Post Black Friday Shopping: Five trades the Phoenix Suns should make ASAP
By Adam Maynes
3. Blake Griffin
At only 30-years-old, Blake Griffin has plenty of life left in his legs.
The first true star in this group, Griffin would absolutely help to make the Phoenix Suns a more competitive playoff team this season, and beyond.
He once claimed that he loved Scottsdale so he would have accepted signing with the franchise to be able to hang out there more often, but ended up with the Detroit Pistons when they offered him an exorbitant amount of money to do so.
The beauty of acquiring him now is that he only has 2+ years left on the deal, meaning that with each passing game, the new team that he may eventually be moved to is off the hook for more and more of that gigantic salary.
Phoenix Suns
The Detroit Pistons had hoped that he would make them a Conference contender, and while he did help get them to the playoffs and was named an All-Star last season, the roster, and the system, are not built well enough to truly compete.
Remember, I tried softening you up to the idea of trading Kelly Oubre, and while I hate to do it, and would do almost anything to prevent it, to acquire Griffin, he has to be included.
Yes, the Suns would be losing seven-years from Oubre to Griffin, and their stats are very similar this season, Griffin averaged 24.5 points last season so he absolutely still has it in the right situation, plus my gut still just says that Oubre is not a future star and I still believe that Blake Griffin is a dynamic player that can make this team much better right away.
If you are talking replacement stats too, even if Griffin only replaces Oubre’s traditional statline one-for-one this season, Cameron Johnson‘s huge upgrade at outside shooting not only improves the starting lineup at small forward, but moving Saric to the bench only helps with shooting depth there as well.
New Starting Lineup:
PG – Ricky Rubio
SG – Devin Booker
SF – Cameron Johnson
PF – Blake Griffin
C – Deandre Ayton