Paul Coro

azcentral sports

The tradition of Suns voluntary workouts beginning in earnest after Labor Day has another developing tradition – an earlier start.

In recent summers, many players have arrived early in Phoenix for workout sessions and pickup games, or never left.

Suns players Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker and Alan Williams have spent nearly all of their offseason training in Phoenix while most of their teammates have been in and out or have trickled into Talking Stick Resort Arena in recent weeks. Since mid-August, there have been enough players to run five-on-five, full-court games on weekdays with the help of visitors such as Phoenix native and Philadelphia 76ers guard Jerryd Bayless.

“We take it as a good sign that they have a chance to go anywhere and they choose to be here,” Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough said.

RELATED: Suns guarantee Alan Williams' 2016-17 contract

Of the Suns’ 15 contract players (14 guaranteed and guard John Jenkins), only Jared Dudley, T.J. Warren and Leandro Barbosa have yet to arrive. Dudley is training in Las Vegas at Impact Basketball, as he does each summer, but will join his new Suns teammates on Tuesday when nearly all of the team is planning to be there. Warren, coming off a January foot fracture, has remained in his hometown, Raleigh, N.C., where new Suns assistant coach Tyrone Corbin has been working him out. Barbosa, after a busy summer with Brazil in the Olympics, has been told to rest until later this month.

The Suns report officially on Sept. 26 and leave for a five-day camp in Flagstaff, which ends with an Oct. 1 intrasquad scrimmage at Northern Arizona University’s Skydome.

The in-town players have been going to weekly spinning and yoga sessions with Suns coaches and staffers, including McDonough, at The Madison Improvement Club in Phoenix.

MORE: Suns to keep camp, stage scrimmage at NAU

For Bledsoe, the offseason has been a progression of his return from season-ending left knee surgery on Dec. 29. Tuesday will mark Bledsoe’s first five-on-five pickup games. He recently has played two-on-two games in Phoenix before leaving for Africa to be a coach at a Basketball Without Borders Camp in Angola this week and visit a UNICEF event in Mozambique.

“The knee feels good,” McDonough said of Bledsoe. “The body feels good. There are no issues. We’re just being overly cautious with him. He’s worked very hard this summer. He’s been in almost every day. I think he’s going to have a big year, seeing the start he had to last season and all that he’s added and worked on this summer.”

Suns rookies Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss and Tyler Ulis were asked to rest for two weeks after NBA Summer League ended in July but the trio has been working out in Phoenix since then, except for the Aug. 7-11 Rookie Transition Program in New Jersey.

“We’re really excited about them individually and all three of them realize the value of them being here,” McDonough said.

Reach Paul Coro at paul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2470. Follow him attwitter.com/paulcoro.