3 Targets Suns should be eyeing as trade season kicks off

December 15th is a very important date for the Phoenix Suns, as it marks the point in the season that most players signed to deals this past summer can be traded. That means the likes of Monte Morris, Bol Bol and even Josh Okogie are able to be moved if the franchise finds a taker for them.

Even better, it now means the organization can hopefully go out and get a player or two who can help their own faltering campaign. There have been several low points already this season, but a grim defeat out in Florida might just have been the worst of all.

Which is why the Suns should be eyeing these three trade targets.

As you have likely heard many times by now, the Suns are a second apron team. This means that making trades is difficult, with the franchise unable to stack players together to go and get a max player, or send out more players in a deal than they get back.

Which is why the level of talent that potentially lands in The Valley is going to be limited in some way. It would be amazing to go and get a big wing who can slash to the rim and move without the ball - elements this group are sorely lacking right now - but that kind of player is at a premium and won't just be given away to Phoenix.

3. James Johnson

We're not sure what is worse, that James Johnson has appeared on this list or that he's the player most likely to land in Phoenix on this list. Johnson is 37-years-old - well past his best - and has appeared in a paltry three games for the Indiana Pacers so far this season. He is surplus to requirements there.

Which is exactly why the Suns should be picking up the phone. He's on a minimum deal so it would only take somebody like Bol straight up to get him - if even that - and the idea of having Johnson on the end of their bench instead of Bol (who is still somehow a project) makes sense if you're a contending team.

Johnson could have a Udonis Haslem type impact in Phoenix, setting the tone in the locker-room and holding veteran players accountable. If there has been one area this team has really struggled this season, it has been in putting opponents away when not fully healthy. Johnson wouldn't want to hear any of that, and he could play spot minutes as an enforcer as well.

It would be a stretch to call the Suns soft - but when the going gets tough - they've been found wanting at times. Johnson would change that, but again this is more about what he could do off the court than anything else. If you think this seems unlikely, remember this is the same organization that got Thaddeus Young from the buyout market last season, and proceeded to barely use him.

2. Thomas Bryant

Another player on a minimum deal which makes him easier to acquire, Thomas Bryant of the Miami Heat would tick some boxes for the Suns. Like Johnson he is also a physical player, and at only 27-years-old you would think there is a lot more left in the tank as well.

Bryant has been a backup for most of his career, although he would have the opportunity to change that in Phoenix. He's not unlike current starting big man Jusuf Nurkic in that Bryant is a more traditional center who has averaged just over one attempt from deep per game on his career so far.

He's more comfortable banging inside, and offensively he's certainly not giving you as much as the Bosnian. But Bryant has only appeared for the Heat 10 times so far this season, and is averaging a shade over 11 minutes per night. Which again means he is likely available for the kind of price the Suns could actually pay.

Could this make Nurkic expendable? He already is, the problem there is that there aren't any takers around the league for him currently. But with injuries catching up to him in a way they didn't last season, a rotation of Bryant, Mason Plumlee and Oso Ighodaro could be just enough come the postseason when the rotation is shortened.

1. Trendon Watford

The dream target of this list, which in itself is saying a lot. Trendon Watford looks like a player on the ascendency for the Brooklyn Nets, although he has only appeared in 11 games so far this season. He's putting up a career high 9.1 points per game though, and would fill a position of need for the Suns.

Although another 3-point shooter like Seth Curry would be a nice addition at the right price, the Suns have Royce O'Neale and Grayson Allen to fill that role. What they really need is a big who can offer them something offensively, play without the ball and fill in for when Durant inevitably misses more games down the road.

Watford ticks all those boxes, and is still only 24. He doesn't shoot the three particularly well but that wouldn't matter. Head coach Mike Budenholzer would probably try and get him to take more anyway. The main hold up with this deal however is the fact the Nets don't need to move Watford and so the cost may be too much for the Suns, plus he also makes slightly more than the minimum.

This means trading for him straight up won't work, while you better believe a pick of some kind would have to be included in the deal at the very least. A pair of second rounders seems fair, and it could also suit a Nets team that is trying to rebuild. Watford should be a high priority then for the Suns' front office, and actually getting him is not an impossible dream either.