The Phoenix Suns should take note of the young center stuck with the Philadelphia 76ers and see what the price to trade for the big man would be.
Like Eric Bledsoe before him, Jahlil Okafor just wants to leave the team he is currently on. However, the Philadelphia 76ers seem to be in no rush to trade the disgruntled big man, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. It makes sense for the team wanting to get some value for the former third overall pick, but at this point other clubs would rather wait for him to be a free agent. The courteous option the Sixers should execute is to buyout Okafor, like he has requested, but the team’s president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo seems unwilling to do so. At the moment Okafor appears lost in basketball purgatory with a team that doesn’t want him, but is unwilling to let him walk free. Devin Booker has taken notice of Okafor’s suffering and has made a proclamation the Phoenix Suns‘ front office should take notice of.
FREE JAH
— Book (@DevinBook) November 27, 2017
This could be as simple as Booker feeling sorry for Okafor and wanting his fellow basketball player in a better situation, but it also might be a hint to Suns’ general manager Ryan McDonough. This tweet might be the flame that sparks a trade between the Suns and Sixers. If the Suns believe that getting Okafor out of Philly would make Booker happy, there’s a chance a trade could go down.
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I had wrote an article explaining the positives of trading for Okafor about a month ago. Okafor is young and talented enough to be a solid backup, if not starting at center for the Suns. In the already mentioned article, I had a trade scenario where the Sixers would get Derrick Jones Jr. and two second round picks for Okafor, however at this point the Suns wouldn’t have to give up that much. With Okafor’s value so low, a protected second round pick would be enough to pry him from the the Sixers. This is a deal the Suns can afford to make.
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It’s apparent that Booker has strong feelings for how Okafor is getting treated by the Sixers. With everything that has happened this season with the Phoenix Suns, maybe McDonough could make a trade for Okafor out of good will to help comfort Booker. That in itself would go a long way for repairing the image of the Suns.