12:42am: The Wizards and Suns are still talking to try to determine whether they can figure out a new deal involving Ariza, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
12:28am: The Suns will have veteran forward Trevor Ariza away from the team for Saturday’s game against Minnesota as they look to resolve his situation, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). As we’ve detailed at length tonight, the Wizards appeared to be on the verge of acquiring Ariza before the deal fell apart.
Ariza officially became trade-eligible when the clock struck 12:00 am on December 15, though there’s no rush to move him right away rather than waiting until closer to the February 7 trade deadline. Still, after Friday’s near-deal, perhaps the Suns simply want to move on from the 33-year-old as soon as possible.
For what it’s worth, interim Suns co-GMs James Jones and Trevor Bukstein have displayed a willingness once already this season to move quickly on a roster move, as they bought out Tyson Chandler‘s contract months before the NBA’s usual buyout period.
It’s not clear whether the Suns will try to finalize another variation of today’s failed Ariza trade with the Wizards or if they’ll look to work something out with a new suitor for the forward. An earlier report indicated that Suns owner Robert Sarver is opposed to sending Ariza to the Lakers, who are said to be interested. Jabari Young of The Athletic tweets that the Spurs are also believed to have interest in Ariza, though Sarver may not be enthusiastic about working with San Antonio on a deal either.
Meanwhile, even though Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace issued a statement tonight adamantly denying that his team discussed Dillon Brooks or spoke to the Suns during the negotiating process of the three-team Ariza deal, various reports continue to suggest otherwise.
Charania tweets that the Suns and Grizzlies had a “handful of discussions” involving Dillon Brooks, while Candace Buckner of The Washington Post reports (via Twitter) that those Brooks conversations happened for over a week. The Wizards and Suns were both clear that Dillon Brooks, not MarShon Brooks, was the player that would be involved in the deal, according to both Buckner and Charania. A league source suggests to Buckner that “Memphis maybe got cold feet” (Twitter link).
While Buckner echoes an earlier report that indicated the Suns received Dillon Brooks’ medical info from the Grizzlies, Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link) hears from a source that Brooks’ medicals were never exchanged with Phoenix.
If I’m the 6ers I’m giving a first round pick up knowing he’s the perfect fit this year and doesn’t hurt their cap in the summer. After trading 2 for 1 they need to get 33 mpg guy for fultz. I’d have to think the Suns would take fultz and a 1st. 6ers with Ariza become a contender to make the finals
Ill be honest here, remeber how Kawhi was cleared by the Spurs docs but got a second opinion, forced a trade, got easesed in on his own schedule by his new team? And said team has the best record in the league atm? (After firing their coach like a week before he won coach of the year)
Sixers might be cautious. Say they trade Fultz for an expiring contract and a pick. They get second round, and said vet plus Jimmy Butler get cold feet and bolt. Then Fultz comes back and blows up cuz his rare weird injury got treated right. Ariza isnt even close to a consellation prize that DeRozan is.
I haven’t really paid much attention to the suns since the Nash/Stat/Marion days (and why should I?) .. but damn I didn’t realize their owner was such a d**khead lol.
Memphis FO a total joke, it actually makes Washington & Phoenix look good, SMH
Memphis keeps nabbing questionable vets and getting good production. They do suck at drafting (Davis, Martin, Adams, Zagorac, Baldwin), and they were the second team in a row to whiff on Parsons, but cmon….Green, Selden, MarShon, Temple, Mack, Casspi…even Noah have been contributing solely because of the grit and grind culture Memphis has built.
Three team w Wiz, Bulls and Suns … it works. Chicago sends Jabari Parker to DC, Cameron Payne to Phoenix, DC sends Otto Porter to Chicago and Kelly Oubre and Austin Rivers to PHX, Suns send Ariza to DC.
Chicago: Otto Porter
DC: Jabari Parker & Trevor Ariza
PHX: Cameron Payne, Austin Rivers & Kelly Oubre
Teams can work out future draft picks, if needed.
This is one of the more nonsensical moves I’ve seen.
The wizards go from sell it all to bringing in a veteran for a playoff push? Does Ariza come with some fairy dust or a magic lamp?
It makes perfect sense. They put out the feelers on trades for their “big 3” and didn’t like what they heard. Rather than stand pat and just hope the offers get better, they have decided to try and surround that “big 3” with enough talent to get into the playoffs and possibly surprise an overconfident team.
Its early enough that I suppose anything is possible. But adding another wing isnt really going to change this team. If it were a Big, I could see that making a difference. They have no post presence without Dwight.
Yo, try and keep up. Both Parker and Ariza essentially expiring contracts! Wizards unload 2 extra years of Porter at $27+M while still competing for a playoff berth this season. They have to begin to unload salaries … doubt they’ll ever find a taker for Wall since he jumps up to over $45M pet in a couple of seasons. But this is a start in clearing the books by dealing Porter and Oubre.
I havent seen Porters name mentioned at all. And Parker who?
Jabari Parker … former No. 2 overall pick out of Duke who plays for Chicago. He’s best as a PF
If Phoenix got Dillon Brooks’ medical records they need to come out and say so. Letting the Memphis FO try and save face and bailing out saying they thought it was someone else is ridiculous.
For the Wiz, this deal had no impact on next year’s payroll. That doesn’t make it a bad deal for them. They don’t want Oubre back, so they view him as an expiring deal, just like Rivers and Ariza. They preferred Ariza plus another 5 mm of savings, to Rivers and Oubre. I would agree with their assessment. If they decide to start trading off next year’s payroll, this deal doesn’t negatively impact that. Now is a dumb time to do those trades in any event.