Phoenix Suns: 5 Potential Trades As Buyers Before 2017 NBA Trade Deadline
4. Paul George
Until Wednesday morning, there had been no indication that Paul George was available on the trade market. In fact, Larry Bird had repeatedly said he wanted to keep his star, and the Indiana Pacers are reportedly interested in trading for Brook Lopez to put another star alongside PG-13.
However, at this time of year, you can never definitively rule anything out, and according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Pacers and now weighing the possibility of trading PG-13 vs. bringing in more talent to help him out.
Indiana is riding a six-game losing streak that has them one game above .500, and it’s pretty clear this roster doesn’t have what it takes to make it out of the first round, let alone seriously contend for the Eastern belt.
A full-scale fire sale seems highly unlikely, but Jeff Teague hits free agency this summer and since adding talent to the 26-year-old Paul George is looking harder and harder to do as his 2018 free agency approaches, maybe Bird should at least listen to an offer or two.
In this scenario, the Pacers get a backup center and veteran mentor for Myles Turner in Tyson Chandler. They also add another unicorn-in-the-making with Dragan Bender, a developing scorer in T.J. Warren and two first round picks — including Phoenix’s valuable 2017 selection.
Meanwhile, the Suns look to add to a Bledsoe-Booker-George core, hoping that McDonough can attract enough talent to convince PG-13 to stay in Phoenix beyond his 2018 free agency.
If the Pacers aren’t interested in acquiring a 34-year-old veteran center with another two years left on his contract, a package with Marquese Chriss or Dragan Bender being included would work here too.
However, any one of these deals puts an immense amount of pressure on the Suns to quickly assemble complementary pieces and a decent bench.
PG-13 has said he wants to compete for a championship; it’s hard to see the Suns doing that when their starting center is either a 34-year-old Tyson Chandler or Alex Len, and their starting 4 is either P.J. Tucker, Jared Dudley or Marquese Chriss. They could very easily have a hard time re-signing him after only one year.
Finally, as was the case with Griffin, George could probably command a better trade package from a team like the Celtics, who would definitely be interested if the Pacers star became available. Without the inclusion of Booker or Bledsoe, the Suns would once again be one-upped unless the had already dealt for Jimmy Butler.