Many Suns fans have been interested in about the possibility of Phoenix trading their first round pick for Lakers guard Lonzo Ball. While some level of excitement is warranted, there are valid reasons to tone it down to cautious optimism.
The Phoenix Suns are a young team in desperate need of a point guard, so of course if a young one like Lonzo Ball possibly becomes available it makes sense to become excited about a potential trade.
They should also be prepared to give up a significant amount of value in return, which is what the Suns would be doing if they made a straight up swap with the sixth pick in the draft.
As someone who is very low on the value of the sixth overall pick, and wants no part of a rookie point guard starting for the Suns next season, swapping it out for Lonzo does not put my worries to rest.
Phoenix Suns
Part of what makes acquiring Ball so appealing is that 2019-20 is only his 3rd season and he is still so young.
Part of the problem is people forget that he is 21-years-old and 21 year old’s are usually not point guards on successful NBA teams.
There is not a problem with letting Lonzo develop along with all of Phoenix’s other young players, but that would lead the Suns down a different path than acquiring any other point guard that has been rumored to be available such as Mike Conley or Spencer Dinwiddie.
Without big improvements made in other areas this could lead to a lack of immediate improvement in the coming seasons.
As a player, Ball does bring skills that the Suns need from their point guard.
He is an above average defender, and an elite creator given the opportunity, however there still are major concerns with his fit.
Ball is currently one of the worst shooting and least efficient guards in the league with major struggles finishing at the rim and making free throws. For a team in need of extra scoring and someone to take the load off of Devin Booker at times, Ball would not be that guy – at least right away.
Another concern with trading for Ball is his injury history.
Through two seasons Ball has only played in 99 total games, with no more than 52 in a year.
There are no serious injuries on his resume to speak of, and some of it could be attributed to tanking at the end of the year (something that Phoenix Suns fans are all too suspicious of with their own team).
There is probably a good chance that on a new team that is playing to win, Ball will remain healthy and revert back to the mean in terms of games played. That said, there should still be a pause with someone so young who has miss ed so many games.
I say all of this just to say that I still would definitely trade the 6th pick for Lonzo Ball instead of selecting Coby White or Darius Garland, the potential with Ball as a prospect is that great.
However, there is hesitation though when considering trading for Ball compared to trading for one of the rumored veteran point guards, or signing the potentially available D’Angelo Russell. A trade for Ball should bring great hope for the future, but is by no means a surefire steal of a trade.