Are Suns Out on Bojan Bogdanovic?
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The Phoenix Suns were still looking to make moves, and there appeared to be one obvious choice.
After an offseason headlined by re-signing Deandre Ayton and having (at minimum) conversations with Brooklyn about Kevin Durant, the Suns ultimately return a very familiar roster to the floor this season.
A handful of new faces (Josh Okogie, Jock Landale, Damion Lee) look to make an impact, yet Phoenix might've felt one more move was needed to help push them over the hump.
That move, figured by many, was landing Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who would immediately upgrade the four spot and help spread the floor with his three-point shooting ability.
He's a proven player that would make the Suns better upon arrival, and the allure was certainly there for the organization. After Utah dealt Rudy Gobert to Minnesota and Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland, the Jazz signaled a fire sale was commencing in order to accrue as many salary dumps and picks as possible with a new direction for the team.
Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro confirmed the Suns reached out. ESPN's Zach Lowe also reported Utah believed each of their veteran players were valued at first-round picks.
Phoenix would also need to match Bogdanovic's salary (about $19.5 million with incentives), likely sending some mixture of Jae Crowder/Landry Shamet/Dario Saric and a draft pick on top of it. The Suns, as we've gone over, are one of the few top teams in the league with full control of their draft capital moving forward.
With Crowder looking as if he wants a fresh start elsewhere, that helped connect some more dots.
There's been plenty of rumored interest, yet nothing has came to fruition quite yet. Did Phoenix back down from Utah's asking price?
The Athletic's Tony Jones offered this on where Bogdanovic's future currently stands:
"The Jazz are currently at 17 players, which means the roster will have to be trimmed by at least two by some point before the beginning of the regular season. And the front office isn’t done taking trade calls. League sources indicate a market for Bogdanovic at the very least, of which there is significant interest for the 6-foot-8 shooting forward. But, the Jazz at this point don’t appear to be particularly close to a trade that could land them even more assets and consolidate the roster, although there are ongoing talks with the Los Angeles Lakers."
So, the Los Angeles Lakers have now picked up steam in these rumors, with the Suns essentially taking a backseat.
Phoenix's front office has been fairly adamant on wanting to keep their roster together. It's an understandable strategy given recent success.
The Suns have fell silent in these rumors, yet that may not suggest they're out of the running. The Cavaliers seemingly swooped in out of nowhere to acquire Mitchell, and Phoenix typically has done a good job of covering their tracks.
As of now, the public perception is the Suns are likely not getting Bogdanovic. Yet in the world's greatest reality show (aka the NBA), nothing should be shoved off the table.
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