It’ll usually take 30 games or so for separation to emerge in each NBA conference, and by the trade deadline, we have a good idea of the different ties within them.
The Western Conference has that dynamic down pat ahead of Thursday’s cease of dealings, one we do not expect the Phoenix Suns to be involved in much.
Unless owner Mat Ishbia’s trigger finger gets a little itchy, the expectation is for Phoenix to do essentially nothing, which would come down to trading Nick Richards to duck under the tax. More on that here if you’re unfamiliar with the reasoning. All said, it would be surprising if the Suns traded a rotation player or acquired one.
The rest of the West could be busy.
Phoenix (30-20) has established itself below the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder (39-11), San Antonio Spurs (33-16) and Denver Nuggets (33-17) but alongside the Houston Rockets (30-17), Minnesota Timberwolves (31-19) and Los Angeles Lakers (29-19), who are all solidly ahead of everyone else. If you’re counting along at home, that’s seven teams, and there are only six guaranteed playoff spots up for grabs above the play-in line.
In addition, someone from below could surge up with a splashy move.
Here are a look at the possibilities that could shake things up in ways that could both help and hurt the Suns’ chances of locking in postseason basketball.
Follow the money at the NBA trade deadline
RELATED STORIES
Suns rout Cavs with dominant 2nd half for another decisive win
Tax implications play a large role in the deadline. You may have seen Saturday night’s move: Cleveland got rid of an underachieving De’Andre Hunter for more options at guard in Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder. But that also saved the Cavaliers nearly $50 million this season. Expect more ramifications like this inside a handful of deals over the next few days.
The Suns are around $250,000 over the tax, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. As Ishbia told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo in early January, there is no value to being just a smidge above the line. If you’re going to be a tax team, be a tax team. Thus, expect them to duck under.
So, who else is there to watch out for?
Denver is roughly $500,000 above the threshold to be a “tax repeater,” while it’s $6.9 million for the Los Angeles Clippers and $7 million for the Lakers. Those two figures for the L.A. squads will be more difficult to finagle, but while the Clippers are stuck in having to contend now, the Lakers have continued to preach “future flexibility” for the Luka Doncic era over the now of the LeBron James era. Avoiding the tax would help with that.
Houston is a non-repeater at $6.8 million over, as is Minnesota at $14.5 million. It would be shocking for either to prioritize that and we’ll cover more on them here later.
If it ain’t broke
There is not an expectation for Oklahoma City, San Antonio or Denver to do much, if anything.
The Thunder ended January a pathetic 9-6. How dare they perform like a normal basketball team! Frauds, I say! Frauds! Maybe there would be a reason to generate skepticism with Jalen Williams getting injured again, this time with a hamstring strain, but OKC aced the 2024 second-round selection of Ajay Mitchell, who is giving them that extra ball-handling juice. Lineups with Mitchell and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have a 21.4 net rating in 544 minutes. That is not a typo, and Mitchell should cruise to a Sixth Man of the Year nod.
With that said, the Thunder only held a 2.7 net rating when Gilgeous-Alexander sat in January, and it dropped to 1.3 without Mitchell on the floor, so maybe there’s one more guard to add? They’ll trust that when Williams is back it’ll be fine, but that extra insurance could be the difference between a second straight championship, and OKC has enough assets where it would realistically be pennies for that type of addition.
Are the Thunder feeling enough pressure from Denver and San Antonio on its heels? Or is Oklahoma City still too traumatized by the Gordon Hayward move from two years ago that flopped?
The Spurs are like Phoenix in that they are ahead of expectations, and with that, it’s easy for them to stand pat to see what they’ve got before a big summer of the major decisions. They recently moved Harrison Barnes out of the starting lineup — he’s a useful vet who also has limitations that lie within what San Antonio needs out of its complementary wings, mainly defensive versatility. That extra wing spot is a clear upgrade point, even though Barnes and Keldon Johnson have provided value this year.
But San Antonio is not the type of organization to get antsy. Barnes ($19 million) and the sparsely used Kelly Olynyk ($13 million) are on expiring contracts and the Spurs have a healthy-enough pick stash to attach a first to one of those guys if the right wing was out there, so maybe it could also have a change of principles like OKC.
The Nuggets defy the sub-headline because they are broke(n). Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon and Cam Johnson are all currently on the shelf for a squad that has struggled with injuries to their core guys all year. But previously unproven youngsters like Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett have thrived with the new opportunities, particularly Watson, and two-way signing Spencer Jones has been a revelation in his rookie season.
Relying on them in May and June may be unwise, but the Nuggets don’t have much to work with in terms of assets anyway. They’ve got a pick swap in 2031 and two second-round picks at their disposal. On top of that, Denver has a history of being cheap, and that aforementioned tax number is what has continued to be proven as what is most important to its ownership.
Do you guard points?
Two teams we mentioned earlier have a clear point guard hole on the roster.
Houston was already dealing with this as soon as Fred VanVleet tore his ACL before the season, and now with Steven Adams also lost for the year, it cannot rely on its primary strength (offensive rebounding) nearly as much as it would have hoped. That will expose more flaws, such as the balance offensively. The flow between Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson just has not reached a comfortable enough level to look ready for contention without someone stirring the drink. Reed Sheppard has popped but not enough to instill confidence he’s ready to handle that load in pursuit of a ring.
