the regular season by this time, all NBA teams' media week and training camp periods were held for this date instead, though the players entering this season did have to work out individually until December 5, provided some of them don't decline this season from counting toward their contract and signing later in the season instead.[116][117] The Phoenix Suns also began renaming the PHX Arena to the Phoenix Suns Arena for this season.[6]
• December 2, 2020: The NBA announced their nationally televised games for first three playable days of the regular season, with the Suns opening their season at home in the Phoenix Suns Arena on December 23 against the Dallas Mavericks on ESPN.[118][119] The NBA & NBPA also announced that of the number of players that caught COVID-19 from November 24-30, a total of 48 out of 546 infections were confirmed at the time, announcing this info a day after the Golden State Warriors announced they would delay individual player practices due to a couple of their players catching COVID-19 themselves.[120]
• December 3, 2020: The NBA began considering March 25, 2021 as the last day for trades to commence this season,[121] as well as mulled over the possibility of expanding the available amount of players for a game to 15 players available instead of 13 after the recent COVID-19 news in the NBA combined with the shortened schedule for this season.[122]
• December 4, 2020: The NBA announced every team's schedules for the first half of the season. For the Suns this season, they now have 13 games scheduled for national TV (including four on NBA TV) during their first half alone.[123] The NBA also agreed to suspend marijuana drug tests for this season only.[124]
• December 5, 2020: All teams concluded their media week periods, with the NBA handing them an updated Health & Safety Protocol Guide that includes exclusions for most areas that provide risk of exposure to COVID-19 (with very limited exceptions in mind) in their home areas, travelling teams having approved restaurants involving either outdoor seating or a fully privatized space indoors, twice a week testing of players and staff members and their families, and all personnel being urged to take flu vaccinations also; failure to follow these guidelines and potentially cause serious schedule problems or harm toward other teams can receive punishments from fines to suspensions to a potential loss of draft picks to even a forfeiture of game(s), depending on the severity caused there.[125] The NBA and NBPA will also decide whether everyone on their respective teams will be compelled to get the COVID-19 vaccine once it's available and safe for the public; if anyone does not receive it and is not required to get it, those people will have to follow additional safety measures for the rest of the season until treatment is received.[126]
• December 6, 2020: All teams began group player workouts in their own practice facilities, with the Suns conducting their first ever team practice at the Verizon 5G Performance Center and the Toronto Raptors practicing at Saint Leo University for the time being, while all the other players that were not already infected earlier on completed their necessary quarantine periods by this time.
• December 7, 2020: The NBA sent out a memo for all teams regarding new resting policies for teams, including the fact that star players like Chris Paul and Devin Booker must play in games officially airing on national TV (barring unfortunate circumstances like injuries or COVID-19),[127] as well as sent each team a $30 million bailout that they must pay back to the league itself by the next 3-4 seasons from now, with interest.[128][129]
• December 8, 2020: The NBA and NBCA voted to approve the continued change of most casual business attire that was first worn in the 2020 NBA Bubble as acceptable going forward for this season, as well as required all coaching and training personnel to wear masks to prevent spread of COVID-19 during games, warning not to pull them down more than necessary for essentially coaching duties.[130]
• December 9, 2020: The NBA set this as their new deadline to waive a player and stretch their salary for this season, if deemed necessary by then.[93] The NBA also announced there will be no predetermined guideline for when a game might be postponed or cancelled this season due to the unknown variables on how COVID-19 might spread from one team to the next, as well as local or state restrictions potentially causing havoc in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[131] Like everyone else in the NBA this season, referees are also confirmed to follow the same specific guidelines against COVID-19 infection.[132] Finally, Jae Crowder also officially returned to Phoenix to give out his first practices with the team, with an interview of his that day confirming that Jae's prior absence was due to personal problems that didn’t relate to COVID-19 on his end.[133]
• December 10, 2020: Both the NBA and NBPA announced that from the December 2-9 period, only eight out of 541 total players caught COVID-19, cutting the number of cases down significantly since then.[134] The Phoenix Suns also announced that they will start this season without fans in attendance at their arena for the first half of the season until further notice.[135]
• December 11, 2020: The NBA officially began their preseason period for this season. It was also confirmed that the Phoenix Suns' NBA G League affiliate team, the Northern Arizona Suns, would not pay to participate in the G League's Bubble (originally planned for Atlanta before deciding to repeat the 2020 NBA Bubble idea with the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World in Orlando) for the upcoming G League season.[136] Since no alternative methods of play will be available for them this season, this will make their previous season the official last season the Northern Arizona Suns franchise would play in general before moving to Detroit as the Motor City Cruise.
• December 12, 2020: On the day of Phoenix's first preseason game against the Utah Jazz, the NBA unanimously agreed to increase the number of active game-time players from 13 to 15,[137] as well as the permanent addition of the coach's challenge, acting similar to the coach's challenges in the NFL.[138]
• December 15, 2020: The team revealed that the Phoenix Suns Arena is now at an 80% completion level before beginning their first home preseason games against the Los Angeles Lakers, with 5% of the remaining renovations getting done during the regular season (and the 2021 NBA Playoffs if they make it by then) and the last 15% of the renovations being done before the start of the upcoming 2021–22 NBA season, avoiding the closure of the arena during the summer completely.[139][140]
• December 16, 2020: Before the Suns began their first home preseason game against the Lakers, the NBA announced that since their last check-up back on December 10, only one player out of an available 549 total players ended up catching COVID-19.[141]
• December 17, 2020: The NBA's Board of Governors officially confirmed the permanent addition of the coach's challenge that was previously implemented on a trial basis last season,[142] as well as approved of March 25, 2021 as the new trade deadline date for this season and increased the active number of players for this season from 13 to 15 due to both the expected COVID-19 complications and the shortened schedule.[143]
• December 18, 2020: The Suns concluded their preseason with a 0–4 record there.
• December 19, 2020: Teams started making cuts to their preseason rosters, as well as promoted certain players to full-scale contracts to finalize rosters entering the regular season. For Phoenix, they decided to cut Johnathan Motley from the roster.[144]
• December 20, 2020: The Suns extended their rookie scale contracts for Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges to their fourth and final years and Cameron Johnson for his third year.[145]
• December 21, 2020: The last day for both rookie scale and super-max contract extensions was set here,[92] alongside the final day to finalize rosters for teams that held up to 20 players in the preseason to start out the regular season. In Phoenix's case, they decided to re-sign Frank Kaminsky III to a more team-friendly contract for this season after being waived from the Sacramento Kings two days earlier.[146] The NBA also revealed their current stances on when the season might be suspended (mainly with health and safety concerns), the way payment for teams this season will be spread out (including with the Toronto Raptors temporarily relocating to the Tampa Bay area, which will involve reimbursement from likely all the other NBA teams), who even has fans in their arenas at the start of the season, stances on standing for the U.S. national anthem and temporarily removing marijuana drug tests, and plans to start the upcoming G League season.[147]

