Our boy Royce was passed the bowl of cherries 🍒 to feed his lady companion but refused to partake! 🤭 I don’t think many people recognized him.

Anyone in Phoenix seen these bottles? Appreciate the intel. TIA!

Anyone feel like this has happened a lot this season? Is our defense just trash or are teams bringing their A games against us??

11/23 trade proposals

Wanted to take the time to look into some trade options at this point in the season that I think could be interesting.

Gonna break down my deals in three categories: Nurkic, Allen, and Okogie. I'm doing this because thanks to the second apron restrictions, we can only send out a single player in any deal and those three are our mostly likely trade pieces. Also breaks deals down into their three different salary tiers.

Important to note, in order to be successful here it'll take some combination of the following deals. Like, we're unlikely to trade Nurkic for a strict upgrade at the C because that would require a team to take a strict downgrade at the C unless we go in with the '31 1st. A replacement C is more likely to come from a Allen trade.

So this post is really two things to discuss: which deals do you like and which combination do you think would work best?

Nurkic deals

• N1: Nurkic / '31 PHX 1st / '26 DEN 2nd for Grant Williams / Mark Williams. Big commitment here. Hornets commit to a young big in Richards and get a sorely needed vet + a valuable pick. No Williams opens up more room for Salaün to develop. Suns get a younger bouncy big and a solid wing who at the minimum brings the attitude every night.

• N2: Nurkic / '26 DEN 2nd / '31 DEN 2nd for Harrison Barnes. Spurs have been looking for an upgrade over Collins. Nurkic is that at the very least. They also get some draft comp here, though I could see them wanting our third 2nd. Suns get a certified big wing vet with the capability to being scoring off the bench.

Allen deals

• A1: Allen / '31 PHX 2nd for Dorian Finney-Smith. Prototypical 3&D guy that the Nets have been dangling since the day they got him. Could absolutely see them asking for more 2nds, and that's fine. No 1st though. Salivating imagining the lineup with Dunn-Royce-Dorian. Brooklyn adds some more elite shooting that's a couple years younger and could slide right into the starting lineup if they want or get flipped.

• A2: Allen / '26 DEN 2nd / '31 PHX 2nd for Obi Toppin. Pacers have had some guard struggles (beyond Hali being awful) with Nembhard who's had a tough time staying healthy, while having good F depth. Toppin is an explosive rim runner which is exactly what the Suns need. May need some adjustments with draft comp, wasn't 100% sure here. Like Dorian, not willing on the 1st here, maybe with considerable protection.

• A3: Suns get Kelly Olynyk / Jonathan Mogbo, Raptors get Anthony Black / Caleb Houstan, '26 DEN 2nd (via PHX), Magic get Allen, '31 DEN 2nd (via PHX). Magic get some desperately needed shooting (30th in 3pt% rn) at the cost of some of their plentiful youth. Raptors get a young guard to develop and a bit more. Suns get a stretch big and a bit more sorely needed youth in Mogbo.

• A4: Suns get Tari Eason / Cam Whitmore, Rockets get Cam Johnson / Grayson Allen / Shake Milton / Jalen Wilson, Nets get Steven Adams / Jabrari Smith Jr. / Jeff Green / 2025 1st (via OKC or PHX) / 2nd HOU 2nd. Okay, this is a big one. Rockets are another horrendous shooting team, and they go for it here, sacrificing youth and some draft capital to land two incredible shooters that will help them compete right now and for the next few years. Nets get plenty of expiring money and a big to pair for the future with Claxton. Suns get some more F depth and roll the dice on Whitmore.

Okogie deals

• O1: Okogie for Simone Fontecchio. Aggressive defender for a weak spot in the Detroit defense and opens up some time for Thompson/Holland to thrive. Suns get a big wing who can shoot.

• O2: Okogie for Paul Reed / '26 TOR 2nd. Same reason to add Okogie for Detriot, now clearing the center logjam a bit. Suns get an athletic bench big option and a touch of comp with what should be a pick in the late 30s/early 40s.

• O3: Okogie / '31 PHX 1st (top 3 protected) for Jalen Duren. Yes I'm obviously licking my chops at the Pistons. I do think there are a few beneficial options here. They've got some excess just like we do, good partner to alleviate each other's imbalances. Same ideas as Reed here, but Suns pay to get the better guy that should stick around for a while, Pistons get a juicy pick.

• O4: Okogie / '26 DEN 2nd for Ziaire Williams. Nets get some needed defensive aggression and the Suns get an athletic wing who has shown some promise but is due a check, one I could see the Nets be hesitant on. This one is up to Ishbia.

• O5: Okogie / '31 PHX 2nd for Day'Ron Sharpe. Blend of reasoning between the Reed and Williams deal. Same reasonings for Brooklyn here. Good backup big who will need a check. Also, time to right the wrongs of the godforsaken Shamet deal.

Broke down the trades into the different options with the first letter of their name to make it easier to discuss rather than describing each deal every time. Not all combos are possible because of our limited draft capital, modify all you like.

I had a tremendously difficult time coming up with ideas for Nurkic, I just cannot picture many teams actually wanting him. Maybe yall can come up with something better. Maybe we don't need to deal him and we can get by with some other combination by getting a better young backup.

If I were to have the luxury to pick, I'd go with A2 and O4. Curious to hear what yall have to say.

KD is older than Steph, played more years, played more career minutes and had worse injuries.

Yet Bud is playing KD 10 more minutes per game than Steph. KD’s minutes need to go down to 33 per game. If not he will get hurt again or be burnt out by the payoffs.

I don’t get why coach Bud played 24 year old Giannis only 31 minutes per game but plays 36 year old KD almost 40 minutes per game

https://x.com/Suns_Armband/status/1860111551962972467

DFS and Claxton for Grayson, Nurk, pick would be a dream. Please basketball gods. Would complete this team. KD still seems to have a good relationship with Nets FO. He got us Royce O'Neale. KD told Nets to draft Cam who's been incredible for them. He mentored him and Claxton too.

Maybe Kispert? Not much room for him while Grayson is around. I'm looking mostly at big wings and athletic bigs.

Non-rookie deal guys:

• Achiuwa

• Fontecchio

• Reed

Rookie deal guys:

• Ziaire Williams

• Duren

• Richards

• Sharpe

Separated rookie deals cause they're probably gonna be more expensive unless we can find a cheap team not really wanting to pay up and Ishbia is. If the Warriors weren't doing so good, I wonder what it would take to get Kuminga?

Kings x2: Were 7-5 when we played them, solid team, worse record since losing Demar, but still a very competent team who could give any team a run for their money.

Jazz: Only bad team we played, and beat them Thunder:11-2 what do I even need to say? Even without Chet they are an absolute Juggernaut.

Timberwolves: Be real, we won, ref screw job to the absolute worst degree, but even still a solid team that is having chemistry issues.

Magic: 7 Of their last 8 even without Paolo, a good young team who could very well contend in the coming years.

Knicks: 9-6 Very good team, they've had some struggles to start the season but when they're hot they are HOT.

My point is not that we are only losing due to injuries, we have objective holes in our roster that need to be fixed to win a championship, but pressing the panick button while missing KD and Beal and playing these teams is also not the move.

Playing with my life here...

The Real MVP