Phoenix Suns: 5 potential trades for a point guard
5. Kris Dunn
The Suns need a defensive bulldog to help compensate for Booker’s deficiencies on that end of the floor. As a 6’4″ point guard who was billed as a defensive-minded Russell Westbrook heading into the 2016 NBA Draft, Kris Dunn fits that description exceptionally well.
Dunn’s rookie season wasn’t anything special, as he averaged a meager 3.8 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game. However, after getting out from Tom Thibodeau’s never-let-reserves-touch-the-court philosophy with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he improved across the board with the Chicago Bulls.
Last year, the 24-year-old averaged 13.4 points, 6.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. A concussion threw off his momentum and limited him to 52 games, but he also proved himself as a willing defender and upped his 3-point efficiency from 28.8 percent as a rookie to 32.1 percent in 2017-18.
He’s not a floor-spacer or elite playmaker just yet, but he’s the right combination of young and (somewhat) experienced as a starter. The question is, if the Suns are taking Chicago’s best option at point guard, what would it take in return to facilitate a deal?
A young wing with immense upside like Josh Jackson or Mikal Bridges would be enticing for the Bulls, but either one of them would be too much to surrender for Dunn. T.J. Warren is the most expendable option among Phoenix’s wings with real trade value, but Chicago would have little incentive, since a deal solely for Warren leaves a hole at the 1 and Jabari Parker and Zach LaVine are already on the wings.
So what if Phoenix did the Bulls a favor by taking on one of their undesirable contracts like Omer Asik or Cristiano Felicio?
That would probably get it done from Chicago’s perspective, but the Suns would have to think looooong and hard about tying up their future cap space like this. Asik has two years and $23.3 million left, and though there’s an early termination option for the second year, he’d have no reason to just walk away from $12 million.
While Felicio is relatively young, he’s largely underwhelmed and still has three years and $24.2 million left on his contract. Dunn is a promising young player, but the Bulls would want one of Elie Okobo or De’Anthony Melton to replace their outgoing point guard. Even if they didn’t, the cost of enticing Chicago would be taking on one of those bad contracts (or a draft pick), so it wouldn’t be worth it.