Phoenix Suns acquire Washington Wizards’ guard Monte Morris
This one could prove the most fruitful for the Suns given Morris fills a need at the point-guard position. The 27-year-old has developed into a valuable NBA player after being taken with the 51st pick in the 2017 draft.
Morris spent his entire career in Denver before recently being traded to the Washington Wizards, along with Will Barton, for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith.
In Jamal Murray’s absence last season, Morris proved a solid starting point-guard as the Nuggets, led by MVP Nikola Jokic, battled to the sixth seed in the Western Conference. Morris averaged 12.6 points and 4.4 assists in around 30 minutes per game.
Morris is your prototypical steady point-guard without doing anything that you would consider eye-catching. He has a high assist-to-turnover ratio while shooting an incredibly efficient 48.1% from the field and 39.4% from three across his five-year career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7_IkkSye1w
Playing alongside Jokic, Morris has developed himself into just as good an off-ball player as he is on the ball. He shot 39.9% on corner three-pointers and 42.1% on catch-and-shoot threes last season.
Morris is contracted to make $9.1 million next season and $9.8 million in 2023-24. His addition would be crucial – not only as a backup to Chris Paul off the bench, but as a quality replacement starter to allow Paul to rest regularly throughout the regular season.
If the Suns could trade Crowder for Morris straight up, then you’d expect them to do that in a heartbeat. You’d figure Phoenix would likely have to include a pick or two as part of the deal though.