B/R Says Suns Will Eventually Settle Standards on Jae Crowder Trade
The Phoenix Suns have now lost their previous six-of-seven games after Monday's 102-83 loss to the New York Knicks, their lowest scoring output of the season.
After starting the season strong, a barrage of injuries has hit Phoenix. Cam Johnson is nearing his return from a torn meniscus but isn't practicing with the team just yet. Devin Booker, dealing with a groin injury, will be evaluated a few weeks down the road.
Seemingly everybody (except for Mikal Bridges, of course) has missed time, and as a result, the Suns haven't seen the results they desired on the court.
Yet another factor has been the roster spot Jae Crowder currently occupies. He hasn't played a single minute for the team after both sides agreed to his absence while Suns general manager James Jones sorted out a trade.
Heading into the last year of his contract and still valuable piece on the wing, the Suns (in theory) should be able to find somebody to take on Crowder.
The beginning of the season was slow in terms of talks, and understandably so. Teams are still hopeful that they can compete with their assembled roster and don't want to overreact to any initial losses.
Dec. 15 saw a plethora of players become trade eligible, which did help churn trade talks a bit.
Yet we're a few days into the new year and Phoenix has yet to offload him. The Suns are struggling and pressure is mounting to find a deal and get the team some help.
It's not as if Phoenix hasn't held discussions: According to NBA insider Shams Charania, a recent three-team deal between Phoenix-Atlanta-Utah fell apart because the Jazz wanted multiple first-round picks (read more here).
It's also as if they haven't received offers, either. NBA insider Marc Stein reported the Suns rejected a trade offer from the Washington Wizards that involved forward Rui Hachimura. In the report, Phoenix declined due to them wanting "starting-caliber talent".
A week later, Hachimura tied a career-high in points with 30 in Washington's victory over the Suns.
Will Phoenix get their coveted starter in return? Kyle Kuzma has been a hot name with several links to the Suns, but that deal has yet to come to fruition.
In Bleacher Report's latest article playing fact or fiction with recent NBA rumors, they believe the Suns will eventually settle their standards for Crowder.
"His $10.1 million contract will be easy to flip, and there's not a contender out there who couldn't use Crowder's defensive versatility, toughness, playoff experience and ability to knock down threes. Crowder averaged 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.4 steals, made 36.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes and improved the Suns by 4.7 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor last season (77th percentile, via Cleaning the Glass)," said Greg Swartz.
"Teams wanting to trade for Crowder will be playoff contenders not wanting to part with their own starting-caliber talent, however, which is probably why no deal has taken place thus far.
"Phoenix understandably wants win-now talent, but losing Crowder as a free agent with nothing in return would be a huge mistake.
"In the end, expect Crowder to be dealt for a lesser talent and more draft equity, likely to an Eastern Conference team so as not to hurt the Suns' own playoff run.
"Fact or Fiction: Fact that Phoenix is holding out for now, fiction that the Suns actually get a starter back from a playoff contender for Crowder. They'll eventually settle on a package of younger talent and/or draft picks instead of losing him for nothing as a free agent."
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