How a trade might look
Suns fans are excited about the opportunity for Phoenix to potentially trade back up into the top-ten and land themselves a second prospect. From Luka Doncic, to Mo Bamba, Trae Young, to Jaren Jackson Jr., Michael Porter to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and others, fans hope that Phoenix can walk away from this draft with two future impact players who can help guide the franchise into championship contention for many years to come.
The problem with this is that many teams are hoping to jump into the top-ten as well, or even stay there, so the cost is potentially going to be fairly high.
Since he will not fall far, the best bet for the Suns to snag Bamba is via the Memphis Grizzlies. Like the Phoenix Suns in the 2017 lottery, Memphis had the second best odds at landing the first pick in 2018, only to have two teams leap-frog them (including the Sacramento Kings who leap-frogged Phoenix last season as well), dropping them to fourth overall.
Since the lottery, rumors persist that the Grizzlies are trying to trade out of the fourth spot where they are most likely to get a project, instead wanting to swap their spot for veteran talent to help them continue to try and win now with Marc Gasol and Mike Conley.
This is where the Phoenix Suns can come in (which we have discussed here at Valley of the Suns), and most likely draft Bamba fourth overall (I presume the draft order will be DeAndre Ayton, Luka Concic, and Michael Bagley).
Obviously the Suns would trade the 16th overall pick as part of the package, but if Memphis needs veterans, who would they want? Would a package of the 16th overall pick and T.J. Warren be acceptable? Would Memphis want more? What about 16, Warren, and Marquese Chriss or Dragan Bender? Honestly, one of them would have to be moved if the Suns are taking Bamba as well since they would presumably have their starting frontcourt of the future at that point with Ayton and Bamba filled causing a glut that would need to be relieved.
My presumption would be that Chriss would have greater value in a that trade than Bender as the Grizzlies would probably want a player who is more apt to step into a starting role at power forward, a spot that he has held for the majority of his two seasons in Phoenix (he has started 80.5% of games he has appeared in).
The Suns lose depth by trading Chriss and Warren, however, they not only potentially add a second starting center of the future – a defensive savant – but then also save some money as Warren’s contract kicks in this season ($11.7+M this year – not bad at all for a scoring small forward), that can be used for additional depth pieces added in either trade of free agency.