• December 22, 2020: The NBA and NBPA set this date up as their new, official start for the regular season, similar to the 2011–12 lockout shortened season.
• December 23, 2020: The Suns began their new season in the renovated Phoenix Suns Arena against the Dallas Mavericks, with this match airing on ESPN, similar to their 2018–19 season opener. Phoenix ended up winning that match as well, this time with a 106–102 win over Dallas, extending their regular season win streak (including the 2020 NBA Bubble games) to 9 games now. The NBA also faced their first suspended game of the season with the Houston Rockets not having enough active players for their season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to a combination of COVID-19 infections from outside areas, fears of infection, and an injury.
• December 24, 2020: The NBA & NBPA confirmed that since December 16, only two players (both from the Houston Rockets) out of 558 players total (including those from the preseason) had caught COVID-19.[148] The NBA also announced that players that miss games due to COVID-19 violations this season will lose 1/72nd of their salary (equal to an entire game's salary earned this season) they would have normally earned for each game lost.[149]
• December 26, 2020: With a 106–103 loss to the Sacramento Kings, the Suns ended their 9-game winning streak of regular season games.
• December 27, 2020: Before the Suns had their rematch against the Kings (which ended with a 116–100 victory), the NBA issued out a memo to all teams warning about not pursuing and administering COVID-19 vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna on a teamwide basis ahead of public health guidelines for prioritization, save for team physicians, personnel with health issues, older staff members (including coaches), and those that have underlying conditions that make them at risk for health complications if they caught the virus.[150]
• December 29, 2020: The NBA had this as their last day for any second-year or third-year players to exercise their third-year or fourth-year salary options for this season.[93] The Phoenix Suns also unveiled their new, alternative court design that reflects their City Edition jerseys for this season, showcasing black lettering of "The Valley" up front and center, a subtle desert landscape on the bottom side of the court, and a pixelated color gradient for the top and bottom out of bounds areas akin to their new City Edition jerseys (with black out of bounds coloring on the left and right sides).[151][152] The Suns ended up with a blowout 111–86 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on TNT that day.
• December 30, 2020: The NBA and NBPA announced that no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported by them after December 23, the day where two players from the Houston Rockets were confirmed cases and started out their season with a suspended game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.[153]
• December 31, 2020: The Phoenix Suns end 2020 with a 4–1 record capped off with a 106–95 win over the Utah Jazz, having their best start to a season since 2009. The NBA also released a memo for team officials to monitor and enforce discipline on COVID-19 regulation violations among players and staff, releasing it on the same day the Chicago Bulls faced a situation where four of their players were not playing either that day or on New Year's Day due to COVID-19 concerns (and later confirmed infections) involving them.[154]
• January 1, 2021: The Suns entered 2021 with a 106–103 win against the Denver Nuggets, continuing their best start since 2009 and exiting the day with the best record in the NBA by this point in the season.
• January 2, 2021: The Phoenix Suns and the NBA confirm the passing of Ring of Honor member and Hall of Famer Paul Westphal.[155][156] His passing came months after he was first diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2020.[157] All games that day held a moment of silence for Westphal, as well as the Suns game holding a tribute for him a day later.
• January 4, 2021: The NBA allowed teams for this season only to sign players to 10-day contracts early in the event a team faces serious hardship provisions by this time, like the Memphis Grizzlies did this season.[158][159]
• January 5, 2021: Starting on this date, the NBA began enforcing their active, game-time players to wear their face masks until entering the game and for players, coaches, and important team staff to wear masks outside team settings and indoors areas.[160] Players returning to the bench are encouraged to wear their masks once back there, while players entering in the second half of games must wear their masks until they play, with some players requiring their masks be worn throughout the entire game until no longer deemed necessary.[161]
• January 6, 2021: Before the start of the Suns game against the Toronto Raptors, both teams agreed to lock arms with each other around the Suns' front court logo in solidarity to each other before playing each team's respective national anthems in response to the 2021 United States Capitol protests that had occurred on this day and the day before that.[162][163] Phoenix ended that night with a 123–115 win over the Raptors. The NBA also updated their mental health guidelines to help those in the league that are struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects around the world.[164]
• January 7, 2021: The NBA gave out special contact sensor devices to all players, coaches, and other top tier personnel with their respective teams, which will be worn for all team-organized activities, such as travel for most destinations, restaurant services, and practices, for the purpose of contact tracing against COVID-19 from this day onward until further notice. Failure to wear these devices under those periods of time will involve discipline from the NBA, though it is not known what punishments will be given in these circumstances at this time.[165] The NBA & NBPA also confirmed that four out of 498 total players caught COVID-19 ever since the December 30, 2020 announcement.[166]
• January 10, 2021: Starting on this date, more games for this season were getting suspended into the second half of the season after keeping the virus mostly in check beforehand.
• January 12, 2021: Starting from this date until at least January 26, if not for the rest of this season, the NBA & NBPA agreed to implement tighter health and safety protocols in the aftermath of multiple teams either having several of their players and staff out due to COVID-19 or started forcing multiple games in the first half of the season to be completely suspended until sometime later on in the second half of the season, if at all, because of too many cases related to COVID-19 protocols.[167] The Suns also cancelled their pro day plans for that day after they had learned the Washington Wizards (the last team they played against) cancelled their planned practice for the day when they found out that two of their players tested positive for COVID-19, with more players and staff members there later confirmed to catch the virus also.
• January 13, 2021: Two days after playing against the Washington Wizards, the Suns announced their scheduled games at home against the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors were postponed until the second half of the season due to the contact tracing protocols against COVID-19 (although the Golden State game was later rescheduled into the first half of the season's deadline of March 4). Previously, the Suns only had rookie Jalen Smith listed as out due to the NBA's health & safety protocols at the time (though he was also out due to a left ankle sprain earlier on).[168] Eventually, it was revealed that Dario Šarić and Damian Jones were the players that had to sit out further beyond the already suspended games, but their planned games against the Hawks and Warriors marked the seventh and ninth overall games this season that were suspended due to COVID-19 protocols (sixth and eighth games respectively since January 10).[169][170] The NBA & NBPA also announced that 16 new players out of 497 total have tested positive for COVID-19 since January 6.[171]
• January 14, 2021: A day after confirming the Suns would not play their first two home games as planned, the Suns announced on Twitter that they would not play their third home game in a row this season, with their rematch against the Indiana Pacers now postponed as well.[172] It was the tenth game this season to be postponed due to complications relating to COVID-19.[173] However, according to Arizona sports analyst John Gambadoro, no Suns players ended up with COVID-19 themselves around this time period, meaning the delays related more to contact tracing guidelines against the virus instead.[174]
• January 15, 2021: The NBA & NBPA started discussions on adding an extra two-way contract for teams to use for this season after over a dozen games were postponed that week.[175][176]
• January 18, 2021: The Suns returned to action after close to a week of suspended games occurred, playing in a close 108–104 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies on the road on TNT.
• January 19, 2021: Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the NBA & NBPA are now discussing the idea of players receiving the COVID-19 vaccine sooner than later both in terms of potentially stopping the NBA's suspended games streak for the season and helping educate and influence the public eye to get their vaccine shots against that virus going forward.[177]
• January 20, 2021: Before the Suns played their game against the Houston Rockets and ending their technically five-game road trip (which concluded with a 2–3 losing record during those five games, but ended with a 109–103 win over the Rockets on ESPN), the NBA & NBPA announced that only 11 players out of 502 total have tested positive for COVID-19 for this time after having 16 players test positive on January 13.[178]
