After a strong start to the season, the Phoenix Suns have entered a rough patch over the past few weeks.
Phoenix has lost eight of their last 11 games and now holds a 15-16 record. Their recent skid has caused them to slide to 11th in the Western Conference standings and has them on the outside of the playoff picture.
They have been without Devin Booker for the past five games as he continues to recover from a groin injury. Booker is not the only Suns’ superstar to miss time this season as both Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal have also missed games due to injury.
With the Suns falling in the standings and the inability of their stars to stay healthy, they could look to make some moves before the Feb. 6 trade deadline to better their roster. One area they could focus on upgrading is their frontcourt.
Jusuf Nurkić has had a terrible start to the season and they could look to swap him for a different big according to AZ Central’s Duane Rankin. One player he mentioned in the report that they could swap Nurkić for is Jonas Valančiūnas of the Washington Wizards.
In a possible trade, the Suns could send Nurkić and draft capital to Washington for Valančiūnas and Anthony Gill. With the Wizards rebuilding, they would want draft picks in the deal and they could look to send Nurkić to a third team or trade him next summer.
For the Suns, Valančiūnas would be a major upgrade to their center position. He is a great inside scorer and has also improved his outside shooting over the past few seasons. He is not the best defender, but he is able to get the job done when needed.
So far this season the 32-year-old is averaging 11.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 54.8% from the field in 19.9 minutes per game off the bench in Washington.
His numbers would improve in Phoenix as he would take over as the starting center, giving him more playing time. He would also benefit from defenses having to worry about the Suns’ big three, which should give him many open looks.
Even though this trade does not make the Suns the best team in the West, it does improve their roster, which is difficult for them to do thanks to their salary situation and lack of trade assets.
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