Phoenix Suns: 3 potential trades for Mike Conley

If the Phoenix Suns decide Mike Conley is the answer to their problems at point guard, what would a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies look like?

It might be a year too late, but the Memphis Grizzlies are finally open to trading franchise cornerstones Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, as ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday. They’ve lost 20 of their last 24 games and have a top-8 protected first round pick at stake, so the news isn’t surprising in and of itself. It’s time to close the door on the Grit-N-Grind era.

With the Phoenix Suns in dire need of an established point guard — particularly one who’s under contract for a few seasons and can’t flee in the immediate future — it’s easy to connect the dots as the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline approaches.

The list of pros and cons for trading for Conley is pretty extensive for an 11-win team like Phoenix, given his age, injury history and salary for the next two years. At the end of the day though, the beggar Suns can hardly afford to be choosers, and they need to take the next step soon lest Devin Booker grow (even more) frustrated with his situation.

Even as Conley approaches his 32nd birthday before the start of the 2019-20 season, he can help this young team make a long-awaited return to the path toward contention. He’s not the long-term solution, but rather, a reliable stopgap who will defend, instill good habits in the youngsters, facilitate and make life easier for Booker in the backcourt until he, Deandre Ayton and an improved core are ready to take over.

The question is, what would a potential trade for Mike Conley look like? Because as much as he’d be an upgrade at the 1, he’s also older, with only two years left on his deal (assuming he doesn’t exercise his early termination option for 2020-21) and will be paid $67 million over that span.

The Grizz won’t move him for peanuts, but their imminent roster blow-up and his age means they probably should’ve reached this decision last year, when his value was higher than its current state. Phoenix has the assets to pull a deal off, especially if the asking price looks something like this:

With the Feb. 7 deadline approaching, and because Conley is the best point guard option for the Suns via trade, free agency or the 2019 NBA Draft, we might as well draw up some hypothetical packages for Conley to set expectations appropriately.

Multiple draft picks might be a bit much for a 31-year-old with an extensive injury history, especially for a currently bad Suns team whose picks will have more trade value, but for the sake of arriving at a fair offer, each one of the three deals laid out includes one of the following four ingredients:

• A large, ugly contract that will expire in the near future (a.k.a. “Ryan Anderson“)
• One of the Suns’ young wings
• Additional salary cap filler/young player
• A future first round draft pick

Bearing all this in mind, here’s a look at three potential trade packages the Phoenix Suns could offer for Mike Conley.