• January 21, 2021: The NBA announced that 20 games planned throughout the rest of January, including the Suns' home game on January 28 against the Golden State Warriors, will now be airing at 8 P.M. for the weekdays (or 7 P.M. for weekend games) instead of at 7 P.M. or 6 P.M. like they were first planned to be for the purpose of same-day PCR tests for every game being done for this season.[179][180]
• January 25, 2021: From this point onward for this season, any free agents waived from their teams could now be acquired by priority from records starting at this point of the season instead of the records held from March 11, 2020, starting with the worst teams onward having the highest priority base in mind.[181] The NBA and NBPA also started discussing the possibility of actually having the 2021 NBA All-Star Game being played after all, albeit in Atlanta at either the State Farm Arena or a HBCU gym (like in Clark Atlanta University) under a scaled down format instead of at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with Chris Paul being for the idea with the promotion and support of both historically black colleges and universities and COVID-19 relief funds in mind for this season's game.[182]
• January 26, 2021: Some of the tighter, additional measures to protect players from COVID-19 that were set up on January 12 are now (potentially) lifted during this season.
• January 27, 2021: Before the Suns played their home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder (which ended in a 102–97 loss this time), the NBA and NBPA announced that only one new player out of 492 total players had tested positive for COVID-19.for this period of time after only 11 tested positive on January 20.[183] Furthermore, since opening training camps in December 2020, 91 total players had tested positive for COVID-19, leading to 21 suspended games (including 3 suspended Suns games) at this time.[184]
• January 28, 2021: With the Suns game against the Golden State Warriors moved to 8 P.M. instead of at 7 P.M. as planned, that game was also added as a nationally broadcast TV game on TNT (replacing a game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Miami Heat there), now making it 14 games aired on national TV for the Suns in the first half of this season. That night ended a 3-game losing streak for them with a blowout 114–93 win over Golden State, later starting a new winning streak in the process. The NBA also began opening votes for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game this season.[185] The NBA and NBPA also reached an impasse on their situation revolving around a third two-way contract for teams this season.[186]
• January 29, 2021: The Suns send Ty-Shon Alexander out to the NBA G League, this time playing with the Canton Charge in their truncated season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando.[187]
• January 31, 2021: The NBA confirmed the rescheduled date of the Suns' home game against the Golden State Warriors from January 15 will now be on March 4, with a scheduled time hinting at a national TV airing on either ESPN or TNT to make up for the postponed period.[188]
• February 2, 2021: The Phoenix Suns announced that, starting with free tickets for healthcare workers and their families on February 7 against the Boston Celtics before expanding it to all fans a day later against the Cleveland Cavaliers, they will allow for up to 1,500 fans inside the Phoenix Suns Arena going forward.[189][190] The NBA and NBPA also agreed to have the 2021 NBA All-Star Game be a more scaled-down event at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta when compared to previous All-Star Games in recent years, though they both were still working out some of the greater details there, such as how to protect themselves from COVID-19 when that time comes.[191] One solution made was for All-Stars to begin daily testing during the All-Star break of March 5-10, 2021, with players set to return to their home markets the day after the All-Star Game concludes.[192]
• February 3, 2021: Before the Suns began their second game against the New Orleans Pelicans (this time playing in New Orleans, though having a blowout loss to New Orleans this time around), the NBA and NBPA confirmed that, despite some inconclusive testing from the Detroit Pistons on February 1 causing another suspended game for this season, no new players out of a now 482 total have tested positive for COVID-19 since January 27.[193]
• February 4, 2021: The NBA and NBPA agreed upon the final touches to make sure the 2021 NBA All-Star Game happens this season in Atlanta.[194]
• February 5, 2021: The Phoenix Suns not only started out a seven-game home stand with a game against the Detroit Pistons, but are also slated to have this be their last game without fans in their arena for the season. That game ended with a 109–92 blowout win over the Pistons, avenging an overtime loss in Detroit earlier this season. Players are also forced to wear better quality face masks from here on out when not playing during this season.[195] The NBA also began mandatory Zoom meetings between Dr. Leroy Sims, the league's highest medical expert, and all 30 NBA teams to help alleviate concerns and skepticism players, coaches, and other team personnel have on taking their COVID-19 vaccine shots when they are able to.[196]
• February 6, 2021: Any free agents that signed with their new teams during this offseason can now be traded, starting by this date.[93] The NBA also informed teams to make sure their players, coaches, and other staff members don't host any big Super Bowl parties in the event they don't play on the Sunday of Super Bowl LV in order to prevent another COVID-19 superspreader situation in the league.[197]
• February 7, 2021: The Suns celebrated the healthcare workers of Arizona in their first game of allowing fans back inside of their home arena since March 8, 2020. 1,493 healthcare workers and their families were honored inside the arena that day, finishing the afternoon with a 100–91 win over the Boston Celtics.
• February 8, 2021: Phoenix soon afterward allowed for regular fans to enter their home arena in a limited capacity going forward into this season, starting at around 1,500 on this day. This time, 1,485 total fans came to see the Suns get a thrilling 119–113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• February 16, 2021: Voting for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game concludes on this date.
• February 19, 2021: The NBA concluded their mandatory Zoom meetings between Dr. Leroy Sims and all 30 teams with them trying to help alleviate concerns and skepticism players, coaches, and other team personnel had with COVID-19 vaccines.
• February 23, 2021: Teams can now sign players to 10-day contracts, if necessary.[181] All-Stars voted for both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference by the fans, players, and media outlets will all be unveiled by this date as well.[198]
• February 24, 2021: The Suns have this as their last possible day to waive both Cameron Payne and Damian Jones and avoid having their salaries be fully guaranteed before the salary guarantee date of February 27.[93]
• March 2, 2021: The Phoenix Suns conclude their initial first half of their season with a road game against the Los Angeles Lakers on TNT.
• March 3, 2021: Most other players that are considered eligible for trading are now officially eligible to be traded by this date.[93] It's also the last day for teams to acquire a two-way contract for the rest of the season, as well as apply for a disabled player's exception this season, if necessary.[181]
• March 4, 2021: The first half of this regular season concludes, with the Suns now ending it with a rescheduled home match against the Golden State Warriors.
• March 5, 2021: The NBA begins the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.[92] During this time, the players that are named All-Stars and other participating staff will have to undergo daily COVID-19 tests in order to make sure they're both eligible to play and do not interfere with the event.[192]
• March 7, 2021: The 2021 NBA All-Star Game is going to be played on this date.
• March 8, 2021: Players that completed the All-Star Game this season are now sent back to their homes early.[192]
• March 11, 2021: The NBA begins the second half of their regular season, providing teams any necessary changes for their schedules in the event games in the first half were postponed to COVID-19 (or other means), so long as they are realistic to fulfill for the second half.
• March 25, 2021: The NBA officially confirmed this date as the trade deadline for the season.
• April 9, 2021: Players have this as their last possible date to be waived while maintaining playoff eligibility in the event they want to be a part of a playoff contending team afterward.[93] Teams also can also do any contract renegotiations and have restricted free agents sign any offers for this season.[181]
• April 19, 2021: Teams have this as their last day to use any disabled player's exception they might have acquired earlier on.[181]
• May 16, 2021: The regular season concludes by this date for every team.[199] Players also have this as their last date to sign up to play for this season before the 2021 NBA Playoffs begin, as well as for two-way contracts to have their deals be converted to regular NBA contracts. Once this date ends, luxury tax penalties will be calculated by payroll from this date.
• May 17, 2021: The league's second play-in tournament is set to begin by this date.[199]
• May 22, 2021: The 2021 NBA Playoffs is officially projected to start on this date after the play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds are concluded.[199]
• July 8, 2021: The 2021 NBA Finals officially begins.[92]
• July 22, 2021: The last possible day for the 2021 NBA Finals is set here.[92]
• August 1, 2021: The NBA will consider this date the official conclusion to their season before declaring August 2, 2021 the official start to their next season, all while the branded 2020 Olympics potentially continue forward as planned.[93]

