Phoenix Suns: 3 reasons signing Trevor Ariza was a good move

2. Short-term and long-term benefits

This deal not only makes sense for the Suns as a potential one-year rental to help them be more competitive, but it also maintains flexibility for the future.

In the scope of 2018-19, Ariza’s arrival quickly triggered questions about which wing would be on the chopping block. Were the Suns dangling Josh Jackson in a trade for a star point guard like Kemba Walker? Was Davon Reed about to be cut?

The most sensible solution would be T.J. Warren becoming fully expendable now.

Though the ensuing roster move hasn’t come yet, it’s hard to see how Warren remains on this roster for the long haul — even with Ariza only guaranteed to stay in Phoenix for one season. Warren’s four-year, $50 million extension is set to kick in for 2018-19, and though he’s clearly proven his penchant for putting the ball in the hoop, his other flaws hold this team’s ceiling back.

In a league where 3-point shooting and wing defense are intrinsic skills for winning teams to have, the 24-year-old Warren brings neither to the table. He’s only accounted for 29 more assists than turnovers through his first four years in the league, he’s a career 28.3 percent shooter from downtown and if it weren’t for all the attention being paid to Devin Booker’s porous defense, we’d be talking a lot more about Warren’s deficiencies on that end.

Warren is not a bad player. He’s still young, and he’s more than capable as a slasher with a nose for the basket. He just averaged a career-high 19.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last year, and even without a 3-point shot, he still made 49.8 percent of his looks overall.

A player like that still has value if he buys in as a sixth man, but on a team that’s won an average of 26.8 games in his four seasons in Phoenix, it’s only natural he’d recoil at the prospect of coming off the Suns bench — the way he did when he was asked about it during exit interviews.

On a better team, he’d be ideally suited as a microwave scorer off the bench. The problem is his trade value isn’t particularly high right now, given that his flaws are growing hard to ignore and the fact that he’s never played in more than 66 games in a season.

However, if the Suns are able to find a taker on a young talent like Warren, they should do so quickly to get his contract off the books, regardless of Ariza’s long-term future with the franchise. Even if Ariza leaves next summer, the Suns would still be able to move forward with Booker, Jackson and Bridges on the wings, and enjoy ample amounts of cap space in the process:

Unless the Suns are dead-set on a cramped wing rotation this year, someone’s got to go. Josh Jackson can’t shoot, but he showed enough signs once the calendar flipped to 2018 for everyone to be confident his ceiling is higher than Warren’s, making Tony Buckets the odd man out.

Ariza making Warren expendable is good news before that extension starts to feel like deadweight. Even if both are gone by next summer, that’ll be about $27 million coming off the books and more playing time for Jackson and Bridges.

Ariza gets to impact the roster and help the team win more games for one season, opening up the potential for a Warren trade. If the 14-veteran thrives in the desert and Phoenix makes strides, the front office could try to bring him back on another short-term overpay.

The Suns could also let Ariza amount to a one-year rental and either hope Warren develops the necessary skills to a be successful wing in this league, or trade him. Either way you look at it, there are short-term and long-term benefits to this deal.