David Stockton's Suns Camp Deal Ends Before It Starts After Quick Waive

David Stockton's latest shot at an NBA return lasted about as long as it takes to read this sentence. The 35-year-old guard signed a training camp deal with the Phoenix Suns and was then waived, ending the flirtation before it ever produced a preseason minute. If you were dreaming on a deep-league flyer, wake up.

The context is what makes this notable rather than actionable. Stockton hasn't appeared in an NBA game since May 4, 2018, when he played Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals for the Utah Jazz against the Houston Rockets. Across his entire NBA career he's logged just eight total games, split between Utah and the Sacramento Kings.

The Résumé Nobody Doubts

Make no mistake, Stockton can play — the G League ledger says so. Over nine seasons and 244 games (185 of them starts), he's averaged 16.3 points, 6.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 29.5 minutes a night. That's a legitimate lead-guard stat line at the developmental level, the kind of production that keeps a career alive for the better part of a decade.

His path reads like a tour of the G League map: the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Indiana), the Memphis Hustle, the South Bay Lakers, and the Reno Bighorns, dating back to 2014. Most recently he suited up for the Valley Suns during the 2024-25 campaign, which explains the organizational familiarity that led to this camp look in the first place.

He's also stamped a passport along the way, with professional stops in Croatia, Australia, Germany and Puerto Rico. This is a grinder who's chased minutes on multiple continents, and the Phoenix camp deal was another line in that long ledger — not a comeback with roster teeth.

What This Actually Means

A training camp contract is essentially a tryout with a paycheck. Teams hand them out to fill out practice squads, kick tires on veterans, and give young guys bodies to bang against. Getting waived off one before the regular season is the default outcome, not a surprise. Stockton was never penciled into Phoenix's rotation.

For a Suns backcourt that's crowded with names who actually see NBA floor time, there was no realistic runway here. The move tells you nothing about Phoenix's depth chart and everything about how the last few weeks before camp shake out for fringe veterans league-wide.

The Fantasy Fallout

Let's keep this simple: there is no fantasy fallout, because there was never any fantasy value to begin with. Stockton isn't in our HoopSplit database for a reason — he's carried zero standard-league relevance since his cup of coffee in 2018, and a camp deal that ends in a waive doesn't change that math.

If you're in a hyper-deep dynasty or a devy-style G League format, you already knew who Stockton was and you already knew not to roster him for redraft purposes. Everyone else can scroll past. The real winners are the Phoenix guards still standing after cuts, none of whom ever had their touches threatened.

Bottom line for fantasy managers: drop him from your watchlist if he somehow ended up there, and don't spend a waiver thought on a 35-year-old who's played eight NBA games and just got cut from a tryout. This is a name-recognition headline, not a roster move.