Round	Pick	Player	Position(s)	Nationality	College / Club
1	10	Jalen Smith	Power Forward	United States	Maryland

Before the start of the 2020 NBA draft period, the Suns' selection was held stuck at pick #10 for this draft due to their record being better than not just every Eastern Conference team that missed the playoffs at the time, but were also better than both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors (who both held the best odds at the #1 pick for 2020 alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers, with Minnesota and Golden State eventually being in the Top 2) during that period as well.[200] However, because of the aftermath of last season's suspension period, the Suns were ultimately stuck at that position, with the only way their spot could move at all afterward revolving around the seeding games of July & August 2020 affecting their draft position either upward or downward, depending on who might have moved up in seeding in that time by winning that season's play-in tournament experiment. Yet despite having a perfect 8-0 finish to their season in the 2020 NBA Bubble, the Suns missed out on that season's play-in tournament due to the Memphis Grizzlies holding the tiebreaker that season, though the Portland Trail Blazers still won the play-in tournament of one game, which made them move up from #12 (which ultimately went to the Sacramento Kings despite having a better finishing record than the New Orleans Pelicans due to their tiebreaker coin-flip based on records from March 11, 2020) to the 16th pick of the draft and dropped Memphis down to the NBA draft lottery instead. The 2020 NBA draft lottery results ended with every team that participated in the 2020 NBA Bubble staying where they were originally projected at (with Memphis losing their lottery pick to the Boston Celtics in the end). After the lottery ended, all teams this season began preparing for the draft this year by utilizing a modified version of the NBA Draft Combine, lasting from September 28 until November 16, to help gain better insight of players they might be interested in alongside previous footage and statistics shown for these prospects.

Entering the night of the 2020 NBA draft on November 18, the Suns held only their own first-round pick this year. Any and all actions done during both the draft combine and draft night were made with recommended social distancing guidelines still intact (with teams using Zoom to help meet with players in this draft period early on), with the draft being announced at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut via videotelephony, similarly to the 2020 NFL Draft, instead of at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York due to said guidelines. Previously, Phoenix also held the rights to the Milwaukee Bucks' first-round pick (which became Desmond Bane),[201] as well as their own second-round pick (which became Robert Woodard II) and the rights to the Detroit Pistons' second-round pick (which became Xavier Tillman), with both of those extra selections being acquired back under Ryan McDonough's past tenure with the team.[202] The Pistons' selection was traded under McDonough's tenure alongside multiple other selections and previously held draft rights to acquire power forward Marquese Chriss back in the 2016 NBA draft,[203] while current general manager James Jones traded for bigger, win to help for both right now and the upcoming future moves by using the Bucks' first-round pick (which conveyed to pick #30 this year) to the Boston Celtics in last season's draft to acquire back-up center Aron Baynes and rookie point guard Ty Jerome,[204] as well as giving their second-round picks for both this season and next season, back-up point guard De'Anthony Melton, and small forward Josh Jackson (the last of whom was dealing with multiple legal issues during that time[205][206]) to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for back-up point guard Jevon Carter and shooting guard Kyle Korver, the latter of which had his contract waived for the purpose of signing starting point guard Ricky Rubio to the team[207] (though both Ty Jerome and Ricky Rubio were used in a future trade for Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder near the middle of November 2020).[9][10] With their only selection of the 2020 NBA draft, the Suns selected sophomore power forward Jalen Smith from the University of Maryland. In addition to his accolades in high school, Smith was named a Big Ten All-Freshman Team member for 2019, as well as a Big Ten All-Defensive Team member, an All-Big Ten First Team member, and unanimous All-American Third Team member in 2020. He also averaged a double-double of 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, as well as 2.4 blocks per game in his sophomore year starting at Maryland.

For this season, free agency began on November 20, 2020 at 6:00 P.M. EST instead of the previously typical starting date of July 1 due to the prior season being suspended for a longer period than the NBA initially expected. However, this season, official signings began on the 22nd at 12:01 P.M. EST instead of the 25th, two days apart from when free agency begins instead of the usual five day moratorium period the NBA has. For this season, only Aron Baynes, Dario Šarić, and Jevon Carter became designated free agents, with Baynes being unrestricted and both Šarić and Carter being restricted free agents. In addition to them, both Frank Kaminsky III and Cheick Diallo were declined their team options and became unrestricted free agents themselves on November 19, while Cameron Payne (the last team option contract that signed with the team in June before their previous season resumed in July) was set for at least the early portion of this season on the day of the NBA draft due to his production in the 2020 NBA Bubble and his salary being non-guaranteed early. Élie Okobo was also set to have his free agency status decided upon by November 26, though his contract was officially waived three days earlier than that. Originally, his contract extension was to be decided upon by the Suns on July 10, 2020 before the NBA & NBPA agreed to push back every player's option decision deadlines, salary guarantee dates (like with Okobo's case), and other offseason dates and deadlines for various things, such as traded player exceptions for teams that had them expire during this time period, to the new free agency period this season.[208] In addition to them, Tariq Owens also had his two-way contract expire this season with no plans to re-sign him for this season whatsoever, especially after not being with the team during last season's restart and Phoenix announcing the sale of the Northern Arizona Suns affiliate franchise to the Detroit Pistons on July 29, 2020.[24][25] The NBA also eventually set the training camp period for all teams this season to December 1, 2020 for their shortened out start on December 22, 2020, with two-way contracts now able to play in more NBA games and earn a higher salary for at least this season.[93]

