The Phoenix Suns may have addressed their center position in a big way this offseason, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be keeping tabs on other players throughout the league. Right now their depth chart consists of an unproven rookie in Khaman Maluach, and often-injured big in Mark Williams, and a player in Nick Richards who could yet be traded.
If Maluach can provide any sort of output at all next season it will be seen as a massive win, but at only 18-years-old that does not appear likely. Similarly if Williams can somehow manage more than the 43 games he played last season with the Charlotte Hornets - worryingly a career high - the Suns will be in decent shape at the five.
Phoenix should be keeping an eye on Nikola Vucevic.
One of the most aggregated news pieces of the summer came courtesy of Jake Fischer recently, as he jumped on Bleacher Report's podcast to talk all things NBA offseason. The topic of Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls came up, and Fischer mentioned that the 34-year-old former All-Star could eventually be bought out if a deal doesn't come up that appeals to the Bulls.
Marc Stein - who shares his substack space with Fischer - was quick to come out and say that the comment had been taken out of context. While there might not be a massive market for Vucevic now, the trade deadline is over 100 days away and Chicago is in no rush to move on from one of the best offensive bigs in the league today.
What does any of this have to do with the Suns? There's generally no smoke without fire, only now the organization is actually in a position to do something about this if Chicago does want out of the Vucevic business. Although Bradley Beal's deal is going to be on their cap sheet for another five years, the Suns are now below both aprons.
That means they can get active in the Vucevic market, and could even approach them with a trade if they really don't want to buy him out and lose him for nothing. Some combination of Richards, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and some second round picks isn't moving the needle, but this is the same Bulls front office that once paired Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
They were also the team who traded for Vucevic in the process, which gifted the Orlando Magic Wendell Carter Jr. - but more importantly - the first round draft pick that became Franz Wagner. We've also seen another Bulls player in Josh Giddey - plus Jonathan Kuminga of the Golden State Warriors - stuck in their current positions as well.
Too good to give up on for nothing, but not good enough to sign to long-term deals. Both are more appealing that Vucevic - and until they get moved - his own stock won't rise. Plenty of contenders could talk themselves into the Montenegrin who is about to play at EuroBasket, but so too could the Suns.
Maluach could yet become a beast defensively, but his offensive skills are essentially non-existent right now. Vucevic would immediately make the Suns a better team, and the two-man game with him and Booker - or even Jalen Green - would give all manner of opponents trouble. It just wouldn't stop anybody either. One to watch as it could yet make sense for all sides involved.