The brilliant efficiency of Royce O’Neale is helping solidify the Phoenix Suns’ team culture and identity in their first four games.
O’Neale produced 12 points (4-of-9 shooting, 2-of-4 from 3), nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a turnover in 24 minutes off the bench, resulting in his game-high plus-25 in Monday’s 109-105 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
He’s accumulated an NBA-best plus-71 through four games, tied with the defending champion Boston Celtics’ Derrick White. O’Neale is averaging 7.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and one block per game. Most notably, O’Neale has team highs with an 86.8 defensive rating and 34.6 net rating.
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“It’s all the little things that go along the way,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “It’s getting loose balls, getting rebounds, it’s fighting through screens, verticality at the rim, getting to second actions offensively, just keeps things moving.
“There’s a lot of little subtle things that go into winning and Royce just really understands those and does it night after night. He’s been super, super impactful for us.”
O’Neale helped the Big 3 of Devin Booker (33 points), Kevin Durant (30 points) and Bradley Beal (15 points) in the nail-biting fourth. He scored five points, made stops by grabbing four of his seven total defensive rebounds, and was a plus-10.
O’Neale’s defensive stops also helped the Suns in the open floor, leading to a 21-8 advantage in fast-break points.
What Royce O’Neale thought of the comeback
“I think let’s just stay together, keeping our composure,” O’Neale said. “They got out to a lead, early on into the game and we stuck to the whole game about it. We got stops when we needed and, of course, important rebounds to finish on the other end.”
The Suns started the fourth quarter down seven, but went on a 14-3 run to take the lead.
During that stretch, O’Neale had an assist, a 3 to tie the game at 84, grabbed two boards and blocked a layup attempt by Anthony Davis. He made Davis earn his points at the line by fouling him in the post on the second try.
O’Neale helped guard LeBron James, and helped hold him to just 11 points and 21.4% on his field goal attempts, his worst regular-season shooting performance since his lowest ever 18.2% on Halloween 2007.
“It was a group effort. Brad started on him, then I come in, Ryan (Dunn),” O’Neale said. “Everybody who guarded him, I think us being connected, we know they love attacking the basket as a team so we try to take away those easy looks for them.”
A key to many elite teams of recent vintage is a physical enforcer and Swiss Army knife guy such as the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and the 2021 Suns’ Jae Crowder.
O’Neale has filled that much-needed role since he was dealt to Phoenix at least season’s trade deadline.
Royce O’Neale’s impact on Phoenix Suns
“Big time, we feed off those moments. It’s a whole team effort,” O’Neale said. “I think that just shows how much we want to win games, how connected we are to each other. Every possession counts and we’re not taking possessions off.”
The Suns acquired O’Neale in February, when general manager James Jones described O’Neale’s style with the phrase “winning plays.”
In 30 Suns games after they acquired O’Neale, the 31-year-old boosted them to a team-high positive-9.4 net rating when he was on the floor. Phoenix was a team-worst negative-4.1 when he was on the bench.
The Suns re-signed O’Neale to a $44 million extension in July.
During the Suns’ home-opening win over Dallas on Saturday, O’Neale reflected James’ descriptor about him by making a layup in transition in the third quarter’s closing seconds. Then he bolted for a chase-down block on Jaden Hardy before the buzzer, which ignited the crowd.
“That play from last game, make a layup on one end and a block on the other end within three to four seconds,” Booker said. “Just all the intangibles, and at the same time will knock down the open shot when he needs to. He’s really important for our team.”
Even in the Suns’ preseason 109-91 home loss to Detroit on Oct. 11, O’Neale wrestled with Ron Holland II on the floor in a heated tug-of-war jump-ball situation. When O’Neale rose from the football-like dogpile, he raised the ball to the roaring crowd like a gladiator.