On November 16, 2020, when the NBA allowed for teams to officially conduct trades for this season, the Suns agreed to a trade they had first started discussing privately with the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier in November.[9] This trade had them sending starting point guard Ricky Rubio, starting forward Kelly Oubre Jr., back-up guards Jalen Lecque and Ty Jerome, and a top-12 protected 2022 first-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for 10x All-Star point guard Chris Paul and Egyptian-American shooting guard/small forward Abdel Nader.[10] The move was considered at the time to be the biggest impact move of the season according to other team's general managers.[209] Three days later, on the day after the draft, the Suns agreed to a 2-year two-way contract with undrafted Creighton University guard Ty-Shon Alexander. On November 21, a day after free agency began, forward Jae Crowder of the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat agreed to a three-year deal worth $30 million, taking over the role previously held by Kelly Oubre Jr. during the last two seasons; Jevon Carter also agreed to re-sign with the Suns on a 3-year deal worth $11.5 million. The next day, when free agents were allowed to sign new deals for the season, center Damian Jones of the Atlanta Hawks agreed to sign a partially guaranteed 2-year deal worth the veteran's minimum he'd receive for both this season and the next, with the Hawks declining to match that contract; E'Twaun Moore of the New Orleans Pelicans also agreed to a veteran's minimum deal of his own, albeit fully guaranteed for just one year instead of two. The day after that, Dario Šarić agreed to a 3-year deal worth $27 million to return to Phoenix himself, with Jevon Carter officially re-signing with his own 3-year deal,[104] Ty-Shon Alexander signing his two-way contract with the Suns,[210] Langston Galloway of the Detroit Pistons agreeing to sign a veteran's minimum deal with Phoenix after the Pistons renounced his free agency rights, and Élie Okobo officially being waived from the team by this time.[211] These kinds of moves also considered the Suns to have the second-best free agency period behind only the Lakers, according to the other general managers around the league.[209] Abdel Nader later had his final year of his contract guaranteed for the Suns on November 24, days before that decision would have otherwise been set,[212] with Ty-Shon Alexander officially signing his two-way contract as well.[107] Jae Crowder later signed with the Suns officially on November 28, as did Dario Šarić.[113][114] On November 30, guards E'Twaun Moore and Langston Galloway, as well as center Damian Jones, all signed their respective veteran's minimum salary deals with Phoenix.[115] Finally, before the start of the regular season, the Suns reacquired Frank Kaminsky III on a more team-friendly contract of $1,620,564 for one year on December 22, a day before their regular season officially began.

On November 22, 2020, Aron Baynes agreed to a 2-year, $14.3 million deal with the Toronto Raptors, which he signed officially on November 25.[213] Also on that day, guard B. J. Johnson of the Orlando Magic and Lakeland Magic initially agreed to a deal with the Suns,[214] though B. J. later signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Miami Heat on December 4 instead.[215] On November 26, Frank Kaminsky III agreed to sign a 1-year, non-guaranteed deal with the Sacramento Kings (essentially competing for an open roster spot with them), which was made official four days later on November 30;[216] Kaminsky eventually failed to make their roster properly after the preseason concluded,[217] though he later returned to Phoenix before the start of the regular season. Also on November 30, forward Johnathan Motley of the Los Angeles Clippers and Agua Caliente Clippers agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Suns,[115] eventually earning a proper veteran's minimum deal of his own after the preseason concluded. While the Suns would normally provide a training camp roster filling up to 20 spots by the start of training camp, due to COVID-19 complications combined with this season being their last as owners of the Northern Arizona Suns G League affiliate team, the Suns entered this period with only 16 players on their official roster before the start of the regular season. Motley was later cut from the team on December 19,[144] with his spot replaced by Frank Kaminsky III days later. Former two-way contract option Tariq Owens had his Northern Arizona Suns player rights traded away to the Long Island Nets on December 7.[218] Before playing there, though, he agreed to be a member of the NBA G League Ignite's practice squad (known officially as the Team G League Vets) on December 15 & 17, 2020;[219][220] their purpose was to help acclimate potential young stars into learning what the NBA lifestyle is really like and improving the abilities they already have going forward into their future as hopeful NBA players. On December 16, after first initially agreeing to a deal back on November 30, Élie Okobo signed his own Exhibit 10 deal with the Brooklyn Nets, with the intent of getting him to their Long Island Nets affiliate team three days later once their preseason concluded on December 18.[221] By the end of the preseason period, only Cheick Diallo had yet to sign a new deal either in the NBA or elsewhere in the world; he eventually signed with the Avtodor Saratov in Russia's VTB United League on February 2, 2021.

On September 8, 2020, nearly two months after firing Steve Blake and Larry Greer during the 2020 NBA Bubble period, the Suns hired former Minnesota Timberwolves player development coach Brian Randle as one of the incoming assistant coach replacements, taking on Steve Blake's apparent position with the team.[35] In addition to that move, their Director of Athletic Performance, Daniel Bove, announced his hiring by the New Orleans Pelicans for that exact position there on his Twitter account after helping the team go undefeated in the 2020 NBA Bubble.[222] Five days after the announced signing, the Memphis Grizzlies announced the hiring of assistant coach Darko Rajaković going forward for this season, leaving Phoenix to search for his replacement.[41] On October 9, the Suns hired former Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Kevin Young (who was an assistant alongside Monty Williams during his time in Philadelphia and was once considered a head coach candidate for the 76ers) as their second new assistant coach hiring of the season, replacing Rajaković's position going forward.[54]

On July 31, 2020, in a period that would normally be considered a part of this season, the Suns fired 30 different employees for varying reasons that affected overall team performance, especially by being considered either redundant or outdated.[27] Three months later, on Halloween 2020, Suns co-owner Richard J. Heckmann passed away at 76 years old due to complications relating to multiple system atrophy, though his passing wasn't confirmed by the team until November 2.[223][224] During the start of the free agency period on November 20, NBA officials confirmed that 30 more employees were furloughed alongside employees in the organization having to take a 5%-20% pay cut for the season, both of which were due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 recession.[101]

For this season, the salary cap for the NBA was set at $109,140,000 and the maximum amount of salary spent for this season was set at $132,627,000, both being the same amounts that were set for last season before the COVID-19 pandemic affected everything in the league financially.[83] Furthermore, two-way contracts can now earn $449,155 for at least this season instead of the usual five-digit salaries they originally had due to amendments in the collective bargaining agreement for not just this season, but future seasons to come, though they still won't affect salary caps for teams going forward for this season.[93] This season, the Suns started out over the set salary cap this time around, spending the most that they have yet in a season, notably with the addition of Chris Paul via trade.[225]

While the dangers of COVID-19 first began last season on March 11, 2020 for the NBA, they alongside the NBPA and NBCA all agreed to health and safety protocols that would affect the entirety of this season until further notice, starting with this season's draft process. In addition to moving the 2020 draft to November 18, both the players looking to be drafted and team staffs had to adhere to COVID-19 regulations stated by the CDC (or international equivalent for foreign players) throughout the pre-draft period, as well as specific rules given by the NBA during the extended NBA Draft Combine period of September 28-November 16. Also throughout the month of November, the NBA & NBPA finalized some new health and safety protocols relating to the prevention of COVID-19 spreading throughout teams, with the hope of achieving results similar to the 2020 NBA Bubble late last season. They first gave out official guidelines for allowing teams to allow somewhere from 25-50% capacity for fans to watch games live in each team's respective arenas, though only a few teams managed to even allow any fans in at all for at least the first half of the season.[86] The NBA also helped players that wanted out from playing this season due to COVID-19 risks by having this season be prohibited from the contract signed by December 1, though no one reportedly used that option there. On November 28, 2020, the NBA gave every team an updated health and safety protocol guide that included procedures on what to do if anyone on their team catches COVID-19, with a sense of fluidity in mind on when it is proper to shut down any games for this season (though most cases appear to be when teams have less than 8 available players ready to play with a combination of COVID-19 cases and injuries causing the limited number of players this season).[112] Later in December, they gave official details for what to do to help prevent serious spread of the virus from happening throughout their team and other players in the NBA:[125]

