PHOENIX - The Phoenix Suns may have interest in trading their 6th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft for a veteran point guard, according to a new report by ESPN Draft Insider Jonathan Givony.
The Suns, who had the second-worst record in the NBA last season (19-63), suffered a huge blow after being drawn for the 6th pick in the NBA Draft Lottery last month.
The Suns have been on the hunt for a quality player at the point, which the team has lacked since Eric Bledsoe in the 2016-17 season when he averaged 21 points and more than 6 assists per game.
Since then, the Suns have had a major hole at the starting point guard position, which has been occupied to little or no avail by players like Isaiah Canaan, Mike James, Tyler Ulis, Elfrid Payton, Troy Daniels and Elie Okobo over the last two seasons.
The Suns, who were projected to get the No. 2 overall pick prior to the draft (based on records) were obvious favorites to go after Marquette's Ja Morant, the No. 1-ranked point guard in the class who averaged 24.5 points and 10 assists per game last season for the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Now, the Suns have very little to no shot at Morant without somehow trading up (highly unlikely).
According to Givony, the Suns have told teams they have interest in trading the pick for an established starting point guard.
Possible veteran options
Some veteran names that come to mind that have been subjects of trade rumors in the past year include point guards like Memphis' Mike Conley, New Orleans' Jrue Holiday, Washington's John Wall, Milwaukee's George Hill and now Houston's Chris Paul.
Reports from Houston surfaced last week that said anyone on the team is potentially available in the right trade scenario. With rumors of tension between James Harden and Paul, the Rockets could look to move Paul and his massive contract, which most teams would likely not want to take on for a 34-year-old.
Conley and Wall both have health concerns. Conley's contract pays more than $30 million per year and Wall has a huge four-year extension coming, which pays an average salary of more than $42 million per year. Wall could also miss much of the 2019-2020 season after he ruptured his Achilles in February.
George Hill's contract pays $18 million next season, but only $1 million is guaranteed, so the Bucks could look to trade the veteran PG if they can score more than he's worth, which they likely could.
Holiday, who's contract averages out to $26.3 million per year through 2022, has been in trade rumors involving the Suns before, but it looks more and more likely the Pelicans will keep the valuable point guard around.
Free agents?
There are a handful of point guards that are hitting free agency this offseason as well. This includes realistic options like Patrick Beverly, Ricky Rubio, Darren Collison and Terry Rozier. It includes unrealistic gets like Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, DeAngelo Russell and Malcolm Brogdon.
Rozier is a restricted free agent but league rumblings and his Twitter habits since Boston was bounced from the playoffs show that he may not want the team matching offers he gets during the offseason.
Rubio has reportedly already been told by the Jazz that he is not a priority for them this offseason, per which could make him a potential priority in places like Phoenix. The 28-year-old averaged nearly 13 points and 6 assists in 28 minutes per game for the Jazz last year.
Draft options
If the Suns can obtain a solid free agent PG and keep the 6th pick, they could look to draft a rookie point guard as well to shore up the position. The two point guards that will come after Ja Morant in the draft are likely Vanderbilt's Darius Garland and Coby White out of North Carolina.
Garland, 6-foot-2, played just five games in his college career before suffering a knee injury. He averaged 16.2 points and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 54 percent from the field and 48 percent from three.
Coby White shot up draft boards during his impressive freshman year at North Carolina. The 6-foot-5 point guard averaged 16.1 points and 4.3 assists in 35 games while shooting 42 percent from the field and 35 percent from three.
Regardless of which door the Suns choose, the team clearly must make a move for a new floor general at the point to help round out its starting lineup. If the team wants to trade for an expensive veteran, we could see a decent shake up in the roster as the team may need to trade (dump) players like Tyler Johnson ($19.2 million), Josh Jackson ($7 million) and/or T.J. Warren ($10.8 million).
