{"id":522652,"date":"2026-01-17T11:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/522652\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:30:16","slug":"3-trade-ideas-phoenix-suns-could-pursue-before-the-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/522652\/","title":{"rendered":"3 trade ideas Phoenix Suns could pursue before the deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we inch closer to February\u2019s NBA trade deadline, it seems increasingly likely that it will be a quiet one<\/a> for the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n

Phoenix has blown away expectations this season for a record well above .500 midway through January. They\u2019re firmly in the Western Conference play-in window for the postseason and are even jockeying with the Houston Rockets for the No. 6 seed in the West.<\/p>\n

The Suns could simply view Jalen Green\u2019s eventual return<\/a> from a hamstring injury as their own in-season acquisition, stand pat at the deadline and see what they have heading into the summer.<\/p>\n

If the Suns do make a move, it would most likely be to get under the luxury tax threshold by dumping salary, or to acquire expiring contracts they could pivot toward re-signing Mark Williams and\/or Collin Gillespie. Both of those standouts are set to hit free agency at the end of the season, and fans in The Valley would surely like to see them return.<\/p>\n

Here are some potential options the Suns could pursue to retool their roster ahead of the deadline. (Note that all proposed trades were tested in Spotrac\u2019s NBA trade machine<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

One-for-one swap sends Nick Richards to New York<\/p>\n

FanSided\u2019s Quinn Everts pitched this one-for-one swap<\/a> after citing The Stein Line\u2019s Jake Fischer who reported that the New York Knicks are in the market for frontcourt depth.<\/p>\n

In the proposed deal, the Suns would send Richards and his expiring contract to New York in exchange for French forward Guerschon Yabusele.<\/p>\n

Yabusele has had a dreadful season in New York following a breakout year with the Philadelphia 76ers a season ago. He\u2019s averaging just 3.1 points and 2.2 rebounds for the Knicks while shooting under 40% from the field and just 31.7% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

With Philly, Yabusele averaged 11 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while sinking 50.1% of his field goals and 38% of his 3-point tries.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been a bit of Jekyll and Hyde since returning to the NBA after standing out in the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics for France.<\/p>\n

The fit in New York hasn\u2019t worked out, as Yabusele has proven an ill fit in coach Mike Brown’s system. So, maybe a change of scenery would get him back to how he was able to perform with the Sixers and Team France.<\/p>\n

The Knicks add expiring money and a fresh face to provide frontcourt depth with Richards.<\/p>\n

For the Suns, perhaps they wouldn\u2019t want to take on Yabusele\u2019s contract, which includes a player option for next season at a little under $6 million if he chose to exercise it. But if they can get him back to that Philly-era production? Yabusele could provide another depth option in Jordan Ott\u2019s frontcourt.<\/p>\n

Boston lands Richards, Grayson Allen for expiring contract<\/p>\n

In this potential swap, the Suns would send Richards\u2019 expiring contract along with Grayson Allen to the Boston Celtics in exchange for guard Anfernee Simons.<\/p>\n

Simons\u2019 contract of roughly $28 million is set to come off the books this summer, which would help the Suns free up salary cap space they\u2019ll need to re-sign Williams or Gillespie.<\/p>\n

Allen has been great for the Suns when he\u2019s been healthy enough to play. But adding Simons\u2019 expiring deal keeps a sharpshooting guard (40.5% from 3 this season) on the roster for the present while freeing up money this summer as well.<\/p>\n

The Celtics get another big man to slot in with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza \u2014 former second-round picks who\u2019ve seen increased workloads throughout the 2025-26 season \u2014 in addition to a sharpshooting guard who\u2019s under contract through next season as well with a player option after that.<\/p>\n

If the Suns could also pry away draft pick compensation from Boston to sweeten the deal, even better.<\/p>\n

Get under first apron with a familiar face<\/p>\n

An outside-the-box trade partner the Suns could check in on are the Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n

Chicago has a number of expiring contracts of its own the front office could choose to offload, among them is point guard Jevon Carter.<\/p>\n

A former second-round pick of the Memphis Grizzlies who was traded to the Suns in 2019, Carter doesn\u2019t turn the ball over and knocks down outside shots (42.4% on 3-pointers this season).<\/p>\n

The Suns could trade Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis to the Bulls for Carter, which would slip Phoenix under that first apron luxury tax mark. The potential problem? There\u2019s not a ton of incentive for the Bulls to do this deal.<\/p>\n

Chicago already has plenty of frontcourt options, so the combo of Richards and Hayes-Davis may not move the needle for the Bulls unless they\u2019re also getting something like second-round pick compensation from the Suns as well.<\/p>\n

With expiring contracts like Nikola Vucevic, Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter and Coby White also on the roster, the Bulls may start a fire sale just to see what they can get in return for those players. Maybe the Suns could work their way in to fill their own needs with an under-the-radar swap.<\/p>\n

Outside of that, Phoenix should be open to playing third wheel in any number of multi-team trades ahead of the deadline. The Suns more than likely won\u2019t bring a big name like Ja Morant or Anthony Davis into the fold, but if they can offload salary to assist other teams looking to make a blockbuster go through, that\u2019s certainly an option they need to consider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we inch closer to February\u2019s NBA trade deadline, it seems increasingly likely that it will be a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":522653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-522652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115910215239588221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}