Phoenix Suns Set To Trade For Los Angeles Lakers Point Guard

The Phoenix Suns should be exploring all avenues to get better, and the perfect trade is now staring them in the face.

If there is one area the Phoenix Suns would like to improve in, then it is surely the point guard position. Despite adding a nice backup floor general in Monte Morris in the offseason, they still need as much help as they can get at that position.

Morris will surely believe he can start for this group – although beating out Devin Booker and Bradley Beal for minutes will be difficult – but at 29-years-old and having bounced around the league the Suns shouldn’t be relying on him to fix all of their problems. They also need to move on from starting center Jusuf Nurkic, a topic we have touched on before.

Which is why a trade sending Jusuf Nurkic to the Los Angeles Lakers straight up for point guard D’Angelo Russell is an avenue they have to explore.

Right off the bat that sounds crazy – and financially it is not as simple as a one-for-one swap – but give it some thought and you begin to warm to the idea. Getting the money aspect out of the way first, and the Suns are in the second apron and so can’t take back a dollar more than what they send out in any deal.

The good news on this front is that both Nurkic and Russell are making just over $18 million each next season, meaning to get the money aligned all the Suns would have to do is waive a player like David Roddy. Not ideal, but also a risk worth taking to get a starting level point guard in the door.

Which for all of Russell’s flaws, he is at least that. It came as a surprise to many that Russell opted into the final year of his current deal to return to Los Angeles this summer, but that may have been done in order to get traded elsewhere. It is unclear what he could have fetched on the open market – and although his days with the Lakers appear over – he can still do a job for certain teams.

Russell has never come off the bench in his career – starting 500-of-571 regular season games – but being a supercharged sixth man or starter when Beal inevitably misses time through injury would seem like a nice fit for him. He is also without doubt the best point guard the Suns could get right now, with the addition of Morris proof of that.

Why would the Lakers have any interest in doing this deal though? They’d get an above averge backup center to Anthony Davis, and would get to ditch a player in Russell who they’re tired of anyway. For the Suns – although they’d be light at the five themselves – Mason Plumlee was a nice get this summer.

Perhaps Oso Ighodaro will also come along at a nice rate and take some minutes, and Kevin Durant spent enough time as the center in certain lineups last season anyway. This would also give the Suns an opportunity to get out from under the money owed to Nurkic a year early, even if Russell would likely walk for nothing next summer.

Both the Suns and Lakers are flawed rosters in how they are constructed, and neither is among the elite in the Western Conference right now. Combined they won a single game in last season’s playoffs. Perhaps a change of scenery for both Nurkic and Russell would suit both, because it certainly looks like the swap could benefit both organizations if they’re brave enough to do it.