It didn't take the Phoenix Suns long to assemble a 15-player roster during the NBA offseason. According to spotrac.com, their total salary for the 2023-24 season is currently $214.97 million, the third-most of all 30 teams, behind only the Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Four players on the Suns' payroll have maximum contracts: Kevin Durant ($47.6 million), Bradley Beal ($46.7 million), Devin Booker ($36 million) and Deandre Ayton ($32.5 million). The fifth-highest salary on the team goes to Cameron Payne, who will make $6.5 million. Another six are on minimum deals.

When the Suns made that blockbuster trade to acquire Durant from the Brooklyn Nets in mid-February, the team knew they would have very limited ways other than signing free agents on minimum contracts to improve their lineup. The deal to land Beal from the Washington Wizards in June only made it clearer: The Suns had nothing but minimum deals to offer.

The NBA's financial rules allow teams to sign players on various kinds of contracts, ranging from rookie max extension, max contract, designated veteran player extension (DVPE), to mid-level exception, bi-annual exception, minimum contract and others.

The most economical deals among the above contracts are always the max ones and the minimum ones if they are given to the right players. The biggest deal a team can offer to a player is the DVPE, the salary of which begins at 35 percent of the salary cap. Each team is allowed to have two such contracts at most on their payroll.

However, if two players make the same money, it doesn't mean they are as good as each other. For example, Booker is in the final year of his five-year, $158.3 million designated rookie extension for the 2023-24 campaign, but he is undoubtedly the best player on the Suns' roster over Durant and Beal, both of whom make over $10 million more than Booker per season.

Durant will make less than $1 million more than Beal in the 2023-24 season, but the difference between their contributions on the court is much bigger than $1 million can reflect. The 34-year-old Durant averaged 29.1 points at a true shooting percentage of 67.7 per game last season. Beal reached 60 (60.4) on that front only in the 2016-17 campaign.

Generally speaking, the Suns don't have to worry about Durant not being worth the money they pay him, but they should watch out for Beal and his contract that still has four years left, including a player option for the 2026-27 season.

Nonetheless, at least Beal earned that deal with solid performances and was one of the NBA's top three scorers only two years ago. As long as he finds that form back, he is unlikely to become a big flop in the next two seasons. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Ayton. His salary for the 2023-24 season is the lowest among the four, but he is also the biggest deadweight compared with the other three, judging by his poor performances and lack of fighting spirit last season.

So, to conclude the values of the Suns' four max contracts: Booker is worth much more than his salary; Durant matches his deal with his performance; Beal's contract is unnecessarily expensive; and Ayton is very likely to underwhelm.

The six players in the minimum salary grade can be divided into two groups. Eric Gordon, Damion Lee and Yuta Watanabe are all capable of contributing more than they are paid. Before Gordon was released by the Los Angeles Clippers, he made nearly $19 million a year. He made 2.1 triples at 42.3 percent per game for the Clippers last season. He is still a good bench scorer off the dribble and can guard three positions on most occasions.

Lee was the Suns' third-most accurate 3-point shooter and drained 1.5 triples at 44.5 percent per game. Watanabe was once the best corner 3-point shooter in the league. Though he slipped in the second half of the season, his 2.06-meter-tall height and energy still make him a valuable defender for big wings on the Suns' roster.

As for Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks and Chimezie Metu, they are unlikely to find better offers if they don't join the Suns. The best they can do is make sure that the team's core rotations won't overload themselves during the regular season.

When the "moneyball" theory of baseball was introduced into the NBA, it translated into a series of strategies for team building and style of play. One of them is to shoot as much as possible at the 3-point line and in the paint, where the best efficiency is generated. What the Suns have been doing with their payroll looks like a variant of moneyball. They have assembled their roster with two extreme kinds of contracts, the max and the minimum deals, and count on both ends to make bigger contributions than they are paid for.

This is a very risky strategy because the Suns have traded away nearly every valuable asset to make this squad, which makes it very difficult for them to change track in the future. Moreover, two of their best-paid players are unlikely to match their contracts with their performances. As for a definition of success for the Suns, their goal cannot be smaller than the NBA championship since they traded for Durant.