5 reasons the Phoenix Suns should avoid a Kyrie Irving trade

1. Suns better off participating as third party

If the Suns could pull off something like Bledsoe, T.J. Warren and that 2018 Miami draft pick for Kyrie Irving, the trade might be worth it. Including Tyson Chandler or Jared Dudley and taking on Iman Shumpert‘s contract would also be perfectly acceptable within that framework.

But seeing as how Jackson is the current asking price, and because Kyrie Irving is such a tricky fit with this particular core, the Suns might be better off only participating in a trade with Cleveland as a third party.

In that kind of scenario, looping in the New York Knicks — a team whose interest in Kyrie has been reciprocated — might be the way to go.

A simple solution, and one that would bring in a potential franchise point guard for #TheTimeline, would be sending Kyrie to New York, Bledsoe and Warren to Cleveland and Joakim Noah‘s albatross of a contract to Phoenix along with rookie Frank Ntilikina.

Ntilikina is a combo guard, so he may not even be a true point guard, but he’s also only 18 years old and projects to be a stout defender, making him a terrific potential fit alongside Booker even if he’s not destined for stardom.

Why trade for Kyrie Irving in a move that accelerates the rebuild when the Golden State Warriors aren’t going away anytime soon?

Noah’s contract is one of the worst in the NBA, but with Alex Len‘s situation being up in the air and the Suns likely to consider trading Tyson Chandler, he’d be a terrific locker room influence.

For a team like the Suns that doesn’t really need cap space over the next few years while the youngsters develop, taking on his contract is a more than acceptable price if they deem Ntilikina to be a worthwhile investment.

Since the Knicks want to move Carmelo Anthony, and since Melo and LeBron are buddies, we can get even crazier, with Ntilikina and a 2018 first-rounder coming to Phoenix from New York:

In this hypothetical deal, the Suns get a former fan favorite, locker room mentor and stretch-5 in Channing Frye, a couple of nice young bigs in Willy Hernangomez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, plus Ntilikina and a first-rounder to add to their pile of future franchise pillars.

The Cavs get Bledsoe, Melo and Warren to keep the Cavs in the title hunt and hopefully convince LeBron to stay in free agency next summer, while the Knicks get a sure thing in their franchise point guard with Kyrie, and defensive-minded veterans in Chandler and Shumpert.

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Even if Ntilikina isn’t the most enticing rookie point guard from this year’s draft class, giving him a shot might be a more suitable option to capitalize on Bledsoe’s trade value, and it’d be a preferable alternative to a Kyrie Irving deal given what it’d take to pry him away from Cleveland.