Minnesota saw Mike Conley’s decline coming 20 months ago when it traded a 2031 future unprotected first-round pick for the No. 8 overall pick to select young guard Rob Dillingham. The very large problem is that Dillingham has been so uninspiring that the Timberwolves brought in Bones Hyland to take his minutes. For now, Donte DiVincenzo has been starting and it’s been fine. But there are no Finals aspirations to complete without upgrading that spot.
Both front offices should be scouring the market for ball-handlers. Chicago is a big team to watch, touting two good ones in Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. White is more of a scorer and shooter with an expensive price tag coming up in the summer while Dosunmu is a tremendous gap-filler who has come into his own more as an offensive producer, and he will also earn a raise coming up. Deeper down is the “did the Kings temporarily or permanently break you?” adventure with Malik Monk in Sacramento.
It won’t be easy. Each team is in the first apron, and the Timberwolves have little pick assets to toss out there, while Houston has draft selections to offer but less tradable contracts.
To Giannis or not to Giannis
Marks cut down a list of suitors for Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to 11 teams that could produce suitable offers. Teams in the West he mentions are OKC, San Antonio, Houston and Minnesota, along with the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers.
We covered how this would be a hard swerve for the Thunder or Spurs to act on, and as Marks details, it’s not a slam dunk for the Rockets and Timberwolves (assuming Houston isn’t going to move off Sengun or Thompson).
The confusing verbiage of the Antetokounmpo trade saga now has us at “the Bucks are starting to listen to offers” and Antetokounmpo is “ready for a new home.” Just to be clear, he’s totally not asking for a trade, everyone. Do not put in ink, in the newspaper that he is asking for a trade. Beyond that, Antetokounmpo strained his calf and is out until at least a month and probably longer. Not a lot of time to adjust to his new team, and Suns fans know with the timing of the Durant trade how that can be a problem.
Point being, it sounds like this could linger into the summer, especially with no clear match of a team with a home run offer.
Golden State (27-23) is the team to watch if Giannis and/or Milwaukee just want to get this over with. The package is not a flattering mix of young players between Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and others. The sell would be giving up the maximum of four first-round picks and swaps, all of which Golden State has. Given that Stephen Curry turns 38 years old in March and Draymond Green turns 36, the value on those swaps and picks gets enticing quickly, even if it’s still the Warriors with Antetokounmpo.
If the Warriors don’t go there, they will still heavily pursue upgrades without Jimmy Butler. They don’t want to waste any more Steph years, and the right deals lining up with all that pick flexibility could push them into the Suns’ territory of the standings.
In or out?
A few teams have some interesting decisions to make on whether to buy, sell or do nothing. It’s the L.A. teams that could put more pressure on a top-six spot, while a pair of underachievers could fade into lottery obscurity.
Do the Lakers go for it? They’ve got a glut of expiring contracts, and while it’s only one tradable first-round pick, they do have lots of swaps to sprinkle into potential deals. But despite how wholly uninspiring this season has been, they might prefer to hold steady, because two more firsts become eligible for trades this summer and all that freed-up money opens up avenues. The mindset the front office has shared publicly certainly backs up supporting that type of logic.
Through the Clippers’ (23-25) ferocious comeback these last six weeks, is there a move for them to make now? Yes! In the same vein of the Warriors, they’ve got future firsts (2030/32) and swaps (2030/31/32) that have tantalizing upside for sellers elsewhere. Even better, it’s five different vets on expiring contracts, with two sporadic contributors in Bogdan Bogdanovic ($16 million) and Brook Lopez ($9 million), who are in good ranges for all types of players.
An Anthony Davis trade likely won’t change the Dallas Mavericks‘ (19-30) chances this year one way or another. What it would signal, however, is that this era is done. And that means they would get worse by moving Daniel Gafford or Naji Marshall or P.J. Washington. It should be said they are playing better basketball lately, and Cooper Flagg is figuring it out after going from runaway Rookie of the Year favorite to having to chase the award down these last two months. If they stand pat, they could surge late.
The Memphis Grizzlies (18-29) will trade Ja Morant if they find a willing party. His body is cooked, and you can decide for yourself if it’s more worrisome that it affects his consistency with staying on the court or how he actually plays when he’s on it. Will they consider moving other ancillary pieces? Santi Aldama is a stretch big teams would want, as is a reserve 5 playing the way Jock Landale has through all of Memphis’ injuries. The remainder of the young core is presumably off the table.
Follow @KellanOlson
Hence then, the article about how suns western conference could change at trade deadline was published today ( ) and is available on Arizona sports ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How Suns’ Western Conference could change at trade deadline )
Also on site :
- AS Roma vs. Udinese Prediction, Picks, Live Odds – Feb. 2
- Frankie Dettori retires from racing after ‘living his dream’ as he bows out in style in Brazil
- ‘ICC can’t sanction’ – Former PCB Chairman on Pakistan boycotting India match in T20 World Cup