The response
If James Jones were to call with this trade offer, what is the likely (or inevitable) response he will receive?
No.
Daryl Morey’s first, official, and final response will be, “no.”
I would love for him to say “yes,” but I know, as well as you do, that the answer is no.
Do I think that he would get a better offer anywhere else?
I certainly think he can get an “All-Star,” but he’d never get a superstar equivalent player in return for either of Harden of Paul.
I’m sure that several teams would be willing to put together an eight-for-one-type trade like this one, so the comparability between the Suns’ and what other teams might offer would be based on what role players and draft picks they’d be willing to offer compared to Phoenix’s.
Phoenix Suns
In most years, a selling point of the guaranteed sixth overall pick would help, but all accounts point to this draft being very weak beyond the third pick and thus even that value is probably not enough to move the meter very high.
Don’t get me wrong, if James Jones called Houston tonight and offered this deal, the meter would move.
He’d by lying if he said it wouldn’t. The sudden freedom from Harden’s contract, plus time to make other deals prior to the opening of free agency would keep him up at night, but it would be fun work.
In the end though, I cannot fathom that this package would be high enough for him to think very long on it, and he would rather risk his two superstar players stab themselves in the thighs with forks in the Toyota Center cafeteria than move one of them without receiving a major player in return.
The problem from Phoenix’s perspective too is that if Chris Paul actually did demand a trade, great.
They don’t want him – or at least I would beg and plead that they avoid him with all aspects of James Jones’ managerial being.
However, if James Harden demanded a trade, made it public and clear, and stated that he would never wear another piece of Houston Rockets apparel again in any capacity, then maybe a package like this one could rise to the top get bring the superstar home.
Morey would have zero choice but to trade him, a situation Phoenix Suns fans are all too aware of with the immediate loss of leverage a team has when a player literally walks away.
If by some stroke of luck (to the Phoenix Suns, bad luck to the Rockets), Harden does make himself available to trade, trade every other first round pick for the next ten years for all I care, but save Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, and get Harden back home to the desert where he belongs, now.
Otherwise at the moment, the Phoenix Suns can not make a Godfather deal worth accepting.