Recently, Zach Buckley of SB Nation proposed a trade between the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves that is interesting enough to breakdown and make sense of it.
Draft and summer trade season is the best. The possibilities are endless, and in the Phoenix Suns’ position with multiple holes they so desperately need to fill and a draft pick far lower than they were anticipating, they can pretty much do anything.
SB Nation’s Zach Buckley’s proposed a trade between the Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves that is neither the first nor the last that we will see this summer, but is interesting enough that it deserves a deeper dive than the explanation he provided.
What’s more is that James Jones needs to be creative this summer in both filling holes while also setting the core up for continued growth.
He absolutely cannot go into next season with the same roster as last year save for a new draft pick and end of the bench tweaks that do not change the face of the core. Even with the addition of Monty Williams as head coach, such an outcome would do nothing to raise the expectations beyond anything than what Igor Kokoskov was capable of doing in 2018-19.
To that point, Buckley’s trade is something that would be a huge move, the kind of major trade that the franchise had been known to do in the past, but has shied away from for the majority of Robert Sarver’s tenure as owner.
As proposed, the proposal goes as follows:
My first thought when I saw this was “Great! Just what the Suns need: another lottery pick to add to an already young core!”
Buckley contends that by having two lottery picks, they can draft best available with the first pick and for need with the second – a logic a wholly disagree with.
However, having two lottery picks actually would benefit Phoenix in another way: making a secondary trade (although this trade would need to be consummated at least a week prior to the draft so James Jones would have enough time to cultivate offers for his now two lottery picks and two expiring contracts up through the start of the draft itself – more on that in a moment).