Player card
- Team / status: Phoenix Suns reserve forward; two-way claim with 2026-27 contract status unconfirmed
- Exact healthy-game base: 0 MPG; outside the projected 11
- Conditional appearance projection: 20 GP, 9 MPG when active
- 9-cat appearance line: .420 FG (0.8/1.9), .750 FT (0.2/0.3), 0.4 3PM, 2.2 PTS, 1.7 REB, 0.5 AST, 0.3 STL, 0.2 BLK, 0.4 TO
- Projection confidence: Low
- Formats: No redraft floor; deep-dynasty roster filler only; a transaction-wire name rather than a draftable one
Role and evidence
Livers signed a two-way contract with Phoenix in July 2025 for the final available slot, joining Koby Brea and CJ Huntley in that bucket, after missing all of 2024-25 following hip surgery. He appeared in 29 games in 2025-26, averaging 2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 10.1 minutes — genuine replacement minutes when the rotation thinned, not a role won on merit. Sources: Suns official release on the Livers signing, 2025-07, Arizona Sports on the final two-way slot, 2025-07. Confidence: high on the signing and the 2025-26 line.
ESPN's live roster still lists Livers at No. 18 as of 2026-07-18, but no transaction entry located in this pass documents a 2026-27 signing, and he entered restricted free agency this offseason. Phoenix has since used two-way slots on Pat Spencer (2026-07-04) and re-signed Brea (2026-07-06), and Huntley's two-way carries guaranteed money. That is four claimants for three slots. Livers is the likeliest casualty: he is the oldest of the four, the least distinctive, and the one whose slot Phoenix would most plausibly want back for a younger wing. This is inference from the roster arithmetic, not reporting. Sources: ESPN current Suns roster, accessed 2026-07-18, ESPN Suns transactions, accessed 2026-07-18, Bright Side of the Sun season review, 2026. Confidence: medium on the squeeze, low on who loses.
The forward group ahead of him is deep: Miles Bridges, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn, Rasheer Fleming, Koa Peat, and Haywood Highsmith all have stronger claims on the same minutes, and two-way availability limits cap the ceiling regardless.
Category shape
- Wins: Threes at low volume; unobtrusive turnovers.
- Neutral: Rebounds for a wing; FT% on negligible attempts.
- Costs: Points, assists, field-goal percentage, and minutes.
- Build fit: None in standard formats. A short-term three-point stream only if multiple wings are unavailable at once.
Points and dynasty outlook
Livers is 28 with 123 career NBA appearances across four seasons and a hip surgery that erased one of them. There is no development curve left to bet on, and no market ranking located in this pass places him inside a relevant dynasty tier. Treat him as roster filler in leagues deep enough to carry two-way forwards, and nothing above that. Confidence: medium as a market read, high on the age/role logic.
Floor, base, ceiling
- Floor: Waived or unsigned before camp as the two-way squeeze resolves; zero NBA appearances.
- Base: 20 appearances at nine minutes as an injury-driven call-up, repeating the 2025-26 shape.
- Ceiling: A wing injury cluster produces 18-20 minutes for a stretch and a usable three-point stream in very deep leagues.
Draft verdict
Do not draft Livers in any standard format. The only reason he is documented here is that ESPN's live roster lists him and the vault previously omitted him, which broke the team's two-way accounting. Watch for either a confirmed 2026-27 contract or his release — both are informative about how Phoenix resolves the fourth two-way claim, which is a more useful signal than anything in his own statistical profile.
Career record
Pre-NBA: Michigan, four seasons (2017-21); as a senior in 2020-21 averaged 13.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.0 APG with 50 threes and made Second-Team All-Big Ten. Draft: 2021, Round 2, Pick 42, Detroit Pistons (hometown pick).
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 23 | DET | 19 | 20.2 | 6.4 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.4 | .456 | .857 | 0.8 |
| 2022-23 | 24 | DET | 52 | 23.1 | 6.7 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.4 | .417 | .821 | 0.6 |
| 2023-24 | 25 | DET | 23 | 20.4 | 5.0 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.0 | .345 | .667 | 0.7 |
| 2025-26 | 27 | PHX | 36 | 9.6 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | .344 | .750 | 0.3 |
| Career | — | — | 130 | 18.4 | 5.0 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.0 | .400 | .783 | 0.6 |
Durability: The defining feature of the record. A foot injury delayed his rookie debut (19 GP); the January 2024 trade to Washington ended in right-hip inflammation, a season-ending shutdown, and an April waiver without ever playing a Wizards game; October 2024 hip-resurfacing surgery erased all of 2024-25. Four seasons of appearances, 130 games, never more than 52 in a year. Trajectory: The record shows a 3-and-D role player whose shot never stabilized (career .400 FG) and whose hip stole his age-25/26 development window; the 2025-26 Phoenix line was replacement-minute survival, not a comeback. In 2026-27 he competes for the fourth claim on three Phoenix two-way slots against Brea, Spencer, and Huntley — the roster arithmetic, not his stat line, decides his year. He becomes fantasy-relevant only in the narrow scenario where he keeps a contract and a Suns wing-injury cluster hands him 18-20 minutes as a deep-league three-point stream. Career sources: ESPN career stats, StatMuse 2025-26 season averages, Wikipedia, Basketball-Reference.
Open questions
- Does Livers actually have a 2026-27 Phoenix contract, or is the ESPN listing carrying over a lapsed 2025-26 two-way?
- If he survives the two-way squeeze, who among Brea, Spencer, and Huntley does not?
- Is there any matchup context in which Ott plays him ahead of Dunn, Fleming, or Peat?