Welcome to the craziest week in NBA history. Just this week we have had the trade window open, the NBA draft coming on Wednesday and free agency then starts on Friday.
The biggest news for Suns fans this week though, is not the Draft, which makes a change compared to recent years, but the fact that we have acquired 10x All-Star Chris Paul from The OKC Thunder.
As originally reported by Flex from Jersey (cruzfe13 on Twitter) and then corroborated a few days later by ESPN's Brian Windhorst & Tim Bontemps, the Suns had been discussing this trade for the last couple of weeks.
As soon as I saw this initial rumour I knew that we'd be saying goodbye to Ricky Rubio and Kelly Oubre Jr if the trade did go through. This has upset many of the Suns' fan base, including myself. I have always loved Ricky Rubio and the impact he had on the team this past season was huge. Kelly I'm less sad about. Not because I don't like him as a player, because I think he's great, but the writing was on the wall as soon as he signed only a 2 year contract in the Summer of '19. He was always our most valuable trade chip and in this league you have to give up good players, to get great players.
Excuse this slightly odd analogy, but this trade feels to me a lot like when Golden State upgraded coaches from Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr. They had a good coach that took them from a lottery team to the Playoffs, but they needed something extra to take them to the next level, so brought in Steve Kerr who allowed Steph Curry to go crazy. The rest is well documented history.
I see Ricky Rubio as our Mark Jackson in this situation. He helped take us from a bottom feeder that no one cared about, to a respectable team that opened people's eyes in the Orlando Bubble. I'm not saying we will win a championship straight away like the Warriors, but Chris Paul is here to take us to our next level; the playoffs. If it wasn't for Rubio's contributions and the team's improvement, it's very likely that CP3 wouldn't have wanted to come here.
Yes, his contract is for a huge amount of money, but taking on his salary only takes us approximately $5 million higher in team salary than Rubio and Ricky combined. The length is the same as Ricky's deal as well, so we aren't too crippled in that sense.
Ultimately, great players get paid great amounts of money and Paul's resume speaks for itself.
Last season Chris Paul was an All-Star and received All-NBA 2nd team honours, while averaging 17.6 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds. He lead the underdog OKC Thunder to the 5th seed in the West and was one basket away from reaching the 2nd round of the Playoffs. The last time the Suns traded for a player that had an All-NBA team the previous season, was a Mr Charles Barkley and that worked out quite well for us.
His impact will be huge on this team. His presence gives us another go-to player alongside Devin Booker. It's always obvious to other teams that Booker will have his hands on the ball at the end of games and that will probably be the case even with Paul on the team, but teams will now have to worry about the most clutch performer in the NBA.
The attention and ball handling from CP3 will free up Booker even more to roam around wreaking havoc on opposing defences, even more than he did next to Rubio, which was a lot considering he averaged 26.6 pts on 49% FG. I wouldn't be surprised if Booker is one of the top 3 scorers in the league this coming season.
With Chris Paul now on the team, all eyes are on how Deandre Ayton will respond.
Ayton had a promising second year in the league once he returned from suspension, improving his defensive game immensely. Even with this improvement he was still often found out of position or not having enough aggression. I always think that he needs to go watch some Amar'e Stoudemire highlights.
Chris Paul is known for being extremely competitive including with his own team mates. He will not allow them to slack off when they should be focusing on their craft in an effort to win. I truly hope that Paul can light a fire underneath Ayton to raise him to his next level. He made Deandre Jordan an All-Star and it's quite clear that Ayton has more natural skill than Jordan has ever had.
Overall I think this is a great trade for the Suns. It proves to Devin Booker that the team is serious about winning. Yes, we did lose a budding star in Kelly Oubre Jr (who was leaving in the Summer anyway) and a top 20 point guard in Rubio. The result however is an upgrade to an All-Star, All-NBA, future Hall of Fame Point God.
The near future is very bright on Planet Orange.
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