Despite starting the season on an 8-1 tear, the Phoenix Suns have fallen back down to earth hard. They've lost their last five games - and although the latest on injured duo Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal is positive - it is still unclear if they'll be available after the Suns' current five days off ends.
Sliding back down the Western Conference - and with a number of players getting the blame for the failure to win games - has trade talks featuring the Suns heating up online. Only it's not as easy as making any hypothetical deals, as a result of the organization being in the second apron.
Yet there's one aspect of being a second apron team that is being missed.
Two of the key restrictions in place for the Suns when it comes to trade negotiations are that they can't take back one dollar more than they send out in a deal, and also that they can't stack salaries together in pursuit of a player.
So if for argument's sake they wanted to trade Jusuf Nurkic and the $18,125,000 he is making this season - as a lot of fans would love to do - they couldn't even take back a player making $18,125,001 in any proposed trade. Not that another player in the league is making that kind of money exactly, but you get the point.
The Suns watched the Blazers give up 120 points for 6 years and said we need to trade for Jusuf Nurkic
— Prigioni Muse (@OptimusDime8) November 21, 2024
The Suns also can't combine Nurkic, Grayson Allen and Josh Okogie's deals to get access to another star player either. They're making roughly $40 million combined this season, while somebody like point guard LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets is making $35 million. The Suns would be taking less money back in a deal which works, but they can't combine guys together in order to do this.
However...
This is the part that seems to have evaded many fans in The Valley. There is nothing that says the Suns can't get multiple players back in exchange for one of their guys, as long as they're not taking one dollar more back in that deal. Allen for example is making over $15 million this season, which is less than Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Wilson of the Brooklyn Nets combined.
Not to say the Nets would have interest in this kind of trade, but you get the picture. If the Suns then start to add picks alongside Nurkic, Allen or Okogie in deals, then they are going to find that other franchises are going to pick up the phone. The Suns have hit a rocky patch in this season, and they are not alone.
There are several potential trade partners out there right now, from the rebuilding Nets and San Antonio Spurs, to a Charlotte Hornets roster that looks like it would be better building around some of their younger players. But whereas many thought that the Suns could enter trade talks because of the second apron, there are still ways to improve this roster.
Finney-Smith would actually be an excellent addition - in much the same way Royce O'Neale was at the deadline from the same team last season - but there's plenty of other options out there. Nurkic might not have much value in Phoenix right now - but if packaged alongside a pick - there's other organizations that would take the final year-and-a-half of his deal on. A reason for optimism.