How Would the Suns Look With DeMarcus Cousins?

The Rest of the 2016-17 Season

According to ESPN Trade Machine, a contractual trade of DeMarcus Cousins for Alex Len and T.J. Warren does work. Because of the space the Suns have left under the cap at the moment, they can take on a contract such as Cousins’ without having to match-up to or equal the $16.9M he is currently earning in 2016-17.

However, as was discussed on the radio show, two decent young players and potentially two first round picks still seems to be a little shy of what Sacramento could potentially receive from other teams. Therefore, I am adding Brandon Knight to this trade for one specific reason: He boosts the talent return value for Sacramento and the Suns are trying to trade him anyway. Thus by moving him for Cousins for the purposes of at least this discussion we can see what the Suns’ roster might look like post-trade deadline:

PG – Eric Bledsoe, Tyler Ulis

SG – Devin Booker, Leandro Barbosa

SF – P.J. Tucker, Jared Dudley

PF – Marquese Chris, Dragan Bender

C – DeMarcus Cousins, Tyson Chandler

The starting lineup in this scenario is pretty darned impressive offensively with three scorers capable of torching the opponent at anytime. Defensively the base capability will remain similar, but when you include rotations where Cousins slides to the four and Chandler is inserted at the five, if nothing else, teams had better ignore the offensive rebound because the combination of Chandler and Cousins will be very difficult to rebound over.

The Trade Machine gives the Suns a +8 win boost, but that is extrapolated over an entire season. Although it is safe to expect learning pains there will be a bit of a boost over the final 25 games. Let’s say the Suns are 17-40 at the trade deadline. With 25 games remaining post deadline, let us also assume the Suns can win 40% of those games and finish the season 27-55. Very ugly on paper, but with Cousins now on the roster, a significant step up from where they may have been without him.