Honorable Mention: Sacramento Kings
The Trade:
I’m not opposed to this trade from the Suns’ perspective. According to Yahoo! Sports’ Marc. J Spears, the Kings plan to be in the running for the Goran Dragic sweepstakes:
Kings want Goran Dragic “bad,” source said.Sac could move Jason Thompson & Nik Stauskas to clear salary cap space for max offer in offseason
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) February 18, 2015
However, nothing in that report says anything about Sacramento being willing to trade for Dragic, just that they want to clear enough room to make him a max offer this summer. The tweet also makes no mention of Ben McLemore, the prized acquisition from this hypothetical deal.
McLemore would make Isaiah Thomas expendable to some degree. The Suns are likely to move IT into the starting lineup and continue playing dual point guard lineups with Dragic gone, but bringing in a shooter on the rise like McLemore could represent a departure from that playing style and make IT expendable.
This news flash shouldn’t be a shocker to anyone, but the Kings were not on Dragic’s list of preferred teams. That means little to the Suns in terms of where they want to trade him, but it does mean something to Sacramento, who likely wouldn’t give up a young, promising asset like McLemore in exchange for a player who’d likely bolt this summer anyway.
I personally believe in DeMarcus Cousins, but I also believed that trading Isaiah Thomas would convince Goran Dragic to stay. If Dragic didn’t believe that would make a difference, he probably also doesn’t believe in Boogie’s star potential.
This is a nice start to our hypothetical trade musings, but there’s no way in hell this happens, even if the Suns did take on Jason Thompson‘s inflated deal. Or, you know, the Kings could totally do something typical of the Kings and wind up trading for a player who leaves in the offseason. Either way.
Next: A Risky Endeavor