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Not to beat a dead position, but the Phoenix Suns don’t need a starting point guard, and even if they did, they’re probably not getting one this summer anyway.
In truth, that possibility set sail the moment the Suns traded for Bradley Beal, in a move that is far too green to label a mistake. From a practical standpoint, assembling a Big 3 of Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant provided Phoenix with three playmakers — and by “playmakers” in the modern NBA sense, we mean guys who typically operate with the ball in their hands as scorers, offensive hubs and passers whenever their gravity draws two defenders to the ball.
“I know the guys that we have with Book, Brad and KD, we want the ball in their hands,” Grayson Allen said. “Those three are gonna be out there for the majority of the game. We want the ball in their hands, we want them being scorers. Adding a point guard, I don’t know if that helps or just takes the ball out of their hands more. I believe in the group that we had this year. I think we had enough, we just didn’t quite put it all together.”
Neither Booker, Durant nor Beal is the type of “traditional point guard” or pass-first floor general that Suns fans have grown accustomed to over the last few decades. It’s hard to blame a fanbase that grew up on Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Chris Paul for missing what’s become familiar.
But looking around the league, that traditional point guard archetype is dwindling. The league-best Boston Celtics weren’t led in assists by their “point guards” Jrue Holiday or Payton Pritchard; they were led by Derrick White and Jayson Tatum. Guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Maxey led their respective teams in assists, but were they really the type of pass-first guards people keep saying the Suns need, or score-first guards who just so happened to lead their teams in assists?
Even elite, league-leading facilitators like Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic aren’t technically “point guards,” since their bigger frames would classify them as “point forwards” or “point centers.” They are undoubtedly offensive hubs who function as their teams’ “point guards,” but if we’re having this conversation based on archaic positional designations from the early 2000s, they’re not point guards either.
The point is, teams need all-around playmakers at every position, not old-school, 6-foot-2-and-under facilitators who dribble the air out of the ball while setting everyone else up.
“Everybody keeps saying a ‘true point guard’; there’s not really many true point guards that play in today’s game,” Beal said of the Suns. “It’s a lot of combo guards and a lot of scoring guards. It’s about initiating our offense, and we just could have all been better in that fashion.”
In actuality, adding a starting-caliber “point guard” in the traditional sense might create even more problems for a starting lineup that’s already undersized. Beal (6-foot-4) and Grayson Allen (6-foot-4) are somewhat undersized as 2-guards, and although Devin Booker (6-foot-6) has a solid build for that position, he’s somewhat undersized as a 3.
Unless the Suns found a point guard with some serious size or a “point forward,” they’d be replacing the 6-foot-4 Grayson Allen in the starting lineup with an even smaller player, leaving Phoenix at an even bigger size disadvantage while also taking the ball out of their three best players’ hands.
For all the consternation over their lack of a point guard, the Suns were still a top-10 offense that led the league in secondary assists (4.8 per game) and points per possession for ball-handlers in the pick-and-roll (1.01) — and that was with the Big 3 only playing 40 games together.
Sure, the secondary assists fell off a cliff in the playoffs when the Suns stopped moving the ball, but even in that humiliating, four-game sweep, they still ranked in the 93rd percentile in points per possession for pick-and-roll ball-handlers, as well as the 93rd percentile in points per possession on isolation plays. And that was with Phoenix being at a severe continuity disadvantage against the NBA’s most stifling defense.
They may not be as far off from tapping into a truly elite offense as people think. Despite the frustration over the turnovers, Phoenix still ranked 12th in assists per game, and as we covered extensively, those turnovers were not a product of lacking a point guard. Rather, they were the epitome of sloppy mistakes and miscommunication errors in situations where the Big 3 would be asked to perform better even with a starting point guard.
In other words, these issues were born from a lack of continuity, not the absence of some 6-foot-1 ball-handler who could set people up on a silver platter.
But even if we ignored all the evidence that the NBA has become increasingly position-less; that true, game-managing point guards like Chris Paul and Mike Conley are a dying breed; and that the Suns already have enough offensive initiators between their three stars, it then becomes a matter of who, exactly, checks all of the boxes Phoenix would need in a starting point guard.
