Next Up Part 2: Who the Phoenix Suns should trade for

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MEMPHIS, TN – JUNE 22: Draft Pick Jaren Jackson Jr. speaks at the Post NBA Draft press conference on June 22, 2018 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Jaren Jackson Jr.

The only reason Memphis would look at moving Jackson is to get rid of Chandler Parsons‘ massive contract. Everyone thought that they were going to make a draft day trade, but it never materialized. While so many teams would love to have had that fourth overall pick, not many teams were capable of taking on Parsons which killed any opportunity to make a move.

Memphis loves Jackson and he’s a great fit with their club, but the chance to get out of that massive mess of Parsons’ deal might be too tempting to pass up.

Especially if Phoenix sweetens the pot. So they should do it this way:

Jaren Jackson Jr. blew the Suns away during his workout and he’d be a great fit alongside Ayton. Fans were hoping upon hope that Phoenix could pull off a draft day trade to move back into the top-10 to land a second high lottery pick after selecting Deandre Ayton first overall. But while it didn’t happen on draft day, lottery selections do get traded after the draft fairly regularly so this might be an opportunity to make that happen.

Of course, if Parsons could stay healthy, he’d also be a really nice addition to stretch the floor from the forward spot. Adding a reserve stretch-four like that to help anchor the second unit would be a big help to a young Suns team whose starters are occasionally going to need to rely on the reserves to either pull them out of a hole, or spread the lead even further so that they can rest late in the game (when was the last time the Suns were able to do that?)

Memphis finally gets rid of the Parsons contract, and while they have to move the fourth overall pick to make it happen, they do acquire a good small forward in return in Warren, the potential of Chriss, as well as Daniels’ and Dudley’s expiring contracts as well as another shot at landing a high lottery pick at some point in the future with the Milwaukee first round pick (not that Milwaukee will be that high, but maybe they can succeed where Phoenix failed and use it to trade up).

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