Royce O’Neale is making his impact on the Suns felt already

People familiar with Royce O’Neale’s resume and capabilities aren’t at all surprised by the impact he’s already had on the court for the Phoenix Suns.

O’Neale’s ability to make the right decision quickly in many different scenarios is exactly what the Suns needed, especially on the defensive end. He’s able to handle matchups that wouldn’t necessarily come to mind for a 6-foot-5 player.

Take the Sunday win over the Los Angeles Lakers for example.

O’Neale was the closest defender on 18 shots, the second-most of any Sun in that game behind Jusuf Nurkic’s 25. Eight of the 18 were defending LeBron James with three more coming in front of Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince, demonstrating that versatility.

In addition to guarding the second-most shots, O’Neale also had the best defensive field goal percentage in the game at 38.9%, including holding Lakers to 0-for-5 from 3.

That defensive versatility and heavy usage turned into two steals, one block and one deflection in that game, and the Suns cashed in, edging the Lakers 26-17 in points off turnovers.

And even simpler than his defense is just how well O’Neale has been shooting the ball through six games with the Suns.

O’Neale has made 14-of-35 3s so far, good for 40% on 5.8 attempts per game; only Grayson Allen and Kevin Durant have higher percentages on real volume, and only Eric Gordon shoots more 3s per game.

And if that wasn’t enough of a signifier of how he’s letting it fly, 77.8% of O’Neale’s shots are from distance, the highest 3-point rate on the team.

His positional rebounding can’t go unnoticed either. Although his third double-double on the season — and first in a Suns uniform — has still eluded him, O’Neale has grabbed nine rebounds in two of his six games and never fewer than four. O’Neale boasts the team’s best-rebounding percentage for a non-big at 14.1%.

And oftentimes, it’s out of a rebound when his quick decision-making is best on display. He grabs and goes on the vast majority of his nine rebounds in the Lakers win, and on the few he doesn’t, it’s usually an advanced pass to push the pace.

Since O’Neale arrived, Phoenix’s pace is up to 103.08, the sixth-highest in the NBA over that stretch. For the first 52 games of the season, that number was instead 98.87, ranking 19th in the league.

There’s a very real case to be made that O’Neale is now the Suns’ sixth man, ahead of Gordon in the rotation. Furthermore, if Allen doesn’t stay as hot as he’s been (his 48.6 3P% is nearly 8% higher than his previous career high), then O’Neale might pass him up as well.

All things considered, O’Neale gives the Suns a more reliable playoff rotation, and that’s what they needed to find at the deadline. Giving up the worst players in the rotation to achieve that makes this a home run deal already. By early returns at least.

Statistics noted are prior to the…