Former Suns Draft Washout Becomes Best Player in Taiwan

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PHOENIX, AZ – NOVEMBER 16: Archie Goodwin #20 of the Phoenix Suns during the NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Talking Stick Resort Arena on November 16, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Lakers 120-101. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Do you remember Archie Goodwin? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But for four years between 2013 and 2017, three of which came with the Phoenix Suns, Archie Goodwin was an NBA player. He just never quite made it stick.

Goodwin was selected 29th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft initially by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and traded to the Suns on draft night in exchange for the draft rights to Andre Roberson and cash. He spent parts of four seasons in the NBA with Phoenix, the New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets, appearing in 165 career games and averaging 6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game during his time in the league. But despite some good moments, he never found his niche, and instead had to go on the road.

Goodwin’s professional basketball journey took him from the NBA to multiple international leagues. He is now in Taiwan, playing in the country’s premier P. League+. And despite having some good quality players for company over there, Goodwin is leading the league in scoring by a decent margin.

Goodwin’s Truncated NBA Career

Goodwin was waived by the Suns as one of the final cuts of their 2016 training camp, just before the fourth year of his rookie contract began. He would spend a fortnight with the Pelicans the following month, then spent four months with the Nets between March and July 2017, and would sign with the Portland Trail Blazers for preseason the following year. That was it, however, and the last sighting of Goodwin in the NBA was now eight and a half years ago.

Since his NBA career concluded against his will, Goodwin has instead gone everywhere else. He has built a globetrotting professional résumé that has so far included stops in  Puerto Rico, Lebanon, France, Germany, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and Mexico, alongside two years in the G League, trying to prize the door back open. His most recent stop before Taiwan was in the CBA with the Jiangsu Dragons in China, where he averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game over 43 games.

The Chinese CBA used to be notorious for the enormous numbers its import players would put up, but they have been curtailed somewhat by the improved quality of homegrown Chinese talent as well as limitations on the amount of time imports can play. Instead, then, some former NBA players have moved to the other China, and signed in the Taiwanese league, which has become a destination of its own over the last few years. Goodwin signed with the Taipei Fubon Braves ahead of the 2025-26 season, and he is averaging 24.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 12 games with the Braves this season, leading the nation in scoring by 2.5 points per game.

The NBA-To-Taiwan Pipeline

Despite lofty high school billing and some time with the Kentucky Wildcats, Goodwin fell out of the NBA because he never found a niche. He was a below-par shooter from outside the paint (including the free throw line), only ever played spotty defense, and although he has a tremendous talent for getting to the rim and finishing, he was too much of a one-trick pony. Especially given his penchant for rarely passing when on the move.

Nevertheless, Goodwin is finding it easier than ever to get to the rim in Taiwan, where the few able to contend with him physically are the other former NBA players around him. And there are very few of those at his position.

Former and/or fringe NBA players have increasingly come to Taiwan, headlined by the move of Dwight Howard in 2022, and the brief stint of the recently-retired Jeremy Lin. At present, P League+ players with NBA experience include Alec Brown, Austin Daye, James Ennis, Treveon Graham, Jalen Harris, Stanton Kidd, George King, Malcolm Miller, Diamond Stone and Trey Thompkins – but almost all of them are bigs. The Taiwanese domestic players are undersized and inexperienced, and cannot stop Goodwin from getting to where he wants. And at that level, the blinkered passing is less of a problem, since him continuing to the rim is usually going to be the best option anyway.

Where once he was an NBA role player-level talent without a role to play, Goodwin has instead gone out east, and gotten paid handsomely to play the game his way. Someone similar to him, albeit slightly bigger, is former L.A. Clippers forward Al Thornton, and perhaps Goodwin can take heart in knowing that Thornton is still racking up buckets into his early 40s. There is plenty of basketball life outside of the NBA. It just usually takes a few failures for American players to embrace it.

Mark Deeks I am continuously intrigued by the esoterica and minutiae of all the aspects of building a basketball team. I want to understand how to build the best basketball teams possible. No, I don’t know why, either. More about Mark Deeks