Charles Barkley was on Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 on Tuesday, and made an astute point and observation about Phoenix Suns small forward Kelly Oubre Jr.
The Phoenix Suns got a steal of a deal when acquiring young small forward Kelly Oubre Jr. in the trade with the Washington Wizards of Trevor Ariza, swapping an aging and bitter forward for a young and dynamic scorer who is still on a rookie contract.
However, Oubre, like Ariza before him, is a luxury for the Phoenix Suns, a team who is stacked with young small forwards but no true power forwards, no legitimate point guards, and no worthy backup shooting guards or centers.
And also, let’s be honest: unless Phoenix is somehow unexpectedly on the center of Kevin Durant‘s radar this summer, they aren’t going to be any good for at least two years, and whoever they draft this summer might not be ready to lead for at least another three years.
Not only that, but the Suns have already invested a fourth overall pick in Josh Jackson, traded a future unprotected first round pick for Mikal Bridges, and have an established scorer in T.J. Warren who is under a more than decent contract for the statistics he provides.
Oubre is was unarguably a luxury that the franchise just cannot afford to have – and pay a lot to retain this summer.
Which leads to Charles Barkley‘s point on the matter: the Phoenix Suns should sign and trade Kelly Oubre.
Oubre is playing well enough that Barkley speculated the 23-year-old could make near $100 million dollars in a deal this summer, a contract that is going to be way more than the Suns can afford when they simply have way too many holes at other positions they need to fill just to become decently competitive in the Western Conference.
But while Oubre can’t play point guard or power forward, he can absolutely help the franchise fill at least one of those holes by finding a team in the league that needs him and working out a sign and trade which nets Phoenix either a player or two that helps with depth, or at least a future draft pick that can be used in trading for that additional depth.
By moving on from Oubre, the Suns can cut their glut of small forwards down by one, while hopefully helping to fill a hole at another position.
If they trade T.J. Warren too (arguably the best of the four small forwards at the moment), Phoenix could hopefully fill those holes even tighter, while then placing the future of the position on the shoulders of Josh Jackson and Mikal Bridges, the two best defensive small forwards on the roster, each with two-way capability, and each potentially only a year away from beginning their slow climb into their primes.
Most teams do not carry three starting caliber players at one individual position (it didn’t work out for Phoenix the last time they tried – that time, ironically, at point guard), let alone four, so it only makes sense that this offseason at least one if not two will be moved in deals to help facilitate growth in other areas.
Kelly Oubre too is just too good to let walk and Phoenix needs to get something from him in a deal, so a sign and trade – and making it clear from the offset that that is what they want to do – needs to be the priority, and it should be a primary option for improvement this summer.
Hopefully whoever Phoenix gets in return can be as talented at a different position as Oubre is at small forward, or if they receive a draft pick or two, that those picks are good enough to be dealt for the kind of talent the Suns truly need.