Phoenix Suns: 5 Potential Trades As Buyers Before 2017 NBA Trade Deadline

5. Blake Griffin

The Phoenix Suns are searching for a franchise player and currently start a 19-year-old rookie at power forward. The Los Angeles Clippers are on the outside looking in at title contention and Blake Griffin could leave as a free agent this summer if they fail to put together a long postseason run once again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the logic in a potential swap here.

Though getting Eric Bledsoe back would provide the Clippers with Chris Paul insurance, the Suns would keep him and Devin Booker off limits so they could form a new Big Three. Unfortunately, as we’ll see in many of these hypothetical deals, that means they’d have to throw the rest of the cupboard on the table if they were to have any chance of swinging a deal.

In the first scenario, a package of Alex Len, T.J. Warren, Marquese Chriss and two first round picks — including Phoenix’s potentially valuable 2017 selection — would probably be the best the Suns could do.

That would give the Clippers a backup center behind DeAndre Jordan, a scorer on the wing that they never had during the Lob City era, a tantalizing teenage rookie with a ton of upside and a 2017 selection that currently has the best odds of being the No. 2 overall pick. There are worse ways to jumpstart a rebuild.

The Suns would sacrifice a ton of depth and youth in a trade like this, but a potential starting lineup of Bledsoe, Booker, P.J. Tucker, Griffin and Tyson Chandler would ground a playoff team.

In the event the Clippers preferred Dragan Bender to Marquese Chriss, that could be arranged as well, though the Suns might prefer to keep their 19-year-old Croatian in the hopes he could one day replace Chandler at the 5-spot.

However, there are several fairly obvious pitfalls with a deal like this. Teams may be calling about Blake Griffin’s availability, but that doesn’t mean the Clippers are ready to give up on this current core.

There’s also the problem of Phoenix’s trade package not being good enough for Lob City, especially because the Boston Celtics could put together a Godfather offer that trumps whatever McDonough puts on the table (assuming the goal is to keep Bledsoe and Booker for a new Big Three).

Finally, and most glaring of all, Griffin’s status as an impending free agent means the Suns could completely gut their roster for a player who might leave this summer for nothing. The Flyin’ Lion would have plenty of lucrative offers elsewhere, and forming a Big Three with Bledsoe and Booker might not appeal to him as much.