Player Facts
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 226lbs.
Wingspan: 6'9"
Date of Birth: June 5, 1993
College Experience: Denver (2 years), Baylor (2 years)
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 6
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 4
Positional Wingspan: 7
Paint Scoring: 6
Midrange Scoring: 3
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 6
Passing: 7
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 6
Rebounding: 7
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STRENGTHS
Intro
The 6'4" Royce O'Neale is a defense-first swingman featuring some shooting and underrated passing attributes. He plays the lion's share of his minutes at forward but can slide up or down a position for stretches. Whatever Royce does on the basketball court, he does hard.
Supportiveness
O'Neale is a low-usage player on the offensive side. There is a simplified role for him: cut hard, make the extra pass, and knock down shots. Royce can and will do all of those things (while adding some playmaking spice) with a high degree of consistency, obliging the squad's asks.
As his NBA career has gone on, through maturation, subtle role-changing, and the activation of some perhaps dormant skillsets, Royce has at times functioned as a pseudo-offensive-hub. His dribbling/passing, much like his overall game, is not flashy however quite functional.
He can be used to initiate "delay" style actions at the top of the arc. The Baylor product is no stranger to posting a 6 or 7-assist game more often than you'd think.
Swishing Spot-Ups
He's a killer from just about anywhere along the arc as a spot-up marksman. The sharpshooting Royce has a pretty-looking one-motion release with his shooting elbow tucked in tidily. He can shoot some off light movement as well but is at his best in a simplified standstill shooter role.
O'Neale will set his feet and prepare for the kickout patiently in the deep corner. His spot is the right corner in particular, around 39% from 2017-2018 to 2018-2019 and at 48.8% in 2019-2020. 2024-2025 in Phoenix represents another strong season of drilling threes from the corner pockets.
The wing hit 37.8% or better for his spot-up threes from 2018-2019 to 2024-2025. Royce had been a favorite recipient of the talented Donovan Mitchell in Utah. Now, the likes of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal translate their scoring gravity into open looks for O'Neale to cash in.
Straight-Line Drives
Royce has enough catch-and-go to him that defenders must be cognizant of this. He's most likely to drive right after eluding the closeout. O'Neale is shockingly strong as he absorbs contact and can finish through it in both half-court and transition chances.
He's also got some springiness in his legs which can surprise rim protectors. O'Neale managed to be north of 60% at the iron in several seasons including 2023-2024. Moreover, he uses that sneaky bounce and high motor to leak out hard in transition.
Quality On-Ball Defense
Royce O'Neale doesn't back down when checking the game's brightest superstars. He doesn't fold under the pressure to provide high-quality defense here, he simply does it.
Royce makes a bunch of winning plays with his intangible-rich game. Advanced measures still do recognize some of what he does, with firmly positive defensive box plus-minus figures typically (~1-2 range).
The former Bear is quick-footed and has great hands as a defender. This allows him to be serviceable, and sometimes even the ideal guy to stick on ones and twos. His north-south quickness, lateral agility, strength and defensive smarts are all baked into Royce's game.
Flying Around
O'Neale's 3-point defense is formidable. His 6'10" wingspan is long and obstructive against standstill snipers and pull-up shooters alike. Opponents dropped 1.3 percentage points with Royce contesting their threes in 2022-2023.
He's not going to give you a boatload of steals or deflections, but he'll be in the right spots. He hustles hard on defense, flying around on the perimeter as the ball pings around. Royce's good positioning helps him get some swats whether on the interior or the outside.
Positional Versatility + Rebounding
Royce is solidly built, enough to check four men in spots. He's an impactful, aggressively fronting post defender even though it's far from his primary defensive role. Defending all iterations of players in 2023-2024, he was commendably in the 64th percentile guarding isolations with the Suns.
The former Denver Pioneer is a strong defensive rebounder at his stature. He fearlessly boxes out much bulkier players, a testament to this being his 94 contested boards in 2023-2024.
Royce isn't padding his totals with cheap ones either, with a vast majority of his rebounds coming 0-6 feet of the hoop rather than 6'+. As a defensive last note, he's a strong defender in the open court as well.
WEAKNESSES
Offensive Challenges
He can't do much outside of spotting up and doing other off-ball things on offense. Royce rarely if ever runs a pick-and-roll nor is he used as a vehicle for downhill pressure through dribble handoffs. Also, his free throw rate is criminally low. His competencies on offense begin and end with off-the-ball tools.
Even Royce's threes are nearly exclusively of the assisted variety. His off-the-dribble threes crater in both their volume and percentage as compared to his spot-ups. Across 152 regular season games between 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, he shot only 18.6% (8/43) on pull-up threes. Not much has changed in recent seasons. He's just not comfortable dribbling into that shot off a ball screen or otherwise.
The swingman is not much of a threat to isolate or make something happen on his own accord scoring-wise. His ball skills are developed enough to embark on a straight-line drive off the catch, but they finish there. He cannot typically break down an individual defender, even if they're a sluggish big man.
O'Neale's various offensive holes don't prove overly worrisome as a member of the starting lineup. However, some extra juice as a shot creator would be optimal when he's playing with the bench unit. His shortcomings put that much more pressure on the surrounding perimeter players to shoulder a heavier playmaking/scoring load.
Undersized for the Task
The just 6'4" Royce is asked to guard wings bigger than him night after night though that may be more of a roster-building foible. He can be up to the task, but stronger wings can manhandle the smaller O'Neale. This is really noticeable when he moves up to the four, guarding powerhouse players.
Royce is undoubtedly more of an on-ball wing defender type. His point-of-attack work can be a little shoddy if the screensetter gets a piece of him. The recovery tools from an athleticism perspective are not exceptional.
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