The Phoenix Suns had been briefly linked with Julius Randle this offseason, but that non-saga thankfully came to an end Monday as he was shipped to the Brooklyn Nets.
It is the other player movement in that deal that should be of interest in The Valley however, with center Nic Claxton ending up on the Chicago Bulls as part of the three-team trade. The move putting to bed any hopes the Suns may have had on landing point guard Josh Giddey.
Claxton is perfect big for Bulls to pair with Giddey moving forward
The Bulls might be rightly thought of as one of the worst franchises in the league when it comes to making trades and personnel choices. Who can forget trying to build a play-in contender around Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic?
But Giddey is one of the few young players with clear upside they have, while Claxton is only 27-years-old and if anything is underrated as a result of being in Brooklyn for so long.
Any hope the Suns had of fleecing the Bulls for Giddey (something like a pair of second rounders and Royce O'Neale) has now vanished, and with it Phoenix's chance to pull off a low-risk, high-reward play. The second such time this has happened in a matter of days, with Aaron Wiggins landing on the Atlanta Hawks for a low price the Suns could have easily afforded.
All indications point towards the franchise wanting to run it back with what they've got, and having both Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin return on new deals is in line with that. But the front office has to be aware of opportunities such as Giddey presenting themselves, which now won't be happening.
Devin Booker has never given any indication he wants to leave and as he said himself during the recent video to announce his change from number one to 15, if he's lucky he's only at the halfway point of his career.
Giddey alone wouldn't make the Suns contenders, but it would be another step in the right direction and also mean the end of the road for Jalen Green.
Getting off the former second overall pick not a high priority right now, but we've already seen through the sample size of one (injury hit) season for Green that his fit in the backcourt alongside Booker is clunky.
Suns fans, rejoice in the fact Randle can no longer be linked with The Valley, but also understand that Giddey won't be making the move this summer either.
Add us as a preferred source on Google