Suns Offer Minimum to No. 1 Draft Pick

The Phoenix Suns announced today they have decided to offer first-round draft pick Jayson Williams only a one-year contract for the minimum $170,000 salary and he likely won’t be on their NBA roster this season.

Williams, a forward from St. John’s, returned to his home in New York and was not immediately available for comment.

“His options are many,” Suns President Jerry Colangelo said at a news conference. “He’s welcome to come to training camp (starting Friday in Flagstaff). I don’t think that’s in the cards. No. 2, he can sit out the entire year and go back in the next college draft and we will retain his rights until then.

“No. 3, he can go to Europe and play and we would still retain his rights. And No. 4, we could trade his rights. If anyone’s interested, they can call.”

Colangelo said he and Suns head Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons met with Williams last Thursday and the rookie told them he’d rather play for an East Coast team.

Phoenix drafted the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Williams at No. 21 overall in the June 27 draft although he missed all but 13 games of his senior season last year with a fractured bone in his right foot. It was surgically repaired in January but he hasn’t played a game since Feb. 3.

Williams angered Suns officials when he skipped the team’s rookie and free agent camp here in July, saying he wouldn’t be ready to play until Sept. 1.

On Aug. 31, Williams’ agent, Bob Woolf, informed Colangelo that his client was considering signing a one-year, $1.5-million contract with the Italian pro team Il Messaggero. That deal never materialized and Williams joined the Suns for informal workouts Sept. 13.

“Jayson had to demonstrate to us with his work ethic and attitude that he wanted to be a member of the Phoenix Suns. The bottom line is we didn’t see that,” Colangelo said.