Not even a week after the Phoenix Suns made a brilliant trade for backup big Brandan Wright, it appears general manager Ryan McDonough has his eyes set on a new target to acquire.
With the Los Angeles Clippers looking to trade for Boston Celtics guard Austin Rivers (God only knows why, since the pros and cons of such a move are pretty disheartening), the Suns may try to facilitate the trade as a third party.
ESPN’s Marc Stein has the latest in Suns rumors:
Expectation here at @nbadleague Showcase remains that Clips will seal trade to acquire Austin Rivers by week's end. Perhaps as soon as today
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 15, 2015
Phoenix increasingly mention as a likely third-team participant so Celtics don't have to take back any salary in sending Austin Rivers to LA
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 15, 2015
Suns are believed to covet Reggie Bullock from Clippers. Clips would naturally prefer to make deal without surrendering Bullock. But ...
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 15, 2015
But Austin Rivers, I'm told, never reported to Celtics after deal because Boston pledged to get him to Clippers. And that remains the plan
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 15, 2015
Stein goes on to mention that Rivers never reported to the Celtics because they told him he could wait at home since they were planning on dealing him as soon as possible.
According to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, talks stopped momentarily, but quickly picked back up again:
The #Suns trade talks for Reggie Bullock is back in play. Things change fast. It'd be a three-team deal to get Austin Rivers to the Clips.
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) January 15, 2015
For Phoenix, Bullock represents an intriguing prospect, albeit one that comes with a few complications. Since being drafted 25th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, Bullock hasn’t been able to crack the Clippers’ rotation.
However, Bullock is still only 23 years old and after shooting an abysmal 30.1 percent from three-point range as a rookie, has boosted his accuracy from downtown to 38.5 percent on 1.6 attempts per game this season.
Bullock is averaging a mere 2.6 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per game. His defense and three-point touch are his two biggest strengths, but he hasn’t seen much of the court in his one and a half seasons in the league.
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There are a few caveats that come with McDonough’s supposed interest in Bullock, however. Aside from the young shooting guard never really proving himself as a useful NBA player, there’s also the fact that the Suns’ roster currently stands at 15. Someone would have to be waived or included in the trade to make room for Bullock.
Room would also have to be cleared out for Bullock from a financial standpoint. The Suns only have $1.189 million in available cap space, but Bullock is set to make $1.2 million this season.
There’s also the matter of this team being overloaded with guards. At the point guard position, Phoenix already has Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, Isaiah Thomas and rookie Tyler Ennis. With shooting guards Gerald Green, Archie Goodwin and Zoran Dragic already in tow, do the Suns really have room for yet another guard?
Still, Bullock is the kind of player who could thrive in the right situation, and there’s no denying Phoenix would love to add a young player who can defend on the wing and knock down perimeter shots.
So how would the Suns go about freeing up roster space for Bullock? There are a few avenues.
Assuming McDonough remains intent on keeping Phoenix’s high-scoring point guard hydra intact, one of the younger guards could conceivably be on the chopping block. The rookie Ennis seems a tad redundant on a roster like this, but McDonough also knows young assets when he sees them, so at only 20 years old it might be a bit early to give up on him.
Zoran Dragic feels like the most expendable player on the roster because he’s hardly logged any minutes, but the Suns’ use for him extends to the summer when they will attempt to re-sign his free agent brother, Goran.
Goodwin — who is currently playing for the D-League affiliate Bakersfield Jam — is another backcourt candidate who doesn’t get much action, but he’s shown too many flashes of brilliance in his limited time to even suggest shipping the 20-year-old away.
Of course, there’s always a chance that the recent Brandan Wright trade allows McDonough to get rid of one of his big men. We all knew Miles Plumlee‘s future in Phoenix became murky after that deal, but it also means the same for the rarely used Shavlik Randolph.
As of right now, Randolph feels like the most likely player to be removed from the roster in the event of such a trade.
Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that if the Suns truly are interested in Bullock, they’d need to clear a roster spot and (minimal) cap space in order to become a facilitator in Lob City’s perplexing Austin Rivers gambit.
What do you think, Suns fans? Would you like to see Reggie Bullock on the roster, and who would you give up? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!