The two most likely lottery spots the Suns could trade into

Honorable mention: New York Knicks

While this won’t guarantee the Phoenix Suns a particularly high lottery pick by any stretch of the imagination, there is one team in the lottery who the Suns might  be able to deal with Phoenix is willing to take on a bad contract.

This happening will depend on if the Suns would be willing to take albatross contract on that might hurt them in the free agency hunt of 2019.

The one team that sticks out the most in this regard is the New York Knicks.

Even though the Knicks never really seem to be a legit free agent destination, they are still in New York and are a blue chip NBA franchise. As such, they will perpetually believe that they can lure great stars to the team, and will definitely want to try and acquire one or two to pair up with Kristaps Porzingis at some point, especially before he gets his first contract extension in 2019, likely to be a max deal.

For the Suns to deal with the Knicks, I believe that they will have to take on a bad contract, of which the Knicks have several: Enes Kanter (one-year remaining at $18+M – although this is incumbent upon whether or not he is going to accept his player option, which in his exit interviews he noted that he is leaning towards opting out), Joakim Noah (two-years remaining at $18.5+M and $19.2+M), and Courtney Lee (two-years remaining at $12.2+M and $12.7+M).

Each of those players have either one or two years remaining on their contracts and are all making north over $10M.

Tim Hardaway Jr. also has a bad contract for the stats that he puts up (he is a volume scorer, but provides little else and is a terrible 3-point shooter), however, he is under contract for three more seasons at $17.3+ million each, something I doubt the Suns would touch with a ten-foot poll.

There is a chance that if there is not a particular player that the Knicks love  at 9, that they might be willing to trade out of the first round entirely if someone is willing to take on one of those contracts. (I actually do think that the odds become greater of this happening if Kantor opts out because New York would be able to relieve themselves of two large contracts at once). Essentially New York would be acquiring cap space to help them go after a free agent this summer and maybe even next – possibly even targeting LeBron James.

If I am in Ryan McDonough’s shoes, I would certainly listen to the offer for Kanter or Lee, and maybe even consider swapping first’s if there is someone available at 9 that McDonough truly does believe can be a difference maker.

The goal would be to acquire 9 without giving up 16 though, since the Suns would be acquiring a large contract. However, in regards to Noah, I would have zero interest in swapping firsts, instead only offering the two second round picks.

From there, McDonough has options to move up again, and he can attempt to package 9 and 16 to move up, a package that might be enough to entice Dallas at 5, Orlando at 6, or Chicago at 7.

Picking up a bad contract hamstrings the Suns in free agency this year (which there really isn’t a whole  lot they are likely interested in), and some next year as well (if they were to acquire Lee or Noah). However, to get into the top ten in 2018, they might have to do something like this, and New York is probably the best option in the lottery to pull off such a trade.