• The size of the active roster for available players expanded from 13 to 15 players.
  • Two-way contracts also received a guaranteed salary of $449,155 for this season, now being eligible to play for up to 50 NBA games this season as opposed to having a 45-day limit with a smaller salary in place.
• Occurrences of independent cases (that aren't spread to other players or staff), or otherwise a small, "expected" number of cases will not result in a suspended or cancelled season, though there is no specific criteria laid out to when that decision could occur, if deemed necessary.
• Any positive tests will require the player to either test negative twice after 24 hours passed via PCR testing or otherwise go at least 10 days after first testing positive or having symptoms of COVID-19 before given clearance.
  • Players that do test positive for the virus, even if they're asymptomatic to its effects, will not be allowed to exercise during their quarantine period. After that, they need to be monitored for an additional two days to be cleared for action in the first place.
• Parties for travel will have up to 45 people, including the maximum roster space of 17 players, for travel across the United States to play away games throughout the season.
  • While in their home market, team personnel will be prohibited from going to bars, lunges, clubs, or other live entertainment like concerts and other sporting events, as well as using other gyms, spas, or pools, and even participate in big social gatherings involving 15 or more people outside of NBA related protocols.
  • In road game markets, the 45 people allowed to travel throughout the league will have at least three different restaurants to choose from as alternative options from dining in their hotel rooms if the restaurants have outdoor dining, fully privatized indoor rooms, or were otherwise formally approved of by the league and the players' union.
  • The 45 people allowed to travel will also be designated as "Tier 1" members of the team, while other employees and staff with less direct contact, though still requiring masks and social distancing while at work, will be classified as "Tier 2" members. Both tiers will require daily COVID-19 tests, as well as twice-weekly tests for household members of players and staff.
• The NBA may conduct unannounced inspections of team facilities to ensure teams are complying with these health and safety protocols.
• Similar to the 2020 NBA Bubble, the NBA provided an anonymous tip line to report on potential violations on safety protocols.
• Players that violate safety guidelines may face a loss of pay proportionate to any lost availability to quarantine or reinstatement steps, as well as potentially face formal warnings, fines, suspensions, or educational sessions.
  • Teams also face potential penalties themselves if they fail to comply with or fail to report any violations on their mandated health and safety protocols.
• Once a COVID-19 vaccine is readily available, both the NBA & NBPA will negotiate whether all players, coaches, and other staff members are required to receive it. If the players decide not to require vaccine usage for the remainder of the season, further adjustments to combat the virus, including further testing on players that choose not to receive the vaccine or longer mask wearing sessions, can and will be implemented during the season.
• No random marijuana drug tests will be given out to players this season.

The NBA also permanently adopted the coach's challenge as an official part of the game during this season,[142] with teams back to standing up for the national anthem before games again.[147]

After seeing some minor success during the start of the season, having only one game suspended around the start of the season due to a combination of COVID-19 infections, concerns of infection, and other injuries affecting one team around the same time; more teams and players experienced greater infection numbers around the start of 2021, including the Suns. As a result, the NBA started implementing more protocols and ideas to help combat the virus and potentially limit the amount of suspended games heading into the second half of the season, as well as discuss further ideas to help limit spread of COVID-19 in general. The following protocol changes were announced at various points throughout the season. Note that some of these protocol changes supersede rule changes made earlier in 2020, while others were implemented under a temporary basis in mind.

• Outside of team physicians, health-related personnel, older staff members (including coaches), and people that have conditions that can lead to higher complications if infected with COVID-19, nobody on any team is allowed to cut through the recommended guidelines on vaccination against the virus.[150]
• Teams are required to inform the league's office of discipline imposed on violators of the health and safety protocols set for this season via compliance enforcement and facemask officers designated by the NBA.[154]
• Starting on January 4, 2021, teams facing severe injury hardships (at least four players out via injuries) will be allowed to sign 10-day contracts that will not infer serious punishments in the process.[158]
• Starting on January 5, 2021, teams that have their active players ready for action are required to start wearing their face masks in the bench area until they enter their games. In addition, all players and coaches must wear their face masks outside of team environments if they are around other players and coaches, and players must report names of any private trainer, therapist, chiropractor, or other specialist that they work with outside of team facilities. These other trainers and specialists must also wear masks and take all necessary precautions during this time also.[226]
  • For players during this time, a player that comes out of the game was not required (though was recommended) to wear a mask after returning to the bench until they get back in the game; that rule ultimately reseted during halftime, with players not entering the game during the start of the third quarter still needing to wear their masks until entering the game again. Players that aren't activated throughout the entire game are required to wear their masks throughout the entire game, with coaches still required to wear their masks as well.
• On January 6, 2021, an increased focus on mental health was given to players that were struggling mentally through the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects upon the world. In addition to existing requirements implemented for teams at their facilities last season, they will also offer availability for telehealth services for players to meet with their mental health professionals anywhere in the United States, when necessary.[227]
• Starting on January 7, 2021, Kinexon SafeZone contact sensors were given to all Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel to wear on the team plan, team bus, during practices, and to and from the arena or their home practice facility in connection with team travel to help combat against the virus (though are not required to be worn during games or at the team hotel while travelling). Failure to wear the sensors will involve some discipline at hand, though the type of discipline is unclear at this time.[165]
• On January 12, both the NBA & NBPA announced an agreement to have additional measures to help supplement their health and safety protocols to help combat against COVID-19 spread among players and teams this season.[167]
  • From at least January 12-26, 2021, players and team staff are required to remain at their residence (when the team is in its home market) at all times except for attending team-related activities at the team facility or arena, exercising outside, or performing essential activities, or as a result of extraordinary circumstances beyond their control. All away from work interactions are limited to those with household members, family, and any personal staff working regularly in the home. When on the road, players and team staff are prohibited from leaving their hotel (outside of team activities or emergencies) or interacting with non-team guests at the hotel.
  • During that same time frame, any pre-game meetings in the locker room are limited to no more than 10 minutes in duration and all attendees must wear a face mask. All other meetings involving players and team staff must continue to occur on the court, in a league-approved space, or at the arena in a room large enough to provide for at least 6 feet of distance between individuals. Meeting attendees must continue to wear their face masks at all times there.
  • With team flights, teams must create a seating plan on their planes so that players whose assigned seats are closest to each other on the bench for games played are also closest to each other on the team plane. All treatment sessions at a hotel, such as massages and physical therapy, must occur in a ballroom or other large open space, with at least 12 feet between individual stations. Both face masks and face shields are also required for all individuals during such sessions, though a decision will be made for each party there.
  • Players are prohibited from arriving at the arena more than three hours before tip-off. During both the pre-game and post-game periods, players must limit their interactions to elbow or fist bumps, avoid extended socializing with the other team's players and staff, and maintain 6 feet of distance as much as possible.
  • All players now must wear face masks on the bench at all times. Upon exiting the game, and prior to returning to the bench, players can sit in "cool down chairs," arranged at least 12 feet from the bench with each chair 6 feet apart, where face masks are not required. Once a player has cooled down, he must return to his assigned seat on the bench and wear a face mask until he enters the game again. Players now must always wear face masks in the locker room, during strength and conditioning activities, and when traveling with anyone other than a family or household member. Meanwhile, coaches and other team staff must wear face masks at all times during games.
  • Any individual who regularly visits the interior of the home of a player or team staff member for a professional purpose now must undergo COVID-19 testing twice per week. For any team with a positive player case or high-risk staff member case, the NBA may require these players and team staff members to undergo five consecutive days of twice-per-day, lab-based testing, in addition to daily point-of-care testing.
• On January 19, the NBA and NBPA began discussing the idea of players receiving a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they are properly able to do so, both in terms of helping ease up some of the health and safety guidelines added this season later on and to help educate and influence the public to take their vaccines to help combat the virus going forward.
• Starting on January 20, in response to players ignoring special after game rules implemented fairly recently, the NBA would use midcourt team security to help enforce the current rule dissuading against hugs and handshakes after the end of games and promoting the use of elbow or fist bumps throughout the season instead.[228] Jersey exchanges immediately after the games end are also prohibited for the rest of this season until further notice as well.[229]
• Starting on February 5, the NBA would enforce players to start wearing either KN95 or KF94 face masks in all required areas in order to decrease potential spread of the virus.[195]

