As the Phoenix Suns continue to build around face of the franchise Devin Booker, they haven’t put him in the best position to succeed without a true point guard beside him in the backcourt. Yet, at least one Western Conference rival, the Portland Trail Blazers, has a backcourt flush with talent that could make them a dark-horse trade partner for the Suns this season.
Trail Blazers' logjam looms large as season nears
Speaking on The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon noted Portland’s glut of point guards who all expect to get big minutes this coming season. After news broke that Portland’s young star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe will likely be out until at least the NBA All-Star break following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, MacMahon called the injury “an unfortunate way to alleviate a little bit of the logjam that the Blazers had in the backcourt.”
Even without Sharpe in the mix for the foreseeable future, Portland still has Damian Lillard (returning from an Achilles injury), trade acquisition Ja Morant, trusty veteran Jrue Holiday, and former No. 3 overall draft pick Scoot Henderson. That doesn’t even account for the fact that Deni Avdija, an All-Star a season ago, functions more as a point forward who also thrives with the ball in his hands.
“(The Blazers) still have got to figure out. You’ve got Ja, Dame, Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson … like, those are four guys who all probably expect to play a lot of minutes. How is that all going to work?” MacMahon said of Portland’s glut of talent in the backcourt. “If you had Sharpe, you know, Sharpe can play some three (small forward), but there’s going to be a big logjam there and there still is to a certain degree.”
Could Trail Blazers’ logjam in the backcourt be Suns’ gain?
With the Sharpe injury clearing out some minutes in Portland’s rotations, there’s a good chance the Trail Blazers will rely on that quad of guards throughout the first half of the season until the young star's return. There should be enough minutes to go around, although playing Morant and Lillard simultaneously has the potential to be disastrous on the defensive side of the ball.
Nonetheless, when Sharpe returns, that will no doubt eliminate a big chunk of the minutes those guards will eat up in his absence. It stands to reason that Portland could look to the trade block to address needs in other areas by moving off one of its guards.
Enter the Phoenix Suns, who will once again be relying on Collin Gillespie and “Point Book” as floor generals with Jamaree Bouyea and Pat Spencer lower down the depth chart.
Holiday would be a dream fit for this Suns team, provided he can anchor an already improved defense, handle the ball as the point guard, and move Booker to his more natural two-guard position where he thrives.
Holiday is a savvy veteran and two-time NBA champion who’d bring great experience to a Suns team with a second-year head coach.
From the outside looking in, it would be hard to picture a future in which the Blazers move on from Morant (who they just traded for this offseason) or Lillard (a former face of the franchise who’s finally back for another run in Rip City).
Perhaps Henderson will be the odd man out. A highly touted NBA prospect who went No. 3 overall in 2023, Henderson has struggled to find a groove in Portland. He’s shooting just 40.4 percent from the floor in his career and dished out only 3.7 assists per game a season ago, after doling out at least five assists on average in each of his two prior pro seasons.
Phoenix could perhaps buy low in a Henderson swap, hoping a change of scenery would help Henderson thrive alongside Booker in a new backcourt.
If Oso Ighodaro continues to improve and makes starting center Mark Williams even more expendable, a Williams for Henderson trade framework makes some sense for both teams.
Portland may wait until they get Sharpe back from injury to evaluate the full roster, but while they’ll be duking it out with Phoenix in the Western Conference standings, there’s a non-zero chance these two franchises could find common ground via trade.
We’ll have to wait and see.
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