First, it would need to be someone who can play on or off the ball. They’d have to be a capable ball-handler to take the pressure off the Big 3 to bring the ball up the court, but could also knock down catch-and-shoot looks when the defense collapses. It’d need to be someone who didn’t need a ton of shots but would also be willing to guard opponents’ best perimeter threat. They couldn’t be too small to where Phoenix’s starting lineup became undersized, but they’d also need to be attainable.
The attainable part is tricky, since the Suns aren’t breaking up the Big 3 this summer. Devin Booker isn’t going anywhere as the face of the franchise. Bradley Beal has a no-trade clause and a hefty contract that few teams would covet. That leaves Kevin Durant, but you don’t trade an All-NBA player like Durant after a season-and-a-half unless he asks out.
That means Phoenix’s top-three players will earn about $150 million next year, already putting them over the salary cap. As a second tax apron team, they won’t have the mid-level exception to offer free agents, and they can’t add any players through a sign-and-trade.
That basically leaves them with the No. 22 overall pick, veteran minimum deals, or trades to round out the roster. Even worse, the Suns are also severely limited in what they can pull off from a trade standpoint thanks to the new CBA. Second apron teams like Phoenix cannot aggregate outgoing salaries or take back a single dollar more than they send out. With only seven players under contract between the Big 3, Allen, Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little and David Roddy, their options are pretty restricted.
It’s a problem we’ve covered in our Little/Roddy trade scenarios, as well as our potential Nurk trades: If you can only take back $6.75 million in salary in a Little trade, or $18.1 million in salary in a Nurk trade, are you really going to be able to land a starting-caliber point guard who fits with this group?
People hammered general manager James Jones for this answer at his end-of-season interviews, but he basically said the quiet part out loud when he asked the obvious question: Who the hell checks all of those boxes at once?
“That’s a narrative we’ll hear a lot: a point guard, point guard, point guard, point guard, point guard,” Jones said. “I’m saying, ‘Sure, that’s great. Who do you want? Like, who do you want? Who’s available, given the way we’re built? Who can fit with this group? Whose game seamlessly fits with this group? And when you put that player on the floor, and you take the ball out of someone’s hands, whose hands are you taking it out of? And who are you putting in that position?’ So it’s more than just a position like a point guard or small forward; it’s the actual player that you can get or you do have.”
But in case you’re still unconvinced, let’s get annoyingly thorough with it. From here on out, we’re going to look at every conceivable “point guard” currently under contract in the NBA to try and pinpoint a few that would actually fit with this Suns roster while still being attainable.
As we go, we’re going to sort these guards into groups, with a few recurring categories to weed out poor fits. Every time you see an “X” in that category box, it’s not a good sign for that player being a fit in Phoenix, for the following reasons:
- Unrealistic trade target: Is that player’s team even considering trading them? And even if they were available, do the Suns have a realistic chance of putting together a competitive trade offer for that player with a package built around Nurk/Little and a draft pick? If it seems difficult to rationalize why the other team would trade that player to Phoenix, this box will be checked.
- Not starting-caliber: Is the player in question a legitimate starting point guard on a team with title aspirations? That last part is important, since some of these players did start in most of their games this season, but did so on bad teams. If it’s hard to envision that player being a starting-caliber point guard who’s good enough to replace Grayson Allen in the starting lineup, this box will be checked.
- Not a traditional point guard: Is the player actually the type of pass-first point guard people believe the Suns need? Are they facilitators in nature, or are they primarily looking to score? If the player in question does not function like a “true point guard” on the offensive end, this box will be checked.
- Undersized: Whatever starting point guard the Suns theoretically land, that player would replace the 6-foot-4 Grayson Allen in the starting lineup. So if that player is 6-foot-2 or shorter, Phoenix will then be undersized, and this box will be checked.
- Would need to include one of the Big 3: Remember, contracts matter in this exercise! Sure, Darius Garland could be available soon, but could the Suns actually trade for him? Since they can’t stack salaries together to reach Garland’s $36.7 million salary, and since they can’t take back a single dollar more than they send out, the answer is “no”…unless they trade away one of the Big 3. So essentially, if this box is checked, you’d better be damn sure you want this player as part of a package for either Kevin Durant or Devin Booker (which should rule out most of them).
