The Phoenix Suns finally have the franchise player they’ve been searching for. At 23-years-old, Book is one of the brightest young stars in the NBA and he’s got years to continue to improve and adapt his game.
But if the Suns want to get any closer to bringing him a Championship, they’ll need to make a move.
In a recent article, Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report recently suggested someone they should target on the trade market: Pacers guard Victor Oladipo.
“He’s a risky investment given his future uncertainty and recent injury woes (49 appearances between this season and last), but his best-case-scenario version puts the Suns at least in annual playoff races, if not eventually fighting for home-court advantage in the first round,” Buckley wrote, referring to Oladipo. “His defensive versatility would make life easier on Booker, whose shot creation would keep Oladipo from having to do too much. Deandre Ayton could turn this into a star trio with similar two-way growth as he displayed this season, while Kelly Oubre Jr. would fill in all the glue-guy cracks. This could be an interesting quartet sooner than later.”
Oladipo would be a pretty solid partner for Booker. As a career 17-point-per game scorer, he and Book would make a dominant offensive pairing both inside and on the perimeter.
With Ayton in the middle, there’d be very few vulnerabilities scoring-wise.
Needless to say, the trio of youngsters would likely push the Suns to a higher position in the East and may even make them a significant threat.
But as a potential free-agent in 2021, Vic could easily leave the Suns after just one season with the team, and they will have to actively work to convince him to stick around if they don’t want to lose him. Considering their history, that won’t be an easy thing to do.
