Insider: Suns Will be Very Aggressive in Trade Market

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns have an eventful offseason ahead of them.

Between integrating a brand new coaching staff once again - to figuring out what to do with the first-round draft pick this June - to looking for ways to upgrade the roster via trades or signings - this will almost certainly not be a quiet offseason in Phoenix.

Shams Charania of The Athletic was on the Pat McAfee Show earlier this week to discuss a myriad of topics - including a look into some plans the Suns could be pushing forward this offseason.

Charania said the Suns plan to be, "very, very aggressive" on the trade market ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft.

The Suns are expected to be “very, very aggressive” on the trade market leading up to draft night, per @ShamsCharania on @PatMcAfeeShow.

Phoenix has two first-round picks that become trade-eligible on June 26: No. 22 overall + 2031 1st.

Keep an eye on Nassir Little, who makes… pic.twitter.com/Tlfr3GY2wV
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) May 14, 2024

Frequent show collaborator A.J. Hawk asked Charania what the attack plan will be for Phoenix over the next two off-seasons.

His response was quite well fleshed out.

"They have five players currently under contract. ... and a bunch of free agents, one of them being Royce O'Neale. They really wanna bring Royce O'Neale back... that's the top 6 in the rotation... the rest will be rounded up by pretty much minimum type of players."
Shams Charania

It appears as if O'Neale's return is of paramount importance to the Suns, so expect Mat Ishbia to commit to an even more inflated luxury tax bill to ensure the wingman's return to the Valley.

"They also have two first-round picks that they can trade on draft night. ... I think there's this perception out there that they don't have assets, that they can't make moves right now... they do have salaries that are tradable, they have a guy like Nassir Little... I think they will be very, very aggressive between now and draft night."
Shams Charania

All signs are pointing to the Suns moving the two aforementioned picks plus a larger salary in order to acquire a player that perceptually fits the timeline better.

Who could the Suns acquire with those assets?

The answer is considerably more complicated with the Suns falling under "second apron" penalties - they can only do one-for-one player trades and can't bring in more salary than they send out.

Players such as Alex Caruso, T.J. McConnell, and others would not be attainable under this - unless Jusuf Nurkic was the player included in the trade instead - that further complicates trade discussions as well.

One thing is for certain - this will be an eventful offseason, and Ishbia will exhaust all options to bring the best product forward.