Rumors: How the Phoenix Suns can acquire a Southeast Division starting point guard
By Adam Maynes
Washington Wizards
In all honesty, I think that the only point guard from Washington the Suns would have a shot at would be Austin Rivers, although they probably missed out on that opportunity by not trading for him this summer.
That said, there has been a lot of chatter recently about how bad things are getting in the Wizards’ World potentially causing Washington to be forced move on from their star John Wall, and if there is any point guard in the Eastern Conference who might make the Suns significantly better from day one, it is John Wall.
There are several sides to this idea though: first off is that Wall seems to be a bad teammate. He comes off very much like a prema donna and is never happy. He doesn’t ever seem to take blame for his team’s failures and instead complains about his teammates. I have heard far too many times that he is a bad teammate and difficult to deal with in the locker room.
He would also cost a lot for the Suns in both talent and money.
If acquired during this season (which would be ideal) he would probably cost a bit more than next season because his contract is only $19.1+ this year.
His supermax contract though kicks in this summer and begins at $37.8M in 2019-20.
In other words, he would cost a helluva lot and he has never even been to the Conference Finals in the East.
After all that, if there was absolutely nobody else that could be acquired, do I think that the Suns should give trading for him a shot?
Absolutely, but again: it’ll be expensive.
My best guess (and it is always very difficult to speculate on compensation for superstars because it is impossible to get fair value and yet fans always want to either severely undercut the team or overcharge) would be two future first round picks (probably 2019 and 2021), both unprotected, Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, Mikal Bridges, and Isaiah Canaan.
Is that enough? Too much? Who knows. But it’s probably right at about where the Wizards might ask.