- Would need a third team (tax apron restrictions): The Suns aren’t the only tax apron team that can’t take back more money than they send out in trades. That means if the point guard in question plays for a team that is in the first or second tax apron, they’d have to loop in a third party to make sure neither the Suns nor the other team takes back extra salary. That’s impossible in a two-team trade unless the players’ salaries matched perfectly, so if this box is checked, they’d need a third party to facilitate. Needless to say, that would make navigating a potential trade even more difficult!
Let’s get to it, beginning with the type of star point guards Phoenix has no realistic path to acquiring:
Franchise stars the Suns have little to no hope of getting:
| Name | Team | Salary | Unrealistic trade target | Not starting-caliber | Not a traditional PG | Undersized | Would need to include one of Big 3 | Would need 3rd team (tax apron) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Curry | Warriors | $55.7M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Damian Lillard | Bucks | $48.7M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Luka Doncic | Mavericks | $43M | X | X | ||||
| Trae Young | Hawks | $43M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Fred VanVleet | Rockets | $42.8M | X | X | X | |||
| Kyrie Irving | Mavericks | $40M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Ja Morant | Grizzlies | $36.7M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Darius Garland | Cavaliers | $36.7M | X | X | X | |||
| Jamal Murray | Nuggets | $36M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Thunder | $35.8M | X | X | ||||
| Tyrese Haliburton | Pacers | $35.2M | X | X | ||||
| LaMelo Ball | Hornets | $35.2M | X | X | ||||
| De’Aaron Fox | Kings | $34.8M | X | X | ||||
| Jrue Holiday | Celtics | $30M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Dejounte Murray | Hawks | $25.4M | X | X | X | |||
| Jalen Brunson | Knicks | $24.9M | X | X | X |
The Suns technically can’t trade for Steph Curry, since he makes more money than Booker, Beal or KD, so even if we lived in a fairy tale land where the Warriors tried to trade him, that’s a no-go.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving weren’t going anywhere before the Dallas Mavericks moved within one win of the NBA Finals. The same goes for Tyrese Haliburton with the Indiana Pacers reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being a top MVP candidate on the No. 1 team in the Western Conference, and Jalen Brunson having an All-NBA season on the 2-seed in the East.
Even on a losing team, LaMelo Ball is untouchable. Ja Morant, Jamal Murray, Damian Lillard aren’t going anywhere either, and they all play for teams in the tax apron. Trae Young and/or Dejounte Murray might become available, but again, it’d cost the Suns Booker or Durant. Even if they were available, De’Aaron Fox and Fred VanVleet aren’t worth breaking up the Big 3.
Garland might hit the trade market soon, but the Suns aren’t getting him without Booker or Durant being involved, and at that point, would he be worth it just so Phoenix could say they have a true point guard? Probably not.
Jrue Holiday has long been the idyllic backcourt complement to a guy like Booker thanks to his size and defensive prowess, but the Boston Celtics are on the verge of winning a title in his first season there. It’d also cost either Book or KD, and like several players on this list, they’d have to rope in a third team.
This is the part where we remind our readers that Devin Booker averaged more assists (6.9 per game) than nine of the 16 guys on the above list (Brunson, Garland, Gilgeous-Alexander, Fox, Irving, Curry, Holiday and both Murrays).
Moving on!
Higher-salary targets that would require Big 3 to be involved:
| Name | Team | Salary | Unrealistic trade target | Not starting-caliber | Not a traditional PG | Undersized | Would need to include one of Big 3 | Would need 3rd team (tax apron) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Simmons | Nets | $40.3M | X | X | X | |||
| CJ McCollum | Pelicans | $33.3M | X | X | X | |||
| Terry Rozier | Heat | $24.9M | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Bruce Brown | Raptors | $23M (TO) | X | X | X | |||
| Malcolm Brogdon | Blazers | $22.5M | X | X | X | |||
| Lonzo Ball | Bulls | $21.9M (PO) | X | X | ||||
| Marcus Smart | Grizzlies | $20.2M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Derrick White | Celtics | $19.5M | X | X | X | X | ||
| D’Angelo Russell | Lakers | $18.6M (PO) | X | X | X | X | ||
| Collin Sexton | Jazz | $18.1M | X | X | X |
These guys all make too much money for the Suns to trade for without breaking up the Big 3, since their salaries are all above Nurk’s $18.1 million. Ben Simmons, CJ McCollum and Terry Rozier make way too much money for what they provide at this point, so we can easily pass there.
