The prominent words that come to the mind of an avid basketball fan when describing the Phoenix Suns’ current situation are likely chaotic and disappointing. When News broke on June 7th that their front office had informed all-star point guard Chris Paul that he would be waived, the NBA media went ballistic. As more information came forth it was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski that, “The Suns insist they’re still working through multiple possibilities, including trade opportunities with Paul and Deandre Ayton.”. Despite having a star-studded lineup, the deep routed troubles in the Suns’ front office seriously jeopardize the team’s ability to adequately rebuild their roster.
For starters, If the Suns front office does decide to waive Chris Paul and he ends up going somewhere else in free agency, it could be one of the worst moves a front office has made in recent history. Although he’s 38 years old and injury-prone, Chris Paul is still an extremely effective starting point guard who is coming off a strong season. Averaging just shy of 14 points and 9 assists per game, he is the perfect fit alongside two once-in-a-lifetime scorers in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Paul however, if not traded or waived before the June 28th deadline, is guaranteed 30 million dollars this upcoming season, which is a hefty price for an aging Point Guard who is injury prone. So that leaves the question, what do the Suns do?
Option 1: Do Nothing
Unless Pheonix already has a guaranteed big free agent signing lined up that can drastically improve their roster, waiving the 12-time all-star would be a horrible decision. Not only do you get nothing in return for arguably the best “true” point guard in the NBA, but you also lose an extremely efficient floor general and leader. This forces the Suns front office to find more depth at that position in the off-season, which will most likely not be a player of Paul’s calibre. Leaving your core of Paul, Durant, and Booker together will still give you some of the best odds to win an NBA championship this upcoming season. No, I did not add Deandre Ayton to the list of their core, he will be discussed later. Acquiring Durant was a massive move for Pheonix, changing the entire landscape of the Western Conference. Unfortunately due to injury, Phoenix’s big three only played 15 games together. However, in those 15 games, the Suns posted a 12-3 record. Paul averaged roughly 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists. Although meaningless stats, Paul shot 44% from the floor, 38% from three-point range and was a whopping plus 109 in those 15 games. I would not see any problems in giving this group another run at it. To improve, waiving Paul and resigning him immediately to a cheaper deal would give Pheonix the opportunity to look at signing some more bench depth which they desperately need.
Option 2: Trade Deandre Ayton
Although getting a lot of recent hate in the media, and understandably so, Deandre Ayton is still arguably a top-10 center in the NBA at only 24 years of age. He is a young center who put up 18 points and 10 rebounds a game this season, while shooting 58 percent from the field. Ayton also ranked 10th in Defensive rating this year amongst centers, with a DRTG of 111. When looking at these numbers, one would think that this is not a problem. A perfect young mobile center that has a massive upside in development, with a field goal percentage of 60% when shooting 3-10 feet away from the basket. But when you take a deeper dive you realize one problem. Deandre Ayton simply is not the right fit for this Suns roster. When looking into the advanced metric stats, one thing you will realize instantly is the Suns are better offensively and defensively with Deandre Ayton off the floor. He also finished the season with a plus-minus of -7 per 100 possessions. When the starting center of a team who finished 4th in the west this year has a negative plus-minus rating, that is a substantial problem to address. Adding onto the fact that Ayton is signed to a max contract makes it even more disappointing.
There are countless possible trades that Pheonix can make revolving around Ayton to make their team better.
