Which Phoenix Suns player is most likely to be traded?
By Luke Swiatek
Tier 3 – The maybes
Welcome to the middle class of possibly getting traded! These players aren’t necessarily being actively shopped, but they’re also far from safe.
Brandon Knight is probably the most difficult player to pin down on this list. Some people view him as a possible long-term member of the Phoenix Suns’ core, others view him as an injury-prone disappointment on a big contract.
How you view Knight as a player affects how you view the likeliness of him being traded. It’s tough to know how the front office views him either, but either way they’ll probably give him at least a month or two as the starter to see what they have before moving on.
He could get traded if he doesn’t play well, but his potential and the Suns’ lack of other options at the 1 leave him more likely to stay than be traded. With Knight, it’s just always hard to tell what’s what. For now, just chalk him up as a “maybe.”
Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss have not played exceptionally well since their high draft selections at Nos. 4 and 8 respectively. They’ve shown flashes, but neither has developed as quickly as the Suns would have hoped.
Part of that is probably due to the fact that both play the same position, and they eat into each other’s minutes. Trevor Ariza and T.J. Warren will also get minutes at the 4 this year, so it’s shaping up to be a real logjam. Moving one would help the other’s development.
Perhaps the Toronto Raptors view Marquese Chriss as another forward similar to Pascal Siakam, who would give them an uber-athletic bench frontcourt now that Jakob Poeltl is with the San Antonio Spurs. If they offered Fred VanVleet or Delon Wright for Chriss, that would be worth listening to.
Like most members of the Suns, Bender and Chriss are so young that moving them now would seem premature. They’ve shown flashes, and they still could improve. Trading them and having them suddenly improve, like Victor Oladipo did with the Indiana Pacers, would be embarrassing.
Still, for every Oladipo, there’s a Nik Stauskas. The Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets all gave up on him within his first four years in the league. Being drafted eighth overall didn’t save him from being a bust. If Chriss or Bender ends up as a bust, it will end up being the case that it would’ve been better to trade them while they still had value.
Regardless, the Phoenix Suns are probably not looking to move either of the third-year forwards. However, if a team comes offering a good young point guard for one of them, Ryan McDonough will keep his ears open.
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There’s not a whole lot to say about Trevor Ariza. Since he signed a new contract this offseason, there’s only a two-month window when he can be traded: between mid-December and mid-February.
Clearly, he’s in the team’s plans for the upcoming season, as they didn’t pay him $15 million for nothing. One-year deals are rarely traded.
If someone offered a decent pick or young player for him, the still-rebuilding Suns would be foolish not to take what essentially amounts to a free asset. Considering his age and expiring contract though, that’s not very likely.
Elie Okobo is a rookie this year, and only Brandon Knight really stands in his way to significant playing time. He could end up being an important piece for the 2018-19 Phoenix Suns, and could also end up as one of the steals of the draft.
On the other hand, he’s also a second round pick the team probably isn’t too overly attached to. If he’s the throw-in required to get a more important deal done, he shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
Richaun Holmes is very close to ending up in the next tier down, but the fact that the Suns were willing to give up a second round pick to acquire him (via the salary savings of the Jared Dudley – Darrell Arthur swap, not directly) means they are at least a little invested in him already. They won’t throw him away, but they also won’t hold up a trade just to keep him.