Realistically, Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White and Marcus Smart are the only players in this group that would fit with the Suns’ starting lineup on both ends, but all three play for teams that are in the tax apron, White and Smart are valued by their current teams, and you’re not breaking up the Big 3 for any of these guys.
On to the next one!
Good luck trading for this guy with Jusuf Nurkic/Nassir Little and a pick:
| Name | Team | Salary | Unrealistic trade target | Not starting-caliber | Not a traditional PG | Undersized | Would need to include one of Big 3 | Would need 3rd team (tax apron) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cade Cunningham | Pistons | $13.9M | X | |||||
| Scoot Henderson | Blazers | $10.2M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Coby White | Bulls | $12M | X | X | ||||
| Cason Wallace | Thunder | $5.5M | X | X | ||||
| Andrew Nembhard | Pacers | $2M | X | |||||
Cole Anthony | Magic | $12.9M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Dyson Daniels | Pelicans | $6M | X | X | X | |||
| Ayo Dosunmu | Bulls | $7M | X | X | X | |||
| Miles McBride | Knicks | $4.7M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Anthony Black | Magic | $7.6M | X | X | ||||
| Mike Conley | Timberwolves | $9.9M | X | X | X | |||
| T.J. McConnell | Pacers | $9.3M | X | X | X | |||
| Payton Pritchard | Celtics | $6.6M | X | X | X | X |
Cade Cunningham, Mike Conley, Coby White, Andrew Nembhard and maybe T.J. McConnell are the only players on the above list that feel like they could start for this current Suns team. Cunningham is untouchable; Phoenix isn’t getting White for this type of trade package after his MIP-caliber season; and Conley, Nembhard and McConnell just ingratiated themselves to their fanbase and front office with a conference finals run.
Even if you’re taking the long-term route and looking for a younger point guard to groom over the next few seasons, guys like Scoot Henderson, Cason Wallace, Cole Anthony, Dyson Daniels, Ayo Dosunmu, Miles McBride, Anthony Black and Payton Pritchard probably won’t get dealt for a package featuring some combination of Nurk, Little, this year’s No. 22 overall pick, or the Suns’ first-rounder in 2031.
Half of these guys aren’t traditional point guards anyway. Next!
Potentially attainable guys…who are most likely backups:
| Name | Team | Salary | Unrealistic trade target | Not starting-caliber | Not a traditional PG | Undersized | Would need to include one of Big 3 | Would need 3rd team (tax apron) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Giddey | Thunder | $8.3M | X | |||||
| Gary Payton II | Warriors | $9.1M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Gabe Vincent | Lakers | $11M | X | X | ||||
| Russell Westbrook | Clippers | $4M (PO) | X | X | ||||
| Reggie Jackson | Nuggets | $5.2M (PO) | X | X | X | |||
| Derrick Rose | Grizzlies | $3.1M | X | X | X | |||
| Jordan Clarkson | Jazz | $14M | X | X | ||||
| Tre Jones | Spurs | $9.1M | X | X | ||||
| Davion Mitchell | Kings | $6.4M (TO) | X | X | X | |||
| Devonte’ Graham | Spurs | $12.6M | X | X | X | |||
| Jevon Carter | Bulls | $6.5M | X | X | X | |||
| Jose Alvarado | Pelicans | $1.9M (TO) | X | X | X | |||
| Dante Exum | Mavericks | $3.1M | X | X | ||||
| Marcus Sasser | Pistons | $2.7M | X | X | X |
The Suns probably could swing a deal for most if not all of these guys by attaching a pick to either Nurkic or Little, but there’s an important follow-up question: Are any of them worth it?
Josh Giddey and Tre Jones started the majority of their games this year, but Jones started for a terrible Spurs team, while Giddey was unplayable in the postseason for OKC. They could help as facilitators, but both make more than Little’s $6.7 million salary, which means the Suns would have to give up Nurk and a pick for them. That’s a steep price for borderline starters, and it’d leave Phoenix with another hole to fill at center.
