Bear Down Wildcats

The Phoenix Suns have had discussions about acquiring All-Star point guard Chris Paul from the Oklahoma City Thunder, sources told ESPN.

Talks have been ongoing and continued to gather traction but there is no deal imminent, sources said. There is currently a moratorium on trades as the NBA goes through procedures to start next season ahead of the league's draft next week.

The Thunder have given star players like Paul George and Russell Westbrook input on trade destinations in the past and have shown an openness to work with Paul on a trade now, sources said.

The Suns have a promising young roster led by Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. The team finished last season strongly by going 8-0 in the NBA bubble in Orlando, narrowly missing the play-in tournament.

In addition to their young roster, contributing to the Suns' momentum is the near completion of the first phase of a $230 million renovation of Talking Stick Resort Arena. They are also set to open a new $45 million state-of-the-art practice facility this month.

The Suns could have in excess of $20 million in salary-cap space going into the transaction season, leaving the possibility they could assemble a trade and still look for other free agents.

Paul played a season under Suns coach Monty Williams in New Orleans from 2010-11 and has spoken highly of him in the past. Paul has also has praised the Suns' style of play. "His basketball mind...I used to get so excited before the games about the plays he was drawing up," Paul told reporters before facing Williams' Suns last December.

Paul has two years and $85.5 million left on his contract, which is a motivating factor for the rebuilding Thunder to consider trading him. The Thunder, however, have told teams they remain interested in keeping Paul for next season as well.

He is coming off a season in which he averaged 17.6 points and 6.7 assists as he led the Thunder to the playoffs. After the season he was named to Second Team All-NBA.

ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski contributed to this story.

Rumors of Booker wanting to be traded last week. Don't you even dare.

Not sure if I like this trade. Need JMJ to weigh in.

Thats a freaking homerun for the Suns, plus they have about $19 mil in cap space to use before executing the trade. Id be all over Jerami Grant or Davis Bertans. Pacific Division should be a round robin for the title.

How many years does CP3 have left? He's 35 years old, same as Lebron

At Chris Paul's age.... is he really that much of an upgrade over Rubio?

CP3 was arguably the best PG in the league last year. He is going to get hurt (chronic hamstring injuries, but changed his diet, ect last year), and its important for the Suns to sign a competent backup PG who can spot start.

Did Booker sign off on this? More worried about him longer term. Maybe get a Paul snd draft Nico as his backup?

azcat49 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 16, 2020 5:13 pm Did Booker sign off on this? More worried about him longer term. Maybe get a Paul snd draft Nico as his backup?

whaaaaat

The Frank Kaminsky nightmare is over. Rejoice!

Those unis are an abomination.

Suns on a tear. 9-1 in the last 10 games and all of a sudden near the top of the standings.

Suns beat the Lakers in LA by 10 points even though Devin Booker got ejected midway through the 3rd quarter.

UAEebs86 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:42 pm Suns beat the Lakers in LA by 10 points even though Devin Booker got ejected midway through the 3rd quarter.

Good win but the Lakers are missing key players including Anthony Davis & Kyle Kuzma. They are playing .500 ball as of late

2nd best record in the league.

Stole one in Milwaukee tonight with a generous call.

Suns are legit. Ayton has really started coming into his own of late.

Ayton is the team's leading rebounder at 11 a game, and is 10th in the League in rpg. He's also averaging 15 ppg on a team that has Booker, who is an elite scorer by any metric. Suns are a legit team, and if they can avoid the Lakers until the Conference Championship series, I think the Suns have a shot to win the west.

Smoked the Jazz to tie for best record in the NBA and they own the tiebreaker.

Why is Chris Paul not the overwhelming choice for MVP?

Sarver is a witch.

Suns will be #1 seed if somehow Sacramento can beat Utah tonight.

So we need the Warriors to win?

I don't want to talk about the Suns / Lakers series in the Lakers thread. Fuck the Lakers

Ayton is going to have to come up big in this series while not getting into early foul trouble vs. Anthony Davis. He's not going to win this matchup.... but he needs a hell of an effort

Suns need their bigs to bring it this series and to play Drummond and Schroeder off the floor, like the Warriors did.

538 has the Suns with a 73% chance to win their home games. LA has a 54% chance to win their home games. I'll be surprised if this series goes past 6 games. With all the injuries, the Lakers just haven't had enough time to jell this season.

Who would the NBA rather see move on in this series?

Answer that question and then lets see how those late game fouls go.

We'll see. No doubt that LA will get the calls but I think the Suns are a substantially better team than the Lakers right now.

The Lakers will need the calls with the way they are playing.

Last night Oakland got all of the calls early but that changed in the second half.

Ready for some playoff Booker!

If you are not extremely worried about this series as a Suns fan, I question your Suns fandom.

Suns in 6 is trending on Twitter. You guys are testing the bb gods temperment

Good 1st qtr vs Lakers. Ayton plays the whole quarter, 10 points.

Ayton had a brilliant 1st quater.

Go Suns!

CP3 down. Typical Suns playoff karma.

Suns looking horrible without CP3

God damnit!!!!

Of course

CP3 back in!

CP3 can't dribble, pass, shoot, or defend with that arm...yet he's lead the Suns to a 13 point lead deep in the 3rd. Nice.

These refs suck, that was a travel! The fix is in

How many free throws will the Lakers get here?

Feels like 80s bball out there. lol