SATURDAY, 1:07pm: The trade is complete, per a release from the Suns.
5:51pm: Thomas confirms that he’s heading to the Suns once the sign-and-trade is complete, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Of the deal, Thomas said, “I feel wanted. That’s all I wanted.”
FRIDAY, 5:40pm: The Suns and Kings are finalizing a sign-and-trade deal on a four-year, $27MM contract for Isaiah Thomas, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). This was after Thomas had reached an agreement and signed an offer sheet with Phoenix, tweets Wojnarowski. Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link) reports that the Suns will send rights to 2013 second-round pick Alex Oriakhi, and that Sacramento will also wind up with a $7.2MM trade exception.
Phoenix was one of a handful of teams that had reached out to Thomas since free agency began. The Lakers, Mavericks, Pistons, Warriors and Heat were also reported to have had interest in the former Sacramento point guard.
Thomas averaged 20.3 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 6.3 APG last year for the Kings, while appearing in 72 games for the team. His slash line was .447/.360/.857.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Who are the Suns giving up?
The rights to 2013 second-round pick Alex Oriakhi and a $7.2MM trade exception.
I have no clue why Sacramento was so eager to get rid of this guy.
Is David Kahn running the Suns? They seem to have an awful lot of PG’s.
They run a 2 PG system. Which means 2 PGs on the floor at a time. Adding a scoring first type of PG which Thomas is, makes sense. That gives them 3 PG(s) to rotate & Ennis as a rookie will not be pressured to play right away. It seemed to work out last year except when Bledsoe was injured for 2 months.
Or this could be a precursor to a Love trade involving Bledsoe.
I dont get why Sacramento wants to get rid of Thomas, and I dont get why Phoenix wants him. This is very confusing…Is Eric Bledsoe actually obtainable on the open market? If so, I bet the Lakers feel pretty dumb right about now
Bledsoe is an RFA & Phoenix will match any offer. Thomas will be a 6th man type player backing up Dragic & Bledsoe. Phoenix had $37 mil to spend, they are spending it by bring in quality player for specific roles at reasonable prices.
or maybe Bledsoe could go in a sign and trade for Kevin Love? The Suns have so many assets. I dont know if I agree with this move. They had so many things they could have potentially done. There is still a lot of talent out there. They could have even decided to try and sign short term deals to try and go after someone next year.
That is always a possibility. Bledsoe is a very good player, but is he really a max money guy? There might also be concerns about his long term health considering he is an explosive drive to the basket PG.
On the surface, signing Thomas for under $7 mil aav seems like a good deal in this market where players of lesser talent are getting more money.
thats true about the money on Thomas. Maybe it has something to do with them knowing they wont keep Dragic when he becomes a free agent in a couple of years. Still, its questionable b/c I would rather have Dragic over Thomas, even on the good deal…I personally would pay Bledsoe max money
I don’t get this from either team unless Bledsoe is being moved or dragic. And why is sac letting him go? Does he not play defense or something? He put up solid numbers (on a bad team) but kyries team was worse and they put up similar numbers.
he doesnt play defense, but even so, does Sacramento have a better option right now?
This is a head scratcher. Many more needs that could be addressed with that money than a 3rd or 4th PG, and a very limited one at that.
I’m thinking the Suns are gonna trade one of their PGs. They don’t need Dragic, Bledsoe, Thomas, and Ennis. They might deal Dragic to the Pacers for Roy Hibbert seeing as I heard the Pacers want to deal Hibbert to the Western Conference and there were rumors of Pacers-Suns talks earlier.
I dont see why the Suns would want Hibbert though. That kind of goes against the idea of being a young athletic team like they are. Plus, I dont know why they’d want to take on his salary and move Dragic for him
They’d want Hibbert because he is a 7 foot 2 All-Star Center and was 2nd team All-Defense this year and was in talks for DPOY in the first half of the season. Sure he struggled down the stretch and into the playoffs but with a change of scenery he could be back to the Hibbert of old and that is a gamble the Suns should be willing to make esp since they have an abundance of point guards. Plus Hibbert only has 2 years left on his current contract so if he doesn’t work out the Suns could just trade him after next season.
I’m not arguing against Hibbert’s ability. I’m just saying he doesnt fit their play style. As the person above repeated, They have Plumlee, who fits their style very well, and then they have Alex Len as well
Why? The only way that happens is if Love is coming back in any deal. Hibbert does not fit the Suns play style & they are already have a cheaper more productive player in Plumlee at center. They also have a now healthy Len ready to breakout.
The Suns like to play with 2 PG(s) on the floor at the same time & run an uptempo offense. Adding Thomas just allows the suns to bring an impact player off the bench to backup Dragic & Bledsoe while not having to take their foot off the pedal. Ennis won’t be pressured into action this season & be allowed to grow into an NBA PG.
You really think Dragic is worth Kevin Love? Love is a 3x All-Star and led the league in rebounding in 2011. Dragic hasn’t even made an All-Star team. Getting Hibbert for Dragic would be a steal esp. if Hibbert gets back to playing at a high level. Plus the Suns style of play gets them an 9th seed finish in the West. Hibbert could provide the defense that could get them over the hump in the West. Just remember Gerald Green didn’t play particularly well for the Pacers but when he got to Phoenix he put up almost 16ppg.
Who said anything about Dragic straight up for Love? It would likely be Bledsoe, Morris x2 ,& a couple of their 3 1st round picks in 2015.
Hibbert is garbage that clogs the lane & slows down his team. Plumlee put up similar numbers to Hibbert at 1/10th the cost. And the Suns have a young promising center in Alex Len they are developing. Enough with Hibbert nonsense.
Just remember that Green is an uptempo scorer, which happens to be perfect for the system the Suns run. Hibbert is the anti-perfect player for the Suns system.
Trading Dragic for Hibbert would be terrible
the Suns would have been the 3 seed in the East. They probably would have won a few more games if they didnt lose Eric Bledsoe for so long. They were actually pretty good defensively last year. You keep mentioning ASGs like they matter. Dragic had over a 50% FG% last year as a guard….Again, Hibbert doesnt fit the Suns play style, and Plumlee is a capable, athletic C that does, and they have another in Alex Len
But they aren’t in the East and they never will be so why even bring that up? It’s completely irrelevant. Hypothetical situations don’t win you championships or get you far in the playoffs. At the end of the day, the Suns were a 9th seed in their conference and talking about how bad the East was, is not gonna change that fact or get them closer to a ring.
The point was that the Suns won 49 games last year in the Western Conference. To advocate for Hibbert like you have by saying their play style is garbage is ridiculous