How the Suns could SERIOUSLY move up to 1st overall

This is wholly contingent on the Boston Celtics feeling confident that they can find buyer for Isaiah Thomas this offseason, and let’s face it, they probably can.

With this trade, the Boston Celtics maintain an All-Star caliber point guard in their starting backcourt, but one who has better size and a much stronger defensive ability than the tiny Thomas. Depending on who is available at fourth overall, they would still have their choice of adding Jayson Tatum, Johnathan Issac, or Malik Monk, any of whom could step in right away to help make the Championship push both this coming season and next, while the young draft pick also grows with the franchise over the long term.

While the acquisition of veteran Eric Bledsoe adds about six million to their cap above what Isaiah Thomas is making this coming season, by adding Tyler Zeller to the trade (and presuming that they are able to trade Thomas for a very small immediate contractual return) the Celtics create about two million of additional cap space. They need the space right away to help re-sign Amir Johnson, but would also help in their pursuit of a highly coveted free agent, most specifically Gordon Hayward.

For Phoenix, the Suns receive the ability to draft Markelle Fultz and pull together what on paper should be a dominant backcourt with Devin Booker. As Fultz is only 20-years-old, there is no risk of breaking up the backcourt in two to five years when Bledsoe would eventually need to be traded or not re-signed. Fultz and Book will have the opportunity to grow with one another and hopefully develop into an Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars level of dominating duo.

By acquiring Zeller, the Suns can then give themselves the opportunity to walk away from Alex Len and his potentially large contract this summer, while then walking away from Zeller next offseason opening up much needed cap space. Tyson Chandler and Zeller will be able to handle the starting center duties with Alan Williams coming in as the primary backup, and the three can easily share time this coming season as Chandler, Williams, and Len did last year.

There is no doubt that this is pretty much a fleece of the Suns by Boston, however, Suns fans cannot deny that it literally could take that kind of a trade to make this happen. Hopefully it doesn’t take this much though, and the next two trade options do give Phoenix a far more full package in return.