With the Suns not off to a good start and reports from the locker room that frustration over a certain role has grown, things haven’t looked great for Phoenix so far. That said, it is still early in the year, and last season this team took early losses and still made the playoffs. Anything can happen, and this team could very well bounce back, but with the discourse so negative so early on, it does seem like an uphill battle.
It’s too early to talk about trades, but for some reason, this season, that discourse has already begun among multiple teams. For the Suns, it is not that they are looking to make a move, but they definitely feel the lack of playmaking on their roster and want a true point guard. For fans and the team, that seems like the best move. Even if Devin Booker likes to be the point guard and playmaker, he needs another creator and play initiator alongside him. This would ease the playmaking load and still let Booker hunt his shots and create off-ball for the team.
A big reason for Minnesota’s early success, and why everyone thought they could dominate (before the Ant injury), is how well LaMelo Ball fit alongside Anthony Edwards. That is what many Suns fans saw with Chris Paul, and it proves that having an all-caliber playmaker alongside a solid off-ball scorer makes offense 1000 times easier. So who could solve this issue? Well, it is someone I did write about earlier this offseason, and someone fans are gravitating toward as well with the latest news.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the trade candidate would be Dejounte Murray, known for his defensive identity in San Antonio before bouncing around to Atlanta and now New Orleans. Murray, unfortunately, hasn’t had it great since leaving SA. A backcourt that couldn’t work in Atlanta, plus injuries and a dysfunctional front office in NO, have left him stuck in the mud. With his value at its lowest ever, and him stuck on a bad team coming off injuries, this is the time for the Suns to strike.
The easiest and best way to make this deal is a one-for-one trade involving Jalen Green and Dejounte Murray. The swap would give both teams a path to the better solution they are looking for. For the Suns, it is easy: they get someone who can help playmake and be a solid defender in their scheme. The six-year age gap may make you worry the Suns are giving up on Green too early, but with that contract and an extension looming, this could be the get-out-of-jail-free card the Suns can capitalize on.
With Green making a bit more than Murray, you also save 6M in next year’s deal, and with both having a $30 million player option, you are forced to get it picked up regardless. At least with Murray, your extension can be more team-friendly, since Green is looking to maximize his next payday.
Green also makes sense for the Pelicans, as they are a young team just looking for talent. With no true number one option, Green could come in and try to take the shine as the dominant on-ball scorer he wants to be. Since high school, he’s been the top guy, and he was drafted in Houston as well. This “PG” movement and working with Steve Nash is never going to be his game, so let’s get him to a spot where he can be his best at what he does, not force him to be another player. We saw that with our last coach trying to make Bradley Beal the next Jrue Holiday, and look how that turned out.
Ultimately, I think this solves a major headache for both parties. In my eyes, the Pelicans are bad and have no chance of going anywhere in the near future in the West. So take a flyer on Green, who has potential and gives you more room in your guard rotation for Jeremiah Fears to take off, especially if you can salary dump Jordan Poole somewhere else (not Phoenix). For the Suns, this gives them a true secondary creator and someone who will make the smart, right play for Booker. Murray isn’t coming here to become Phoenix’s next-best player and get a payday; he is looking to be a complementary piece for a championship run, which is what this front office needs alongside Booker in this starting lineup.
There are other guards the Suns could look at, too, guys like Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, and Darius Garland, and ones they missed out on, like Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball, and Trae Young, so maybe Dejounte Murray isn’t the end-all, be-all option. Though the sentiment is out there that they need a new playmaker and fast, does that mean the quick solution is to start Collin Gillespie and move Green to the bench? Or is that just a precursor to a bigger move? Only time will tell, but I trust the front office to reevaluate what went wrong and make an educated decision by the trade deadline.