Trade 1
The first trade option I came up with is a 3-team deal between Pheonix, Charlotte and Brooklyn. The Suns give Deandre Ayton to Charlotte and Cam Payne to the Nets. The Nets also acquire Cody Martin from the Hornets. Pheonix receives Terry Rozier and Pj Washington from Charlotte, as well as Dorian Finney-Smith from Brooklyn. This is a win-win deal for every team involved. The Hornets, although giving up Rozier and Pj Washington, get a young center with plenty of upside to pair with Lamelo Ball. You give away your second-best scorer in Rozier but also have the number 2 pick in this year’s draft giving you the opportunity to create a young core of Lamelo, Ayton and a generational talent of either Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller (via the draft). The Hornets also free up 15.7 million dollars in cap space leaving them an opportunity to sign a key free agent this off-season to fit into their roster. The Nets add depth in the acquisitions of Martin and Payne. The biggest benefactor of this transaction is the Suns, who obtain a monster of a 6th man in Terry Rozier, who averaged 21 points 5 assists and just a little over one steal per game. Additionally, the Suns would gain a tremendous amount of bench depth with a strong defensive-minded presence by adding Pj Washington and Dorian Finney Smith to the mix. The Suns can also discard a player like Landry Shamet now that they have Rozier, leaving them roughly 13 million dollars in cap space to sign a cheap consistent center like Jakob Poeltl. This gives you a deep, 8-9 man roster that has the potential to win the championship.
Trade 2
The second trade is a deal with the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks receive Deandre Ayton and in return, the Suns get Clint Capela and Saddiq Bey. This gives the Hawks a young center to develop alongside their elite point guard Trae Young. And in return, the Suns get a consistent center on the offensive end and a great defensive piece in Clint Capela, who notches a defensive rating of 111.8 and averages just over one block a game. Capela will also be an extremely valuable piece for the Suns, especially considering the fact that their new coach Frank Vogel is a biased “center favourite” coach. With Paul running the point and Capelas ability to finish at the rim, this gives Pheonix the ability to abuse the high pick-and-roll action with Paul and Capela. This essentially forces the defensive team to pick their poison, Durant, Booker, or a high screen and roll with an elite pass-first point guard and a consistent Clint Capela. The acquisition of Bey, also allows the Suns to add a young defensive-minded forward who would be a key contributor off their bench.
Another trade option I have, involves trading Paul and Ayton I won’t go into depth here because I do not believe it is realistic, or the right move.
Suns receive Clint Capela, D’Angelo Russel, Malik Beasly and Jared Vanderbilt.
Lakers receive Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, and Saddiq Bey
Hawks Recieve Dennis Schroder, Cam Payne, Mo Bamba, Landry Shamet, and Lonnie Walker
Option 3: Trade Chris Paul
Although not a preferable option for a Chris Paul fan like myself, Trading Paul does have upside potential for Pheonix. The first problem with this situation is that the Suns front office has already made a massive mistake with releasing the news about the waiving situation. If teams believe they want him gone, his value plummets. The Suns could look to trade Chris to teams such as the Lakers and the Celtics. In return, a package for the Celtics should be centred around a player like Marcus Smart, or for the Lakers D’Angelo Russel. If a situation like this were to occur, the Suns would lack a pass-first point guard to feed their naturally gifted scorers on the wings. This is when they look to make a trade for a player like Mike Conley. Adding players like Mike Conley and Russel, or Conley and Smart, would make your team more fundamentally sound. I argue that Smart and Conley would be the better option, because the Suns get a true point guard and a defensive-minded specialist to pair with Booker and Durant. This would be ideal for their situation, however giving up the best true point guard in the NBA is not an easy loss. Especially considering whom he is complimenting on the floor. If a deal like this were to take place, I like the idea with both Paul and Ayton involved which gets Pheonix much more in return, rather than just shopping Paul individually. Conley is also an easy piece to add to your roster. Averaging just around 12 points and 7 assists on the season, and having a plus-minus of plus 60, he is an extremely effective guard. Not to mention he is an easily moveable asset because of his value.
The Verdict
After spending days perusing through multiple trade and singing possibilities, it is my opinion that the Suns’ best chance to experience success comes through trading Deandre Ayton. Especially considering their new coach has a center favourite offensive scheme, fitting in a new center would be ideal for this roster. The front office does have plenty of things to think over this upcoming offseason and could be on the verge of making some detrimental mistakes when it comes to managing this star-studded lineup. At the end of the day the NBA is a business, and management will make decisions based on what they think suits their roster best. For the sake of a team filled with championship calibre players, I sincerely hope they don’t mess things up.
Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images