Suns expected to sign Skinner

The Suns and former Milwaukee Buck Brian Skinner are expected to agree to a one-year contract deal that could be ironed out as soon as Tuesday and put the veteran power forward in a Phoenix uniform in time for the beginning of training camp on Oct. 2.

Skinner, who impressed the Suns coaches during a workout here last week, would be the 13th player on the Phoenix roster, not counting camp invitees Richie Frahm and former Indiana Pacer Rawle Marshall. Phoenix will also invite another big man to training camp.

Skinner, 31, who made $5.4 million last season with Milwaukee, would settle for a veteran’s minimum deal of $1.244 million. Only $779,000 of that total will count against the salary cap — or more importantly to Phoenix, the luxury tax threshold. The remainder will be paid by a league fund designed to augment veteran minimum contracts.

The initial deal would likely be partially non-guaranteed — the Suns would pay Skinner half the value of the contract if he wasn’t on the roster for the Nov. 1 regular season opener in Seattle. That leaves a little wiggle room should P.J. Brown, who is still on Phoenix’s radar, decide to put off retirement and sign with the Suns before opening night.

The Boston Celtics were also interested in Skinner and were thought to be offering slightly more money. But sources were confident Skinner wants to play for Phoenix — intrigued by the opportunity to have a useful role on a championship contending team.

Skinner, a physical defender and rebounder, will provide inside depth along with Boris Diaw behind starters Amaré Stoudemire and Shawn Marion. He started 44 games for the Bucks last season and averaged 4.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in 22.7 minutes a game.

In his nine-year NBA career, which has included stops with the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Portland and Milwaukee, Skinner averaged 5.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in 19.3 minutes, appearing in 472 NBA games. His best season was 2003-04, when he averaged 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Bucks and started 54 games.

The Suns were also interested in Uruguayan banger Esteban Batista and Vitaly Potapenko for the veteran big man spot before zeroing in on Skinner. Batista is talking with Boston. Neither player will come to camp with the Suns.

Raja Bell joined the precamp workouts at US Airways Center on Monday and Diaw is due to arrive from France today. That would leave Marion as the only Sun yet to arrive.