The Phoenix Suns‘ pursuit of Jimmy Butler failed after he was moved to the Golden State Warriors in a massive multi-team deal that saw Golden State give up four players and their 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected). The Suns tried for months to make a Butler deal happen but failed to move Bradley Beal, which was crucial in ensuring the Suns could create the space for Butler.
With Beal reportedly set to stay in Phoenix after this failed deal, Chris Haynes reports that the Suns will be quieting down and sticking with their current roster for the rest of the season.
“Multiple obstacles in the way to make a drastic change at the deadline, Phoenix Suns were always prepared to venture into the second half of the season with the core roster in place. With futures no longer in doubt for the time being, the internal hope is improved play.”
This is hard to buy really. It’s the same as the Warriors having multiple players and head coach Steve Kerr openly declaring the team won’t make aggressive moves at the trade deadline. Sometimes, it’s all misdirection but the Suns are likely going to be out of the market for any major trade,
However, they have major roster issues they need to address regardless. They are overloaded at center and spending the rest of the season with Jusuf Nurkic’s $19 million as the fourth-choice center is not optimal. If they can’t move Beal, they have to try and move Nurkic for moves around the margins to streamline the rotation.
Grayson Allen might have positive value, with him and Nurkic combining to make over $34 million. There are avenues for more deals but depends on how willing the Suns are to commit to their current core of players.
After it had become obvious that they couldn’t move on from Beal, the team did try to pivot to fielding offers for Kevin Durant. However, that Durant trade saga was short-lived and ended with the forward sticking with the Suns for the foreseeable future. But if the Suns ended up upsetting him by making him available, we might have a rough two months coming for the Suns.
The team has shown flashes of improvement since adding Nick Richards to the roster, so betting on internal improvement might work out for them. But with players like Nurkic having no relationship with the coach, it’ll be hard to work him back into it. They also need to reintegrate Beal into the roster after it seemed like the supermax guard was being iced out by the franchise last month.
The Suns are in a bad situation and if they don’t make any other moves this deadline, it’s hard to imagine them being anything more than a Play-In team.
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