Phoenix Suns

[arxpert]

I think the Suns clearly won the KD trade by leaps and bounds even before the Draft, but tonight was pretty massive for the team. Booker now has potentially 3 monster Centers to work with for a change. Though I wish that they would have landed Egor Demin.

If they can get Beal to waive that NTC, they can do a little bit more this offseason, but truthfully, Beal was 25ppg 5reb 5ast whenever he was a 2nd option for the Suns if KD or Book sat out/were injured. I don't think that PHX will lose too much production overall.

KD barely cared to play defense as it was anyway.

What to do with Jalen Green? Well... it is a team with many SG's. He could be a 30min per game lightning rod.

Maybe the Suns with trade Grayson Allen.

All they need to do is move Grayson Allen for draft picks or 1 minimum contract like a 3mil player and they are then under the 2nd Apron and all of the potential hazards. That gives them a lot of flexibility alone.

If they traded Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale in separate trades, 1 for 1 and 1 for Draft Picks, then they would be under the 2nd Apron regardless of Brad Beal's contract making him a complete non-issue to the team.

The Suns could then just force Beal to sit on the bench and do nothing until he waives his No Trade Clause while Jalen Green mops up all the statistics.

It serves Beal no purpose to act that way though. He is a good person 100% and loyal. He will go out and give you 60 any given night if motivated.

The fact is, he witnessed first hand what happened to John Wall who played that game. The very moment John Wall's contract became 1 year left, the Wizards traded him for Russell Westbrook. Beal knows that if he doesn't "play ball" and be team friendly, that he will be next. Sure, he will get his well earned 110mil remaining if he doesn't buy himself out (yes NBA players have to buy themselves out)...

Look at how much money Russ earned since his "50mil" deal expired... less than 10mil total?

Beal is only 31. Not 35 nor 38. He should be motivated so show he can still put up the numbers so he can do a Sign+Trade / Opt Out and New Contract scenario where he can get around 150mil through age 34-35 and continue to stack money while age time is on his side.

I am expecting a 1 year Re-Tool for Phoenix. They can trade players and get some picks back. 2026 will be Generational anyway and they don't need 19 year olds on the team so they can grab some 23-24 year old types who are Ready Now with a very respectable roster.

TLDR; Suns aren't stuck with Beal. He can be moved. I expect Dillon Brooks to be moved by Jalen Green. Grayson Allen + Royce O'Neale can get PHX under the 1st Apron for maximum flexibility if they did nothing else. And PHX won the KD Deal. In the end Jalen Green is only 23 years old. He is worth at least 3 or 4 1st round picks alone. Suns got a Haul for KD and it will take 1 year to get back into the Playoff Fold if they play it right.

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I expect Dillon Brooks to be moved by Jalen Green.

Emotionally? That's a beautiful thing.

Regarding the 2nd Apron, the Suns really only need to shed about $4 million because they can simply decline the $8.1 million team option on Vasilije Micić if they don't need his contract for anything else, like as a throw in to make money work on a trade.

EDIT: Nvm, didn't realize we traded Micić to get Mark Williams. Disregard everything lol

[arxpert]

I expect Dillon Brooks to be moved by Jalen Green.

Emotionally? That's a beautiful thing.

Regarding the 2nd Apron, the Suns really only need to shed about $4 million because they can simply decline the $8.1 million team option on Vasilije Micić if they don't need his contract for anything else, like as a throw in to make money work on a trade.

EDIT: Nvm, didn't realize we traded Micić to get Mark Williams. Disregard everything lol

Yes a speech to text typo can go a long way. I expect Brooks to be moved before Jalen Green at the moment.

Getting under both Aprons would be huge for the Suns and if we had to lose Grayson and Royce to do it, then the Suns made it clear tonight with drafting Fleming that they have those intentions.

Not sure what the plan is with Nick Richards. Mark Williams is only 23. He still has time to get some PED shots to be healthy and extend his career. We've seen in before and we will see it again.

Booker is set to sign his Mega Contract in a couple of weeks making him almost impossible to trade unless it is literally right now in a Sign + Trade. So I doubt that will happen. Once he signs this deal he will be earning around 70mil per season. Close to 1mil per game.

No one will be able to afford to trade for him. Booker is going to take this team to the next level quickly. They will have 1st round picks via Swaps albeit probably not lottery picks, but if Grayson and Royce could land some conditional 1st's or swaps and a handful of 2nd's it would restock the pantry there while developing a very solid young core around Booker and his talent.

The key will be finding a true Point Guard. I doubt CP3 will waste his last legs in PHX, but also sad that Nembhard didn't sign Undrafted with Phoenix. We just needed to get Egor Demin and it didn't work out. I would offer Maluach and Grayson for Egor right now if I were Ishbia and ride with Mark Williams and Nick Richards. Oh well. Booker is NOT a PG. Beal is NOT a PG. Time for these experiments to end.

Ott will play Twin Tower lineups, but we don't have an Evan Mobley so maybe we can make a significant trade of Grayson Allen + Royce for Mobley. Throw in Oso Iguodaro and Nick Richards to while at it. FTW.

The Suns are going to be competitive and that's all that matters. I will take their OVER on Team Wins this season.