The Phoenix Suns need a power forward and another dynamic scorer to play alongside Devin Booker and Kelly Oubre. Former Arizona Wildcat Aaron Gordon would be a perfect fit.
The Phoenix Suns are once again floating along in a listless season, staring at the playoffs from the outside looking in, and already with an eight-game losing streak under the belt for the fifth-consecutive season.
The hope and promise that James Jones‘ offseason acquisitions and the 7-4 start gave the fanbase has all but faded away as fear slowly but surely has gripped the Valley of the Suns that the franchise is not quite as near to a complete turnaround as one believed, or that the turnaround will not come before Devin Booker decides that he wants out.
Something has to be done – and it has to be done quickly.
For Devin Booker and the fan’s sake, James Jones need to at least give an injection of excitement so that this season doesn’t completely turn into just another one of failure and missed, apparently somewhat lofty expectations.
Aron Gordon can, to some degree, be that shot of energy, and even potentially be the additional dynamic player that the roster so desperately lacks.
At only 24-years-old and still a local favorite from his days with the University of Arizona, Gordon is neither an All-Star (at least not yet) nor a superstar, but is the kind of player that would thrive in Monty William’s run-and-gun offense as he waits for fastbreak passes from either Ricky Rubio or Booker.
His contract too is one of the better, cap friendly, ones in the league.
A descending deal, he is earning over $21 million over the course of this season, then $19.8+ next year, $18.1 the following season, and $16.4 million to close out his deal in 2021-22.
While not a 20+ point scorer in his career to date (he has also never played with a legitimate start point guard like Rubio or a star player like Booker), his ability to average at least 17 points per game and to some degree stretch the floor (only a 31.9% outsider shooter in his career so far, although while shooting 29.2% this season, there is hope for some upside as he shot 34.3% the last two seasons combined), he would still be a very good fit with the way the roster has been built thus far.
Watching Gordon sprint down the court for alley-oops and high-flying dunks would be exciting and finally make the Phoenix Suns fun to watch again, with added depth to the roster that is desperately needed.
All of that said, James Jones should not make this (or any) major trade until every effort to acquire a true star (at least Karl-Anthony Towns) has made.
Therefore, even if an executive at the Orlando Magic called the Suns today with the very deal proposed on the next page, Phoenix should agree to listen to it, but then use that deal as leverage to try to find another deal.
If by the trade deadline (or at least close to) nothing bigger materializes, this deal should be struck and the Suns will be significantly improved, regardless.
The Trade
Of course the Phoenix Suns get a young, exciting power forward, one who would be a strong scoring option on offense, and a not-the-worst-in-the-world defender – even if he were, if he just scored more more point than he allowed, so be it.
Regardless, with the acquisition of Aaron Gordon, the Phoenix Suns would have their starting power forward problem resolved in an instant, and with the addition of Mo Bamba, Phoenix would have a good, long-term replacement for Aron Baynes and with three-years remaining under contract.
With Gordon’s contract shrinking each season as opposed to growing, the Suns retain some flexibility to add to the roster over the course of the deal, a situation that is advantageous to any team that retains his contract (especially if his statistics take a spike up with Phoenix).
The basic lineup would look like:
PG – Ricky Rubio/Elie Okobo
SG – Devin Booker/Mikal Bridges
SF – Kelly Oubre/Cameron Johnson
PF – Aaron Gordon/Frank Kaminsky
C – Deandre Ayton/Mo Bamba
With the addition of the first round pick, the Magic receive significant cap space this offseason with all three contracts of Tyler Johnson, Baynes, and Dario Saric, and obviously with somewhat of an inside track to re-sign all three of them this summer (with Saric in particular a restricted free agent).
Thanks to former Valley of the Suns contributor Andrew Clark for presenting this trade in a conversation we had in attempting to get Phoenix a legitimate starting power forward.
The Justification
For the Phoenix Suns, the justification is very simple: they get a young, highly-athletic power forward who’s game, connection to the fanbase, and contract would fit perfectly with this franchise.
Aaron Gordon has never played with a star player like Devin Booker and would have very little true pressure placed on him game-in-and-game-out, and has never played with a point guard like Ricky Rubio becoming the very welcome recipient of multiple lob-passes each game.
Outside of a first round pick, James Jones isn’t losing any of his young core, and with Gordon’s cap-friendly contract, it will make re-signing Kelly Oubre pretty easy (presuming that will be the intention in the summer of 2021), while still having cap space to work with to find additional pieces to add to the roster for depth.
Phoenix Suns
For the Orlando Magic, they are moving on from a player who has not only been at the center of multiple rumors over the past year or so, but who was also expected to be a centerpiece of a competitive playoff team, yet such optimism has failed to ever materialize.
Gordon has not only proven that he is not a centerpiece per se, but the assumption for Phoenix would be that by playing with a star and a very good passing point guard, he may still develop into one yet.
Orlando is then granted cap space this offseason (while nothing special for a franchise who is not likely to be all that attractive to free agents, still additional flexibility nonetheless), as well as a protected first round pick, which if just lottery protected this season alone, would likely be sent this summer with Phoenix hopefully making a run to the playoffs.
The Magic too are showing ultimate faith in budding star Jonathan Issac, who is not only appearing to be on the verge of being the better of the two players already, but while out for an extended period with a severe left knee and bone sprain, the Magic too receive a replacement at power forward in Dario Saric, who might actually have significant re-signing attractiveness to them to play alongside Issac.
Saric too literally appears to be better suited in the Eastern Conference anyway so it would additionally work out well for both parties.
The Problem
While on the surface I am personally excited about the potential of adding Aaron Gordon, I am a little bit afraid that he will become Antonio McDyess – and not in a good way.
The situations are significantly different in that the Phoenix Suns gave up a ton to acquire McDyess when he was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 1998 season, while James Jones would not (with this trade) be giving up nearly as much, and Gordon has two years beyond this one left under contract giving him a chance to continue to develop his game in Monty Williams‘ offense while Jones continues to work to build a winner.
However, while McDyess and Gordon share similar high-flying tendencies (which are a lot of fun), by the time McDyess was 27, his knees all but ended his above-the-rim career, forcing him to continue on for 10 years as a meager role player.
Aaron Gordon is only 24-year-old at the moment (the prime of McDyess’ career), but has already had issues with both his left foot, left hip-flexer, and now his left achilles – obviously all necessary to be the hyper-athlete long-term that his currently is.
While the Phoenix Suns (I presume) would only make the trade after the passing of a physical and the guarantee or belief that the left side of his body issues are not going to cause him to lose the skills that have made him who he is too early, he has already had two seasons ended early due to such injuries.
If the Suns believed that Aaron Gordon’s body would hold out, then James Jones should make this trade without thinking twice.
The addition of Gordon would not only be a huge boost to the power forward position at the moment, but with his age and the back court talent on this roster that he would be planted into, there is no reason to believe that he couldn’t take significant steps forward in is game in the very near future.