5 Possible Trade Destinations For Isaiah Thomas

5. Houston Rockets

The Trade:

The Rockets would definitely prefer if Goran Dragic were in IT’s place here, but let’s assume Houston misses out on Dragic and agrees Thomas would be an upgrade over Patrick Beverley.

The Nuggets are a few moves away from blowing it up, and two young, promising assets like Terrence Jones and Kostas Papanikolaou would be a step in the right direction in exchange for a player who’s been on the trade block for weeks now.

Thomas is nowhere near as good a defender as Dragic is and there’d be an interesting dynamic at play between him and James Harden, two lefties who both need the ball in their hands to be effective. But since the Rockets were willing to let the same dynamic play out with Dragic and Harden, why not IT and Harden?

If McDonough is able to work this kind of trickery out — and temporarily distract Daryl Morey from remembering that Dragic is the ultimate prize — then the Suns will upgrade from P.J. Tucker to Wilson Chandler on the wing. Tucker gives 110 percent whenever he’s on the floor, but he’s probably not a starting-caliber small forward. Chandler is.

Again, this deal is a bit unlikely, but perhaps a straight up trade with the Rockets (Thomas for Papanikolaou and Jones) or Nuggets (Thomas for Chandler) would work instead? In the first scenario, Josh Smith makes Jones expendable and the Suns add another young player who could be very good in a few years.

In the third scenario, the Suns get Chandler and Denver receives help with their rebuilding effort. This seems non-sensical with Ty Lawson already there, but Grantland’s Zach Lowe relayed that the Nuggets have discussed Lawson deals with the Boston Celtics, so don’t rule anything out just yet.

However, there’s no indication out of Houston that they’d be fine with Isaiah Thomas as a consolation prize, especially since they probably have the best chance at trading for Goran Dragic right now.

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