Phoenix Suns sign local talent Saben Lee and Adonis Arms as training camp invites

Adonis Arms was on his way to lunch with his girlfriend in the Phoenix area when he got the call of a lifetime.

"I was literally opening the door and letting her walk out first (of an Airbnb) when my phone starts ringing," Arms said. "(His agent) was like, 'What are you doing?' I'm like 'I'm going to lunch.' He's like, 'You need to cancel that or take it to go 'cause you need to go to the Suns practice facility.'"

Huh?

"I was like, 'What's going on, why, what's up?'" Arms said. "He's like, 'What do you mean why? They want to sign you. Get over there. Work out with them.' I was like, 'Oh ok, let me go get my shoes and ball and I'm out of here.'"

The Suns ended up signing Arms and fellow local talent Saben Lee as training camp invites Tuesday and also waived Frank Jackson.

"I told my girl, 'I'm sorry, I got to do this, my dream is on the line so I got to go,'" Arms continued. "She was like, 'Get out of here. Bye. Let's do it.' So she came with me and she was sitting in the lobby. I was like dang, it's crazy. This is how God works."

Lee played high school ball at Corona Del Sol High in Tempe where he was first-team All-State his junior and senior year while Arms graduated from Desert Vista High after moving from Milwaukee to Phoenix at age 12.

"I was definitely excited," said Lee in describing the phone call he received about signing with the Suns. "I was really eager, excited. This is home for me. I was anxious, excited. Just happy to get up here, work and get things going."

The Suns now have 19 players on their roster including Jae Crowder, who hasn't attended training camp as the team has been trying to trade him.

Phoenix must have its standard roster down to 15 by 5 p.m. ET Monday for opening night. Ish Wainright and Duane Washington Jr. fill the team's allotted two-way slots.

The Suns open their regular season on Oct. 19 against Dallas at Footprint Center.

Lee played last season for Detroit where he averaged 5.6 points. The 6-2 guard, who was born in St. Louis,  was part of the Bojan Bogdanović trade that sent him to Utah in the offseason before the Jazz later waived him.

Utah drafted Lee out of Vanderbilt with the 38th overall pick in 2020.

Arms went undrafted in 2022 after one season at Texas Tech to cap a college career that included stops at Mesa Community College, Northwest Nazarene and Winthrop. The 6-5 guard played for the Nuggets in the 2022 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

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Averaging 9.4 points in summer league play, Arms was on Denver's camp roster before being waived.

The Suns still had camp invite Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, who played in their last two preseason games,  heading into the final preseason game Wednesday against Sacramento.

The 6-7 forward posted seven points and five rebounds against the Los Angeles Lakers in Vegas and eight points last Monday at Denver.

Luwawu-Cabarrot has played six NBA seasons as he was with the Atlanta Hawks last season.

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Jackson also saw action against the Lakers and Nuggets. The 6-3 guard didn't score in either game after averaging a career-high 10.6 points for Detroit last season.

Like Luwawu-Cabarrot, Jackson also was a camp invite for the Suns.

Phoenix has been without starting forward Cam Johnson (right thumb sprain) and backup point guard Cameron Payne (right finger sprain) due to hand injuries they suffered against the Lakers.

They didn't play at Denver and were sitting out against Sacramento.

The Suns also were without Landry Shamet (left hip strain) and Dario Saric (personal reasons) for a second straight preseason game Wednesday.

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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 sign local talent Saben Lee, Adonis Arms as camp invites