Phoenix Suns Trade Deadline Preview: Who Will Get Traded And How?
As the 2016 NBA Trade Deadline approaches, here’s what to expect from the Phoenix Suns, including who may be moved and what they might be traded for.
The Phoenix Suns have been an oil spill of a disaster this season, and the 2016 NBA Trade Deadline presents an opportunity to begin the cleanup process and remove as many toxins from the environment as possible. The Suns won’t be completely cured by the Feb. 18 deadline, but general manager Ryan McDonough should be active in reconfiguring the jumbled mess this roster has become.
The problem is that not many people can offer a tangible solution as to how the Suns should go about fixing themselves.
With plenty of talented individuals, young assets and nine first round draft picks over the next six years, McDonough brings a fully stocked arsenal to the bargaining table, but no one is certain what this team might look like over the next few days.
Will the Suns remain eager to end their soon-to-be six-year postseason drought and continue to swing for the fences by looking to acquire a star? Will they simply retool around the dual point guard system and call it a day after trading Markieff Morris? Will they completely blow it up and commit to a rapidly developing youth movement?
It’s anyone’s guess, and at this point it’s hard to tell if the Suns will look completely different or exactly the same after the deadline. Names like Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Al Horford, Danilo Gallinari and Dwight Howard have all come up on fans’ wish lists, but at this point, adding a superstar might not be the right course for a team that’s not built to win games now and would likely feel the sting if and when that star in question left at his earliest convenience.
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Rather than making a kingly offer and surrendering so many assets for a superstar that would force Phoenix to go all in right now, the Suns should abandon their “build from the middle” schemes and deal their movable assets for young talent and future draft picks to rebuild from the ground up. However, it’s hard to say which avenue general manager Ryan McDonough will pursue.
In the interest of covering the wide range of possibilities, here’s a look at which Suns players could/should be on the block, who might be interested, and what kind of return Phoenix should be expecting.
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