The Suns and Hornets have had discussions about the idea of a trade that would send Jusuf Nurkic and draft capital to Charlotte and Nick Richards to Phoenix, confirms John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter links). The talks, described as “ongoing” by Gambadoro, were first reported by Evan Sidery of Forbes (Twitter link), who referred to them as “preliminary.”
Nurkic has fallen out of the rotation in Phoenix. After serving as the Suns’ starting center for most of the season, he came off the bench on Monday and Tuesday, then was a DNP-CD in Thursday’s and Saturday’s games. The veteran big man is known to be on the trade block, but his $18.13MM salary this season and a guaranteed $19.38MM salary for next season will make it difficult to move him.
Richards is a younger, more versatile center whose contract is also far more team-friendly than Nurkic’s — the Hornets’ big man is owed $5MM this season and another $5MM in 2025/26. He has averaged 9.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 21.2 minutes per game through 20 games this season.
Given the disparity between the two players’ salaries, the Hornets would have to send out at least one more player (earning at least $5.63MM) to make a trade legal. The Suns would likely prefer Cody Martin ($8.12MM), a versatile wing who is having a solid bounce-back year after a couple injury-plagued seasons, while Charlotte may want to include veteran point guard Vasilije Micic ($7.72MM), the former EuroLeague MVP who has struggled with his shot since making the move to the NBA in 2023.
Both Martin and Micic have one more year of team control beyond this season, but neither player’s 2025/26 salary is guaranteed at this point. The same goes for Richards.
The Suns, who are facing second-apron restrictions, could also legally acquire Grant Williams ($13.03MM) or Josh Green ($12.65MM) along with Richards in exchange for Nurkic, though Williams is out for the season following knee surgery. Both he and Green have two more guaranteed years on their contracts after this season.
Phoenix currently has three tradable second-round picks: Denver’s 2026 and 2031 picks and the Suns’ own 2031 second-rounder. Even if the Suns were willing to include all three of those picks, it’s unclear whether the Hornets would have the appetite to take on Nurkic, whose sizable guaranteed salary would significantly reduce their flexibility in ’25/26 — especially if Charlotte can’t get out of a multiyear deal of its own in the process.
As we wrote earlier today in a Front Office article, the Hornets have several potential trade chips who are earning mid-level money or less, which could make them an intriguing trade partner for a team facing apron-related restrictions. The Suns wouldn’t be able to trade Nurkic for a player earning more than his $18.13MM salary, but could potentially acquire multiple rotation-caliber players from Charlotte if they’re able to sufficiently sweeten the pot with draft assets.
Trade idea 1
Grant Williams and Richards for Nurkic/filler
Trade Idea 2
Josh Green and Richards for Nurkic and 3 Seconds
Trade Idea 3
Miles Bridges for Nurkic, Okogie and 2031 top-10 protected First
Suns don’t want Grant Williams, so Trade idea 1 is not feasible.
You tell him Sillivan. Glad you caught that guy’s crazy trade idea.
Sullivan forgot to switch to his burner account again
Nurkic isn’t worth Richards and Green. Make the suns a whole lot better, though.
Greens underwater as well with an extra year
Not a nurk fan but I’d rather have him for 2 years than Green for 3 years
I’d rather Richards and Green than Nurkic. Green plays hard, brings toughness and energy off the bench. Not a big contract. Richards and Plumblee can do the job for Phoenix. It’s good for Phoenix if they can make it happen.
Fair nrg but I’m taking the guy w less years on the contract as neither will be apart of Cha”s next good team
More an accounting measure than on court
Nurk being scapegoated bad. I’m not saying Nurk ain’t a bad player, but he hasn’t been the problem on that team.
Not the problem, but a problem. Suns +/- is pretty bad with him on the court this year, better without him. Maybe losing the weight made him a worse Nurkic instead of a better modern center?
(And your collar is too big.)
Richards would be an upgrade. But the way the Suns handle the Nurkic Situation is not ok.
They made a fundamental mistake by going after overrated, untradable and always injured Beal wo is with Booker on the team basically – if he plays – the most overpaid sixth men of all time.
The Suns are desperate to get rid of him, but cant damage him. So the are looking for scapegoats.
What a joke, why the **** would Hornets have any interest in this? For a couple stupid/useless second round picks?
If CHA can get rid of Grant Williams or Josh Green in the deal, then maybe it’s worth it. But I still think CHA should focus more on the product they’re putting on the court, and less on trying to extract value for their backup C.