Reactions to some of the protocols made during January 2021 were polarizing, with some players, coaches, and owners admitting the newer protocols could still bring further risks into the season.[230] At the same time, other players, coaches, and owners also admitted the newer protocols set up for this season were absolutely necessary, with head coach Monty Williams saying that in a somewhat travelling bubble setting like this, he and his team feel safer than most of the general public does, but also notes that if he feels he's putting his family and team in harm's way, he and the team can be put somewhere else to quarantine for everyone else's safety because a lot of things could be lost if the rules aren't followed properly.[231] Some players and coaches further issued the idea of utilizing the success of the 2020 NBA Bubble into the second half of this season, if not the play-in tournament and playoffs, in the event COVID-19 spread worsens during the season instead, even with greater COVID-19 vaccine usage for the general population in mind.[232]

• With 38 assists in his first four games with the Suns from December 23-29, 2020, Chris Paul broke Stephon Marbury's record for the most assists held in their first four games with the franchise.[244]
• The 48 three-point attempts the Suns had on December 29, 2020 in their 111–86 win against the New Orleans Pelicans was the highest amount of three-point attempts in a game for the franchise's history.[245]
• With only 3 turnovers given up by the players to the Indiana Pacers on January 9, the Suns tied a team record for fewest turnovers in a single game with their 125–117 win in Indiana.[246][247]
• From January 18 to February 1, 2021, Deandre Ayton had a modern-day franchise record-high eight straight games with at least 13 rebounds grabbed in each game played.

• Chris Paul reached 19,004 career points in the NBA with 13 points scored in a 109–103 win over the Houston Rockets on January 20, 2021. He is now the 60th player in league history to reach the 19,000 point barrier for the NBA.[248] He also tied Dale Ellis' position for the All-Time Leading Scorers list that night.
  • The next game he played, he not only surpassed Ellis, but also tied Reggie Theus on the list with 11 points against the Denver Nuggets. The next night after that, he surpassed Theus on the list properly with 21 points against Denver, though both games ended in losses to the Nuggets in overtime thrillers.

• With their November 16, 2020 trade for Chris Paul, this marks their fourth trade for an All-Star player after a prior season concluded, coming behind Truck Robinson in 1979, Dennis Johnson in 1980, and Charles Barkley in 1992.[9]
• The Phoenix Suns began with a 3–1 start to a season for the first time since 2014.[245]
  • Similarly, by beating the Utah Jazz 106–95 on December 31, 2020, and the Denver Nuggets 106–103 on January 1, 2021, the Suns began with a 5–1 start to the season (as well as to end 2020 and enter 2021) for the first time since the 2009–10 season.
• With 25 points scored in a close 112–107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on January 3, 2021, Devin Booker surpassed Tom Chambers to become the 11th best scorer in franchise history.[249]
• Their 7–3 start to this season is their best 10-game start to a season since the 2009–10 season.
• Starting from January 18, 2021 and continuing until at least January 28, Deandre Ayton joined Charles Barkley and his former rookie season teammate Tyson Chandler as the only Suns players in the last 30 seasons to have at least 13 rebounds in six straight games.[250] With 17 rebounds against the Dallas Mavericks on both January 30 and February 1, he later became the only Suns player in the last 30 seasons to achieve such results in eight straight games for a season.
• On January 20, Deandre Ayton became the first Suns player to get at least 25 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks in a game since Shawn Marion on December 12, 2007 against the Utah Jazz.[251] Ayton recorded 26 points, 17 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 assists in a 109–103 win over the Houston Rockets that night.[252]
• Chris Paul's 14 assists in the first half on January 22 against the Denver Nuggets was the most assists a Suns player has had in a half since Steve Nash in 2007.[253] He'd only get one more assist that night before losing that game in overtime.
• Also on January 22, Devin Booker became the 11th player in franchise history to score 8,000 points with the Suns in his career, scoring 31 that game to reach 8,003 overall points that night, only leaving overtime early due to a strained left hamstring.[254]
• On February 1, 2021, Devin Booker became the fourth Suns player (behind Steve Nash, Dan Majerle, and one-time former teammate Leandro Barbosa) to score 700 three-pointers with them, scoring four of them that night, including a clutch three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left near the end of their road rematch against the Dallas Mavericks to win 109–108 that night.[255]
• Two days after returning to action, Devin Booker surpassed Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor member Dan Majerle in points scored with the Suns as the new tenth best scorer in franchise history on February 3. He scored his 2-point basket to overtake Thunder Dan with 2:49 left in the second quarter, eventually ending with 25 points in a blowout loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

^ I: While the Oklahoma City Thunder will acquire the Suns' pick if it's outside the top-12, their first-round pick can be delayed for the Thunder until either 2023 if it's outside the top-10, 2024 if it's outside the top-8, or 2025 if all prior protections are met.

^ a: Initially, Frank Kaminsky III was waived by the Suns after they declined the second year on the team's option for his contract that he was originally going to receive $10,000,000 from overall ($5,233,000 for just this season). However, after Kaminsky failed to make the Sacramento Kings' official roster for this season and the Suns declined to accept Johnathan Motley on their roster (either as the official 15th member of the team or as a two-way contract like in Motley's past three seasons in the NBA), the Suns decided to acquire Kaminsky again, this time by claiming him off of his waivers on December 21, officially re-signing him to a more team friendly deal (i.e., his veteran's minimum salary for the season) a day later before their regular season began.

