Wizards May Hold Off on Trading Rumored Suns Target Kyle Kuzma
The Phoenix Suns have to trade for somebody, right?
Jae Crowder continues to stay far away from the Suns' organization as the two sides split months ago. Suns general manager James Jones has been actively involved in some trades to rid Phoenix of the power forward.
The trade deadline is still over a month away, yet pressure continues to mount of the Suns to make a move and improve the roster sooner rather than later.
Trade targets come and go during this time of year, but one constant around the Suns has been Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, a player who would give Phoenix another scoring option on the wing.
Kuzma isn't just a product of fan speculation - he's been linked with the Suns in plenty of reports, mostly stemming from The Athletic's Shams Charania. It also didn't help he was courtside (by himself) taking in Suns-Lakers the day before the Wizards played in Phoenix.
Today, Charania revealed Washington might hold off on sending Kuzma away.
"I really think the Wizards are waiting and seeing how this team develops over the course of this month [and] coming up in January," Charania said.
"We saw what the Wizards last year, moving Spencer Dinwiddie, Montrezl Harrell, a few guys right at the deadline. They wanted to see that team figure it out. I think similarly this year, Bradley Beal missed some time with a hamstring injury, you want to see how Kristaps Porzingis, [Kyle] Kuzma and Beal continue to play with each other going into February.
"If they don't turn it around then I think given Kuzma's status, he's got a player option for next year, there are teams interested [such as] Phoenix, Atlanta. He's going to have a marketplace for sure ... I think the Wizards are going to keep an open mind but right now the way Kuz is playing, you want to see this through."
Currently, the Wizards are 13-21 and are 11 games back from first in the East.
Last week, they stopped a ten-game losing streak by defeating the Suns 113-110. Kuzma had 29 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, Feb. 9.
