Suns Could Trade Chris Paul to Former Team
Could we see the Phoenix Suns trade Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets?
According to The Athletic, just maybe.
Rockets beat reporter Kelly Iko went through Houston's targets this summer and listed Paul as a possibility, should he become available.
"Former franchise player and current 76ers guard James Harden is the top target for Houston in free agency, according to league sources, representing the veteran leadership and elite point guard needed to establish structure and offensive cohesion. Outside of Harden, other high-ranking targets for Houston include Brook Lopez, Dillon Brooks and restricted free agents Cam Johnson and Austin Reaves, league sources said. They also said acquiring a veteran point guard is Houston’s primary objective, meaning even if a move for Harden didn’t materialize, names like Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, Donte DiVincenzo and even former Rockets player Chris Paul could be considered should they become available."
Paul played In Houston for two seasons from 2017-2019 averaging 17.1 points eight assists and five rebounds. During Paul’s first season in Houston he helped lead the team to the Western Conference finals where they were one game away from advancing to the NBA Finals before losing in a seven game series to the Golden State Warriors.
At this stage of Paul’s career, would it make sense to go to a younger team that is in the midst of a rebuild? Bleacher Report's Joseph Zucker brings up the similarities between this current Rockets team and the 2019-20 Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that Paul had a tremendous impact on.
“The 38-year-old has become something of a veteran sage, a shift that began after his lone season with the Oklahoma City Thunder,” Zucker wrote on Paul.
“He helped the Thunder's young core, namely Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, develop as they overachieved and pushed the Harden-led Rockets to seven games in the first round of the playoffs.”
The Rockets are not ready to win a championship right now but could use a guy like Paul to help speed up the rebuilding process and assist in developing Houston's young talent including Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Şengün and Kevin Porter Jr.
At 38-years-old, Paul has yet to win a championship, so he may prefer to be traded to a team that has championship aspirations as opposed to the Rockets who are far from that.