As for the rest, almost every single one of them is either “not starting-caliber,” “not a traditional point guard,” or both. The vast majority are undersized as well, and several play for tax apron teams.
Are any of these guys worth it to Phoenix enough to lose their starting center? Are any of them worth cashing in on one of the Suns’ two tradable draft picks? Probably not.
Definitely available but still developing projects:
| Name | Team | Salary | Unrealistic trade target | Not starting-caliber | Not a traditional PG | Undersized | Would need to include one of Big 3 | Would need 3rd team (tax apron) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bones Hyland | Clippers | $4.1M | X | X | X | X | ||
| Keon Ellis | Kings | $2.1M | X | X | ||||
| Keyonte George | Jazz | $4M | X | |||||
| Javon Freeman-Liberty | Raptors | $1.8M | X | |||||
| Vasilije Micic | Hornets | $7.7M | X | |||||
| Malaki Branham | Spurs | $3.2M | X | X |
Reading through this group, you may think I made some of these names up. I can assure you they’re all real, but not a single one would be a starting-caliber point guard on a title contender. So as attainable as these guys might be as a backups, there’s no point in lingering here much longer.
The sweet spot:
| Name | Team | Salary | Unrealistic trade target | Not starting-caliber | Not a traditional PG | Undersized | Would need to include one of Big 3 | Would need 3rd team (tax apron) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Caruso | Bulls | $9.8M | X | |||||
| Dennis Schroder | Nets | $13M | X | |||||
| Tre Mann | Hornets | $4.9M |
Hey look! Starting-caliber point guards who might actually fit with what the Suns are doing!
Some of these categories are open for debate, especially when it comes to “starting-caliber” or “traditional point guard.” But for our purposes, since everyone has been so fixated on the Suns adding a true point guard, we narrowed it down to facilitating ball-handlers as our definition of “true point guard,” while “starting-caliber” focused on how they’d fit next to the Big 3 in the starting lineup.
With those parameters, and bearing in mind which players would actually be attainable, the only three that fit most if not all of the criteria are a defensive stalwart who doesn’t need the ball in Alex Caruso, an underrated point guard who could handle the ball without needing too many shots in Dennis Schroder, and a young point guard with potential in Tre Mann.
And even they don’t check every single box. Caruso and Schroder would require Nurkic’s contract to be involved, and although Mann feels like he could start on a good team based on what he showed in Charlotte, he also might just be a high-end backup on a playoff team.
As for this summer’s slew of free-agent point guards, we’ll dive into those in the coming weeks, but the Suns probably aren’t landing a starting-caliber floor general with vet minimums. Dreams of guys like Tyus Jones, Markelle Fultz or De’Anthony Melton sound nice, but getting them at that type of steep discount feels implausible. That, of course, is without mentioning the real answer to Phoenix’s point guard question in LeBron James, who still feels highly unlikely to sacrifice around $48 million to sign with the Suns.
Cam Payne, Delon Wright or Chris Paul could make sense, but even if they were signed to vet minimums, those guys aren’t really starting-caliber point guards either.
“If we had the point guard that would be the best fit for this group, we’d find ’em if available,” James Jones said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong, I don’t run away from saying we could benefit from having a point guard. I just don’t think that was the answer to a lot of our problems.”
Under a new head coach in Mike Budenholzer, the question is what the Suns will prioritize in the offseason in order to solve those problems. For his part, Budenholzer understands it’s a popular topic in the Valley, but believes the answer lies somewhere in between.
“There’s no doubt that we need to look at the whole roster and talk about point guard,” he said. “I’m sure it’s a hot-button [issue] here, whether it’s with you guys, the media, the players, the front office — we need to think about it. And we need to be able to play without one. We probably need to be able to have one. We need to be versatile. We need to be able to play different ways, bigger, smaller. But I think the point guard position has a place, and we’re gonna talk about it and figure it out.”
If this exercise has taught us anything, it’s that finding a starting-caliber point feels borderline impossible. But a backup point guard to help smooth things over with the second unit? That feels highly doable, and it should be a top priority.
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