That would be a terrible idea. Charlotte sucks at drafting. Phoenix barely has any draft capital IIRC. Ishbia needs to trade KD or Booker, and try to trade Beal. And if they think they can get significant draft capital for them, just trade the other one and rebuild. James Jones is a questionable GM at this point. It just doesn’t seem feasible to keep doing lateral moves as they bleed out. If they rebuild, they better draft well. I would keep Booker and try to soft rebuild. But they can’t screw up like they did with KD and Beal and Ayton frankly.
They should trade KD, Booker, and Beal. The Devin Booker era is over. Stash draft capital with the intention to trade for a super star in the near future. The longer this drags out the more the value of KD and Booker declines.
Ownership is still in fantasy land. Poor Coach Bud!
That’s a great idea, but the reality is the business plan for the Phoenix Suns includes way more than the roster and wins and losses.
It includes attendance and merchandise sales.
Would it be great to trade all those guys and build for the future on the basketball court? Of course.
Would ticket sales drop to zero if you traded all those guys and put out a G league team? Of course.
Great idea but there’s so much more to operating a pro basketball franchise.
Gary , I definitely see your point of view on trading KD. I wouldn’t.
On the other hand, he’s 37 yrs old and is often injured. If he stays healthy, give him 1.5 more seasons. As of now, a trade would replenish the Suns’ future assets. If you don’t trade him, you’ve got the worst assets in the NBA through 2031.
I’m thinking more of Devon Booker and he’s more of a face of the franchise. You’d probably have to keep him around during a fire sale of the vets.
Definitely have mentioned him several times here over the years b/c I’ve been a Nick Richards fan since he was first in summer league, and I’m glad to see how much he’s been brought up this year…I’ve long thought this dude was really good, but was in a bad situation
> James Jones is a questionable GM at this point.
Ishbia wanted all the credit, so why shouldn’t he get the blame?
Jones showed he was an able GM by constructing the 2021 Championship-Finalist Suns from the ground up.
Since then, Jones had dealt with two obstructive and incompetent owners. First, Robert Sarner blew up the front office group with scandal and legal suits.
Then, Ishbia unilaterally drove the high-risk deals that failed, leaving Jones deep in the luxury tax and with no draft capital. Still, Jones managed to sign Tyus Jones for the minimum and drafted rookie starter Kris Dunn, without which this season would be even more disappointing.
I would assume that Hornets don’t want any part of Beal contract.
Basically there is no feasible trade for Beal, almost impossible to trade.
As of today, this is the only feasible trade I have.
76ers get Beal (void NTC)
Suns get Butler
Heat get 4th team trade package and 2031 Suns First
4th team get Paul George
Richards seems like a real piece. Could help a lot of teams.
The only way the Suns become relevant in the next few years is to trade Booker and Durant for as many 1sts as possible. Use Cap Space or Expiring’s until Beal is off the books and than utilize the cap space to create a team and utilize those 1st’s as a means to trade for pieces.
Could you imagine what they could get back for Devon Booker? I think it would be a lot.
Then ride out Bradley Beal and hopefully create excitement with a real high first round pick and you won’t lose too many fans during the rebuild? I like it sounds like a good plan.
Why would the Hornets want to give up Richards, a really good C2 for another C2 making 4x his salary? He’s wouldn’t be starting over Mark Williams. Nonsensical trades, like this theoretical scenario, sink franchises
This is just dumb.
At first glance, it is dumb, but if you’re the Charlotte Hornets, who can rarely bring in a free agent of any consequence, you need to build up your team through savvy trades.
One way they might look at it as if they could attach a crappy contract with Richards and ship them off to the Suns for Nurkić, who is a decent center, plus draft capital.
It would be a win for the Hornets in several ways. You’ve already had a close-up look at Richards so you know with probability how good he might be in two years, and you already have a young center in Mark Williams, so you don’t need two of them if you can improve the team by trading the other.
It’s not a quick way of getting better, but this is not Miami or LA or one of the Texas teams with tax savings that players may be inclined to sign with as free agents.
The massive key in all of this for a team like this is to draft well. If you do, you’re OKC. If you don’t, you’re Charlotte or dare I say Sacramento or Golden State of 20 years ago and the 20 years prior to that.
Sacramento has not been a free agent destination, but with a few key trades have become very good. This is exactly what Charlotte’s trying to do.
Some little trades, hopefully acquire enough assets or good draft pick results to make a huge deal that propels you into playoff contention, as the kings have done four or five years ago.
I hope all this makes sense.