Latest mock trade to bring Kelly Olynyk to Phoenix absolutely laughable

The Phoenix Suns have had a busy offseason, but the belief now is that their roster looks how it is going to when the 2024-25 regular season gets underway. The organization solving some of last year's problems, with a pair of point guards in the door - including the steal of the summer in Tyus Jones - as well as a backup center upgrade in Mason Plumlee.

Really this team is only going to be as good as their three star players anyway - and although the hope is that Bradley Beal can rediscover that All-Star form - this is Devin Booker and Kevin Durant's show. How new head coach Mike Budenholzer uses them on both ends of the court to win games will be fascinating.

We're not through with mock trade season yet though, and the latest here is a doozy.

Kevin Hicks of Sports Illustrated suggesting that big man Kelly Olynyk is the missing piece that can be gotten at a realistic price to make the Suns better next season. Which if Olynyk could be gotten on the veteran's minimum would make sense, he's a career 36.9 percent 3-point shooter and at his peak was pulling down eight boards each night.

Knocking down shots from deep is one of the areas the Suns look certain to improve next season anyway, so Olynyk would certainly help in that regard. On the offensive end, coach Budenholzer would find useful ways to have him stretch the court and also roll to the basket when the opponent's attention is focused on Booker and Durant.

Then you see what it is being suggested the Suns give up to get Olynyk, and this becomes pretty ridiculous. Starting center Jusuf Nurkic and some kind of draft compensation? Huh? Obviously the Suns are not going to part with a first round pick as part of this increasingly ridiculous mock trade, so we'll say a second rounder for argument's sake. That's acceptable.

But for all of Nurkic's flaws - and he has many that were badly exposed last season - flipping him for a smaller center who is three years older is just not the play here. If Olynyk was entering the last year of his current deal and you wanted to get out fron under Nurkic's own contract a year early, maybe you could talk yourself into this? You'd want to be extremely high on Oso Ighodaro though.

But in this two-year window owner Mat Ishbia thinks this version of the roster has to win a championship, flipping a starting calibre center for one who has never started more than 70 games in a season going back to when he entered the league a decade ago is madness. These years are crucial, and moving Nurkic for a player not even as good as him is a backwards step to make.

That would also mean one of Plumlee or Olynyk would have to start - with perhaps even Bol Bol suddenly getting a look in - but that would surely be one of the worst combination of big men in the league. You need to have some level of defense to go deep in the playoffs, and although Nurkic is limited in how he helps, that tandem would be even worse.

This is a trade best off kept in the drafts, because it makes the Suns worse in the short-term and doesn't even help their cap situation that much either. Both players are in the second last years of their current contracts - and although Olynyk makes about $6 million less - it's not going to take the Suns out of the second apron anyway. Olynyk would be a nice get, but not at that price.