The Phoenix Suns are looking to win now and have set their sights on Clippers guard Patrick Beverley.
The Los Angeles Clippers have a logjam at their guard positions. After spending two lottery picks on guards and signing/extending both Avery Bradley and Lou Williams, it is unclear how the minutes will shake out.
In addition to their rookies, the Clippers also have Patrick Beverley and Milos Teodosic. For those keeping track at home, that’s six guards that all will want and deserve playing time.
In the NBA, when one team has a surplus you can bet that a team in need will come calling. In this case it is the Phoenix Suns, who have reportedly shown interest in Beverley.
The Athletic‘s Shams Charania reported on Watch Stadium that Beverley has now become the Suns’ top target in their pursuit of a point guard:
From our own @ShamsCharania, latest on Phoenix Suns‘ point guard pursuit, with Patrick Beverley as a top target. pic.twitter.com/RI2JZ2Cnli
— Stadium (@Stadium) September 17, 2018
While these teams are natural trade partners, there are some potential hurdles here. Beverley is the perfect mentor for the young Clippers and appears to have emerged as the voice of the team.
We’ve seen countless examples of young talent developing bad habits without leadership in place. Not only can Beverley help Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson mature, but he’s also versatile enough to play at either guard position alongside them.
In addition to that, Beverley is probably the most likely of the veteran guards to accept a bench role should one of the rookies perform ahead of schedule. He has come off the bench in the past and has always been a strong teammate.
Striking the balance of trying to win now while develop young talent is a difficult thing. Beverley is the perfect fit in that sense for a Clippers team that is trying to stay competitive, while building for the future.
From the Suns’ point of view, all of these traits are obviously something they would value over any of the other Clippers veterans. They are trying to become competitive again, while still understanding that their window is likely in the future.
The determining factor for this deal is going to be the asking price for the Clippers. While a healthy Beverley is obviously a great fit for both teams, the list of injuries is starting to stack up.
Complicating matters further, Beverley’s contract is non-guaranteed for this season and is a unrestricted free agent in the coming summer. While the Clippers need to figure out their logjam, it’s possible that the value of Beverley in the trade market won’t match the value of hanging on to him.
It’s no secret that the Suns need a point guard, and maybe that desperation will help make this deal possible. Other names they’ve been linked to have been rebuffed, and this is a situation that makes a lot of sense.
It all depends on the desperation levels for both teams. For the Clippers, it revolves around the desire to free up minutes for the rest of their guard rotation. For the Suns, it’s about getting a starting point guard to help the team be competitive for the first time in the Devin Booker era.