5 Possible Trade Destinations For Isaiah Thomas

4. Utah Jazz

The Trade:

This one could happen regardless of where Dragic winds up.

I’ve already covered how an Enes Kanter trade would look at length, but let’s just touch on it briefly. In order to have any hope of keeping Dragic, step one is trading away Isaiah Thomas, as we’ve established. Even if all the Suns get in return is a restricted free agent who could attract an offer sheet of $10 million a year (or more), they’d at least clear out the backcourt logjam.

For Utah, adding Thomas would give them a point guard who’s already miles better than Dante Exum and Trey Burke. Until those guards are ready (assuming they ever are), the Jazz would roll with a 26-year-old who’s only been in the league for three and a half years.

Kanter wants to be traded, so even though the Jazz are reportedly going to deny him his wish, they’ve still been listening to offers. According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Utah wants a talented young player AND a first round draft pick in a potential Kanter deal.

That’s a tad bit much for a guy like Kanter (even given his potential at age 22), so although the Suns have the assets to meet those demands, I severely doubt McDonough would cave to them.

If he’s able to talk the Jazz down, however, this is one team that would potentially be interested in Thomas’ services. An unhappy starting center is a recipe for locker room discord and Rudy Gobert will soon be ready to take over the starting spot. Kanter would boost Phoenix’s playoff chances and even if he got a better offer this summer that the Suns couldn’t match, the whole point of trading Thomas is keeping the Dragon anyway.

Next: A Magical Deal