According to Kevin O’Connor at Yahoo Sports, the Suns are expected to try to trade into the first round of this year’s draft. This may be harder than we would like, as this year’s draft is considered to be of good quality, and many teams may want to keep their picks.
That said, this Suns front office is aggressive. We shouldn’t write off the possibility. If Brian Gregory does manage to make it into the first round, how could he do it?
Currently, the Suns sit at pick 47. Here are five ways I could see
the Suns moving up on draft night:
Phoenix sends 2033 1st round pick to OKC for #17
Does this trade make you sick? This trade makes me sick. But I see this as the most obvious way for Phoenix to make it into the first round. Oklahoma City does not need any more young talent. They are already so deep that many young players aren’t getting playing time, and they also have pick #12 in this year’s draft.
Devin Booker is going to be 36 by the 2033 draft, and the Suns have no total control over any of their own first-round picks between now and then. If you forced me to bet, the odds are good now that the 2033 pick is a lottery pick.
Who knows what the Oklahoma City Thunder will look like seven years from now? Given their youth, they may still be in contention as long as their core stays healthy. This gives them future flexibility to make even more trades or draft a young player down the road.
For Phoenix, this trade only makes sense if there is someone still available at #17 that they really like. Someone who they think can one day launch into stardom. If they pick another role player at #17, they won’t get this team any closer to a championship. In fact, they may be pushing themselves further from one another with this trade.
Phoenix swaps Jalen Green for PJ Washington
Dallas has entered their “Timeline” era. They are restarting. They need young talent around Cooper Flagg and flexibility for the future.
For them, Jalen Green can slot in between Kyrie and Cooper and (hopefully) be their solid third option. In addition, they get what could be a really good pick in 2033 to either come in and support Flagg in his prime or be traded to put them over the top.
The Suns give up a lot in this deal. Green and the 2033 1st are some of the Suns’ best assets in their incredibly limited pool. In return, however, they get two first round picks, albeit late ones. They would be getting pick #30 this year and OKC’s 2028 1st round pick, which would probably also be #30 or close to it.
In my eyes, the big prize here is PJ Washington. Washington is hardly the second coming of Charles Barkley, but he can come in and start for the Suns at the Power Forward, which they desperately need.
Why should Dallas trade Washington? Because he fits the Luka Doncic timeline, not the Cooper Flagg one.
Klay Thompson is pure salary filler in this deal. He can come in and fill minutes, especially if the Suns move off of either of Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale.
In total, this cleans up the depth chart and nets the Suns two picks for one.
Cleveland gets under the second apron
I have enjoyed the Royce O’Neale experience. He is, unfortunately, not going to get the Suns into the NBA Finals. He could, however, get the Suns into the first round of the draft.
Both Royce and Max Strus scored around ten points on 40% shooting from three this season. This deal doesn’t push either team hard in either direction.
This trade is all about the financials. In shedding the 5.8 million dollar difference in salaries between Royce and Strus, the Cavs get under the 2nd apron. In exchange for helping Cleveland do this, the Suns pick up the 29th pick in the draft.
This deal just makes so much sense for both teams. Cleveland and Phoenix are positioned well to help each other this offseason without either team having to give much up in the process.
This is easily my favorite trade on this list for its sheer cogency. If the Cavs were willing to do this, the Suns should leap on the opportunity.
Cameron Johnson comes home
I know Suns fans will say that Phoenix is giving up a lot in this deal for Cam Johnson and a late first. I wouldn’t fault anyone who says they’d rather just keep Grayson Allen and Ryan Dunn. Let me try to convince you, though.
The Cameron Johnson experience hasn’t been great in Denver. Cam ended the season with decent stats and really turned things around after a rough start to the season, but for some reason, the fit never seemed to work as well as it should’ve next to Jokic and Murray. He is a good player, but isn’t worth 21 million dollars at this point.
Grayson Allen, on the other hand, has lived up to his contract. He has been a top-6 player for the Suns since he got to Phoenix. He is cheaper than Johnson and better than him. I think Denver would swap them 1-for-1 if they could.
Ryan Dunn completely fell out of the rotation this season. He is thrown into this trade to make the salaries work and to hopefully bring enough value to bring in a second round pick. Denver is taking a flyer on him in this deal to try to eat up some of the forward minutes they are losing by trading away Cam Johnson.
For Phoenix, this helps clean up the shooting guard logjam and brings in the first round pick they are hunting for.
I would love to see Cam come home where he belongs.
The Suns trade up…in the second round.
I know, I know. I promised five trades into the first round. But what is the real difference between pick 31 and pick 30 in terms of talent? Probably nothing. Pick 30 and pick 31 in this year’s draft will be in the same tier of talent.
I don’t know exactly what this trade would look like, but let’s just say it’s two second round picks for the 31st pick in the draft. This is the type of deal the Suns have done before, trading up for Rasheer Fleming last season in the second round.
If the Suns cannot move into the first round, I expect they will be aggressive if there is someone they like at the top of the second round.
What do you think, Suns fans?
Do you like any of these trades? Do you hate all of them? Do you want BG and Mat Ishbia to stay put at 47? Let us know in the comments below!