^ b: Originally, two-way contracts were held to five digit salaries with limitations on being with their NBA team they signed with for only 45 days in a season, regardless of whether a game's played or not. Any more days than that would usually require a promotion into a full-scale contract afterward. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA agreed to allow their two-way contracts to play in the 2020 NBA Playoffs before agreeing to expand salaries for these kinds of contracts by having them play for up to 50 total games in a season with the NBA, with call-ups to their NBA G League affiliate team (or chosen team if no affiliate is held for at least this season) included once entering the 2020–21 NBA G League season. For this season, players like Ty-Shon Alexander (who will hold a two-way contract for two seasons instead of a more typical one season two-way contract) will have a guaranteed salary of $449,155 for mixed play between their NBA team & their NBA G League affiliates, though they might play more often in the NBA due to strict COVID-19 regulations this season. For some teams like Phoenix, players like Alexander went to different G League teams (in Ty-Shon's case, he played for the Canton Charge in 2021) due to their G League affiliates choosing not to participate in the 2021 G League Bubble this season. Currently, it is unknown whether the two-way contract's salary will increase at all or decrease significantly to what it was originally planned for by Alexander's second year of this deal, so his overall salary will remain at $449,155 for now until his second year salary is officially stated for that season.
^ c: Damian Jones' contract only partially guarantees him $350,000 total for this season before being fully guaranteed by February 27, 2021, similar to Cameron Payne for this season. After that, his second season is a non-guaranteed season, similar to Frank Kaminsky III and Cheick Diallo's deals from last season.

Player	Reason left	New team(s)
Tariq Owens	Two-way contract expired[d]	Long Island Nets[e]
Ricky Rubio	Traded	Oklahoma City Thunder / Minnesota Timberwolves[f]
Kelly Oubre Jr.	Traded	Oklahoma City Thunder / Golden State Warriors[g]
Jalen Lecque	Traded	Oklahoma City Thunder / Indiana Pacers / Fort Wayne Mad Ants[h]
Ty Jerome	Traded	Oklahoma City Thunder / Oklahoma City Blue[i]
Frank Kaminsky III	Waived / Unrestricted free agent[j]	Sacramento Kings / Phoenix Suns[k]
Cheick Diallo	Waived / Unrestricted free agent[j]	Avtodor Saratov[l]
Aron Baynes	Unrestricted free agent	Toronto Raptors[m]
Élie Okobo	Waived / Unrestricted free agent[n]	Brooklyn Nets / Long Island Nets[o]

^ d: During the previous season, Tariq Owens was given a choice to play in the 2020 NBA Bubble for that season's resumption period, which allowed for two-way contracts that year to compete for not just the rest of the season, but also the 2020 NBA Playoffs if given the chance there. However, Owens declined the chance to play for personal reasons, though he was still technically considered a part of the Suns' roster that season afterward until the beginning of free agency. If his early period of being outside the NBA Bubble were to count, though, Owens would be the earliest removal from the roster back in July and August 2020.
^ e: On December 7, 2020, Tariq Owens was confirmed to have his G League player rights traded away from the Northern Arizona Suns to the Long Island Nets, with the Northern Arizona franchise being one of 11 teams to decline entry for the NBA G League's season in their last season under that name. Before he began playing any games for Long Island in the shortened down 2021 NBA G League Bubble season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Owens also played for the NBA G League Ignite's practice squad (officially known as the Team G League Vets) in a couple of exhibition matches on December 15 & 17, 2020 to help prepare the younger Ignite players on getting acclimated to the idea of life in the NBA early, as well as later experience what the 2020 NBA Bubble setting was like personally in the 2020–21 NBA G League season.
^ f: Ricky Rubio was first traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a deal to acquire 10x All-Star Chris Paul and Abdel Nader on November 16, 2020. However, Rubio was later involved in a deal that sent him back to the Minnesota Timberwolves alongside the draft rights to Jaden McDaniels in exchange for James Johnson, the draft rights to Aleksej Pokuševski, and the Timberwolves' 2024 second-round pick, which first got discussed during the 2020 NBA draft before completing the trade around the start of free agency on November 20.
^ g: Kelly Oubre Jr. was first traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder alongside Ricky Rubio on November 16. He then got traded to the Golden State Warriors for a protected 2021 first-round pick and a traded player exception worth his salary for this season six days later.
^ h: Like with Ricky Rubio and Kelly Oubre Jr. mentioned earlier, Jalen Lecque was first traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Chris Paul and Abdel Nader on November 16. However, he was then involved in a trade with the Indiana Pacers in exchange for T. J. Leaf and a 2027 second-round pick over a week later. Lecque was later sent to the 2021 NBA G League Bubble with the Pacers' G League affiliate team, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, to play at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex before returning to Indiana later on this season.
^ i: Like the other three players mentioned earlier on, Ty Jerome was a part of the November 16 deal that sent him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for 10x All-Star Chris Paul and Abdel Nader. Unlike the other players included in that deal, Jerome was the only player to stay with the Thunder for the season. However, he was sent off to their G League affiliate team, the Oklahoma City Blue, for their shortened 2020–21 NBA G League season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to not just recover from an injury he had earlier this season, but also get some action there before returning to the Thunder later on this season.
^ j: Both Frank Kaminsky III and Cheick Diallo had their second year team options declined by the Suns this season, thereby waiving away their second years off their contracts and making them unrestricted free agents for the season, though Kaminsky would at least return to Phoenix later on before the start of the season.
^ k: Frank Kaminsky III signed a deal with the Sacramento Kings on November 30, 2020. However, his one-year contract was non-guaranteed for them this season. Kaminsky was eventually waived by Sacramento on December 19, but he ended up returning with the Phoenix Suns three days later by claiming him off of waivers on December 22.
^ l: After failing to find a new NBA or even NBA G League team to sign with during the regular season, Cheick Diallo signed a one-year deal with the Avtodor Saratov in Russia on February 2, 2021.
^ m: For at least the majority of this season, the Toronto Raptors will play home games in Tampa, Florida due to regulations put up during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
^ n: Before the COVID-19 pandemic affected scheduling plans for the previous season, Élie Okobo's deal was planned to be fully guaranteed by July 10, 2020. However, due to the new collective bargaining agreement that was eventually agreed upon by the NBA & NBPA on November 9 this season, his third year of his contract was declined on November 23 with no guaranteed salary from the Suns this season, transitioning him into unrestricted free agency soon afterward.
^ o: While the Brooklyn Nets had a verbal agreement with Élie Okobo on November 30, 2020, his Exhibit 10 contract with them was not guaranteed for him until December 16 due to Brooklyn already filling up their roster before the start of their preseason of two games. Okobo would not play at all with Brooklyn during that short time before heading off to the Long Island Nets affiliate team for the start of the shortened 2020–21 NBA G League season, reuniting with former teammate Tariq Owens there in the process.