One of the most shocking revelations from the Kyrie Irving trade sweepstakes over the last week was the willingness the Phoenix Suns showed when it came to including Chris Paul in the trade.
The Suns offered Chris Paul, Jae Crowder, and at least one first-round pick before the Nets came back and asked for 3 first-round picks due to the cost of CP3’s contract over the next coming years.
Naturally, it must have been hard for CP3 to see his name be put in trade offers after the tough season he is having. He is averaging 13.8 points, 8.6 assists, and 4.4 rebounds this season and opened up on how it felt to find out that he was close to being traded for Kyrie Irving.
"It's a business. I've seen crazier. The way I found out I was traded from Houston. You just show up to work and be a pro day in and day out. Nobody's exempt from being traded. Find out just like everybody else." Chris Paul on being part of Kyrie Irving trade package #Suns #Nets
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 6, 2023
Chris Paul is past his prime, and the Suns might need to look for upgrades before they waste another season of Devin Booker‘s career. The peak of this Suns core may be behind us officially.
Should The Suns Trade Chris Paul Before The Deadline?
It doesn’t look like there are plenty of deals available on the market where the Suns could get positive value back for CP3 without including a lot of picks. What if the Suns decided to swing for the fences and moved 3 first-round picks with CP3 to get Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby? That isn’t realistic, but the Suns will hope to get 2 players out of a deal like this to help their depth.
It might be better to move Paul in the summer, but it’ll be hard to find a trade partner willing to pay CP3 the $30.8 million that he is owed until 2024/25. Maybe a Russell Westbrook trade to dump long-term money is the only plausible move for Phoenix right now when it comes to moving off the ‘Point God.’
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