[1][2] The Suns entered the season as the defending Western Conference champions and were attempting to return to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year.
In addition to them, superstar point guard Chris Paul also declined his player's option that would have allowed him to get $44,211,146 in the final season of his massive contract he first signed back when he was with the Houston Rockets in 2018, though he's expected to receive a 3-year deal worth $90 million with the Suns in free agency.
A day after that, the Suns also re-signed Abdel Nader to a two-year deal worth $4,200,000 (second year being a team option), with his signing also being official on August 6.
[12] On August 5, Frank Kaminsky III agreed to another one-year deal worth his veteran's minimum to return to Phoenix, with former Suns point guard Elfrid Payton agreeing to a one-year deal worth his own veteran's minimum to reunite with the Suns, albeit as a third-string point guard this time around.
[14] On August 26, the Suns announced that they had officially waived Ty-Shon Alexander from his second year of his two-way contract he had signed from his previous season with the team.
[15] On September 7, the Suns confirmed that they replaced Alexander's spot with that of former Washington Wizards (and technically San Antonio Spurs) player Chandler Hutchison as a two-way contract player for this season only due to it being his last eligible year for such a contract, with Ty-Shon Alexander confirmed to join the Segafredo Virtus Bologna in Italy later on that same day.
[20] However, Deandre Ayton failed to get a contract extension of his own before the deadline passed, making him a restricted free agent entering next season.
[22][23] On July 25, the Suns agreed to hire Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Bryan Gates as a replacement to Willie Green going forward entering this season.
[29] On July 24, Jeff Bower had a mutual agreement with the Suns to officially leave his position as Vice President of Basketball Operations for them going forward.
[45] Before the start of their preseason period, Devin Booker was confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 despite getting the COVID-19 vaccine earlier in the previous season alongside the rest of the team playing there.
For the second straight year in a row, the Suns were in the NBA Playoffs after previously experiencing a decade-long drought from it that started back in the 2010–11 season.
However, he last played for the Washington Wizards as a part of the squad that made it to the 2021 NBA Playoffs after once being considered the worst Eastern Conference team earlier in the season.
^ g: Ishmail Wainright previously last officially played for the SIG Strasbourg in France's LNB Pro A league before signing a two-year non-guaranteed deal with the Toronto Raptors on August 7, 2021, though he was later waived by the end of the preseason on October 17.
Wainright was then given a two-way contract with the Suns five days later on October 22, giving him a guaranteed shot to play in the NBA for the first time ever with Phoenix, which ended up occurring a month later in November during their 18-game winning streak.
^ h: From December 20, 2021 until January 17, 2022, the NBA implemented temporary updates to their hardship exception rules to accommodate the number of players being infected by COVID-19 and its other variants during the winter months of the season.
Bass signed his second 10-day contract on January 15 due to not only Ishmail Wainright getting COVID-19, but concerns of Chris Paul being infected with COVID-19 once again before ultimately replacing Justin Jackson's position from the team in that period of time.
^ j: Bismack Biyombo later signed a one-year deal worth his veteran's minimum salary of $1,366,392 on January 11, 2022 after showcasing very positive results in his first two games played with Phoenix under his 10-day COVID-19 hardship exception contract.
^ l: Justin Jackson originally last officially played for the Texas Legends during this season before he signed a 10-day COVID-19 hardship contract exception with the Boston Celtics on December 18, 2021.
However, visa issues from getting out of Russia and then going from his home nation of Denmark to entering the United States of America resulted in him officially joining the Phoenix Suns on April 3, near the end of the regular season.
However, by the February 10, 2022 trade deadline, the Pacers no longer viewed themselves as one of the more competitive teams in the Eastern Conference for this season, while the Suns saw themselves having enough room to take on Craig's new contract properly.
^ o: Ty-Shon Alexander originally signed a two-year deal with the Segafredo Virtus Bologna of Italy's Lega Basket Serie A on September 7, 2021 after previously being waived by the Suns on August 27.
However, he and the team agreed to waive that deal on February 15, 2022, with Alexander deciding to play for the Allianz Pallacanestro Trieste under a new contract later that same day.
Galloway then agreed to play for the College Park Skyhawks in the NBA G League for one game on December 14, 2021 before signing a 10-day hardship exception contract (relating to COVID-19 infections) with the Brooklyn Nets two days later.
However, Bass did not play in his second contract with the Suns, thus leading to an early leave for him in order to return to the South Bay Lakers in the NBA G League.