Phoenix Suns convert Ish Wainright's two-way into a standard contract

Ish Wainright was sitting in the interview room after Sunday's loss to the Kings with a huge smile when he heard someone from the back.

"BOOOO! BOOOO! BOOOO!"

Huh?

"Who is that?" Wainright asked.

His Suns general manager, James Jones, having fun with the once two-way player who now has a standard contract going into the playoffs.

"My mom actually heard the conversation, she was like at my door," Wainright said. "And for her to hear it and I heard her before I could react to anything. I heard her scream, but having a team and an organization believe in you and trust in you, it means the world, especially with the journey that I've taken."

Wainright came to Phoenix as a 27-year-old undrafted rookie, who signed with the Buffalo Bills in 2018 as an undrafted football player out of Baylor and played pro basketball overseas for three years.

A full NBA regular season has passed and Wainright has proven himself to be more valuable than his two-way status suggests.

The 6-6 forward scored all of his career-high 20 points in the fourth quarter of a spirited comeback that fell just short in a 113-109 road loss Wednesday night to the Clippers.

The Suns were down by as many as 39 points as they sat Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder and Chris Paul on the second of a back-to-back.

Now Wainright is on a standard NBA contract.

"You want to see good people win," Suns guard Landry Shamet said. "He truly, the guy just has an unbelievable attitude every single day. Shows up with a smile on his face, high energy. Works his ass off. Great teammate."

Shamet and Wainright are both from Kansas City. So the two have bonded as they get up shots after practice on the same rim at the practice facility.

"I'm so happy for him," Shamet continued. "We all want that for him. We want him around. Want him in that position. It's his work ethic. Nothing changes with this happening for him. He's still going to come in, work his ass off. Same approach. Just super happy for him and he's everything that we want and need around here."

Two-way players can't play in the postseason after they were able to last year amid a shortened NBA season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wainright would have been able to play in this postseason for the top-seeded Suns (64-18), but Phoenix waiving big Frank Kaminsky last week opened a standard roster spot.

The Suns filled it with Wainright, who has averaged 2.4 points in 45 games this season. Phoenix originally signed Wainright after Toronto waived him in the preseason.

"Great for him," Suns coach Monty Williams said. "I didn't even know who Ish was, to be honest. And then the more I saw him and his physicality and then watching him work on his shot, work on his corporate knowledge of what we do and be able to play in games after sitting for a few games at a time, he'd come in and have a huge impact."

Wainright racked up 15 points, hitting 3-of-8 from 3, and a career-best four steals in Phoenix's final regular-season game Sunday as Booker, Paul, Crowder and Ayton all rested as well as Cameron Payne (knee soreness).

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns convert Ish Wainright's two-way into a standard contract