The Phoenix Suns should be ready to trade Grayson Allen for real help

Phoenix doesn’t have a stable of desirable assets. Grayson Allen is one.

You ever work with someone who’s got a PhD in complaining? The type who can list every problem with the job, the boss, the coffee machine, the parking lot, and the vending machine snacks? But when it’s time to step up with a fix? Nada. Zilch. Just a broken record of misery on loop. They never quit, though. Oh no, they stay. They stew. They suck the air out of the room.

As a leader, I’ve always pushed back on that energy. If you’re going to identify a problem, cool. But don’t you dare walk into my office without a solution in hand. Complaining is easy. It’s the fast food of workplace attitudes…cheap, convenient, and utterly unsatisfying. Real value comes from critical thinking, from stepping up and saying, “Here’s how we fix it.”

Which brings me to the Phoenix Suns. I’ve aired my grievances here plenty. Vented, ranted, even thrown in a little gallows humor about their rocky start this season. But let’s not just wallow in the wreckage. Let’s be solution-based.

How do you fix Phoenix? As currently built, this team ain’t it. The blueprint is flawed. So where do we go from here?

First, let’s acknowledge the constraints. The Suns are playing with Monopoly money in a league that now enforces financial rules like a bouncer at capacity. Tax aprons, trade restrictions, and aggregation limits have slammed the door shut on the freewheeling spending sprees of yesteryear. And, oh yeah, Phoenix is the highest-paid team in NBA history. Great timing, right?

Then there’s the draft capital, or lack thereof. The Suns mortgaged their future to build this superteam. Picks? Gone. You can’t really deal with them unless it’s on draft day or it’s the 2031 first-rounder.

With all this in mind, we need to evaluate what assets the team has that might appeal to other teams and whether those assets can realistically bring back value in return.

Grayson Allen is one of those assets.

Every team in the NBA needs three-point shooting. It’s simply non-negotiable in today’s game. While Jusuf Nurkic has a higher salary than Grayson Allen, he’s not exactly what you’d call a hot commodity. Sure, size matters (or so I’ve heard) but that doesn’t hold as much weight in the modern NBA. Grayson Allen, though, with his sharpshooting, is an asset the Suns could afford to part with, both financially and in terms of skill set. They still have Royce O’Neale to bring off the bench and provide that needed spark from beyond the arc.

The first question the Suns need to answer is: what path do they want to take, and what need are they aiming to fill? Grayson Allen is making $15.6 million this season and is in the first year of a four-year, $70 million contract with a player option in year four. With that in mind, the Suns aren’t looking to trade him for cap relief. Even if they were to swap him for a veteran minimum deal, it wouldn’t drop them below the second apron. They’re already $32.9 million over it.

Any trade at this point would be aimed at upgrading the current roster. But what do they need? A rim running big? A wing defender?

Given the league’s constant need for shooting, Grayson Allen could be the piece that gets moved to acquire one of the key archetypes mentioned above. The Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets, both sitting at the bottom in three-point shooting, could be ideal trade partners to make that deal happen.

Let’s look at some of the trades posed by the Bright Side community via Twitter.

Deni Avidja

In this trade, the Suns send Grayson Allen to the Orlando Magic, and to get back someone who could immediately help Phoenix, they bring in the Portland Trail Blazers as a third team.

Deni Avdija, who’s averaging 13.4 points on 45/36/79 splits in Portland, could be the perfect fit. At 6’9” and 210 pounds, he’s a versatile wing-stopper with considerable upside. He’s on a similar salary to Allen, though his contract is front-loaded, decreasing each year until it expires in 2027-28. Plus, he turns 24 tomorrow.

The appeal for Portland is that they shed Avdija’s contract by acquiring Gary Harris, whose deal expires at the end of next season, and Cory Joseph, who is also a UFA after next year. With the 11-21 Blazers fully embracing the “tanking for Cooper Flagg” mindset, moving on from their small forward makes perfect sense.

Cody Martin and Nick Richards

Nick Richards is someone that Suns fans have had their eye on, and as the Charlotte Hornets continue to be a dumpster fire of an organization, the chance to sweep in and get someone who adds frontcourt depth is highly desirable.

Richards is a board-hunting, lob-throwing monster. Exactly what this Suns squad needs. The 27-year-old Jamaican has had his fair share of injuries this season, but he’s not even starting for the Hornets. Still, he’s putting up 9.3 points and 7.8 boards a night. And let’s not forget his interior defense. It’s solid, ranking high in advanced metrics, making him a potential game-changer in the paint.

Richards has one more year on his contract, which is also for $5 million.

This trade would also see the Hornets sending over Cody Martin, an inside-out shot creator standing at 6’5”. Martin’s only started seven games this season, averaging 8.5 points on 44/31/70 splits. Not sure if Phoenix would even want him in this deal, but he’s there.

Now, let’s talk about the finer details. What’s the Hornets’ motivation for pulling the trigger on Grayson Allen? Sure, they need shooting — currently ranked 23rd in three-point percentage — but the length of Allen’s contract might make them hesitate. Still, if they’re thinking long-term, like the Hornets always have to do, Allen’s contract could turn into a trade asset a year or two from now.

If Phoenix could swing a deal straight-up, Grayson Allen for Richards, and save some cash in the process, you pull the trigger. Right?

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Alright, enough griping about what’s wrong. Let’s flip the script. What’s next? Should we even entertain the idea of trading Grayson Allen? Should Phoenix look at other avenues to patch this mess up? We’ve talked about swapping him for assets that might help plug a gaping hole, but should we consider shaking up the entire roster? What if it’s not just about one player but a larger reckoning, a seismic shift?

Let’s be solution-based here. This team is crawling at the bottom of the standings, and the road to fixing this squad isn’t just about trading spare parts, it’s about rethinking everything. The Suns have to ask themselves: are they married to the Big Three, or do they need to rethink the whole foundation?

What would you do? Trade Grayson? Break up the band? Or try something else entirely?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below. Let’s start moving beyond the misery and get real about the future of this team. The clock’s ticking, and Phoenix can’t afford another lost season. What’s the fix?