There is nothing like trade season to get the juices flowing and the trade machines pumping. We have reached the part of the season where, for the next two months, we will hear rumors and fabricate our own scenarios to make the Phoenix Suns better.
This past week we ran a Suns Reacts poll on what the organization should do with backup big man Nick Richards. You had to choose between trading him for a player or trading him for draft capital. It appears that the Suns are in talks to potentially accomplish
both based on recent reports.
Per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Suns have been in exploratory discussions with the Raptors regarding Nick Richards. Early rumors point to the Suns receiving Ochai Agbaji and second round draft compensation.
Per Scotto:
“The Toronto Raptors have explored the trade market in search of a backup center upgrade and are also looking to duck below the luxury tax, league sources told HoopsHype. Phoenix Suns center Nick Richards is among the centers on the trade market that Toronto has expressed interest in, sources said.
Meanwhile, rival NBA executives have cited Toronto’s Ochai Agbaji as the likely trade candidate to help the Raptors duck below the tax. In fact, there’s been exploratory discussions between the Raptors and Suns regarding Agbaji and second-round draft pick compensation for Richards, league sources told HoopsHype.”
The Raptors feel like an Eastern Conference mirror of the Phoenix Suns. Neither team walked into the season with loud expectations, and both have quietly outperformed them anyway. Toronto sits at 16–11, good for the third seed in the East, and that is even after dropping four of their last five. Like Phoenix, they look far more like buyers than sellers as the trade deadline approaches.
When you dig into their roster, the weak spot jumps out pretty quickly. The center position. Jakob Poeltl and Sandro Mamukelashvili are their primary bigs, which is serviceable but hardly intimidating. They are also operating under the first apron, similar to the Suns, and everything coming out of Toronto suggests they want to stay there. That matters when you start connecting dots.
That brings us to Ochai Agbaji.
He is making $6.4 million and will be a restricted free agent next season. The 6’5” shooting guard is now in his fourth year out of Kansas and feels like the odd man out on a roster loaded with guards. He is averaging 15 minutes per game across 19 appearances, with three starts mixed in. The production has been light. He is shooting 39.1% from the field and 13% from three (yikes!), putting up 3.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per night.
That said, there is still some intrigue here. Agbaji is young. There is theoretical upside. He has not really popped at the NBA level yet, but last season he averaged 10.4 points while shooting 40% from deep in 64 games. That version of him still exists somewhere. The question is whether Toronto has the patience to wait for it, or whether a team like Phoenix sees an opportunity to buy low while staying financially flexible.
The Suns’ center room is crowded. Mark Williams has been playing stellar. Oso Ighodaro has his ups and downs, but he’s a sophomore still developing and on the right path. Then there’s Khaman Maluach, the rookie getting G League minutes with hopes that he starts to carve out a role as the season progresses.
Nick Richards, meanwhile, is the odd man out. His $5 million contract isn’t going to fetch much value, but if there’s an opportunity to move him and maybe snag a second round pick, Phoenix should explore it. Second round picks are the salt and pepper of transactions. They’re not the main course, but they can push deals over the edge and help down the line.
Richards looks like a fish out of water with this group. He has the size and athleticism, but the lateral quickness isn’t there, and he doesn’t seem to have the right mentality to mesh with this gritty, aggressive Suns roster. It feels like once a game, his hands are in the air in either confusion or self-frustration.
We’ll see how this develops. The trade deadline isn’t until February 5, so any talk right now is early stage. But if Phoenix can pull this off, it’s a solid move. You get a young player in place while adding another second round pick, and that’s exactly the type of transaction that sets you up for future flexibility.
