A trade for the love of Nash

In the eyes of most Brightsiders this is NOT, i repeat, NOT a trade that is in the best interests of the Suns, or even feasable. So proceed with care...

I can't stand to see Nash go out like he is right now as well as BAMF. I feel they deserve better. We all know that we cannot realistically facilitate a trade for these two with the returns we would like. It's not happening for the reasoning of if they actually request a trade they will go to a contender and contenders have nothing we want and/or anything they are willing to part with of value. Moreso, we will not trade them to a non-contender because a non-contenders always want star talent or young talent/draft picks. So, with that said I looked at what we could do for NASH & BAMF (again, not necessarily for the Suns), while trying to get some type of return that wasn't so blantantly horrid.

So we all know that if Nash and Hill are put on the market, THE most likely destination would be the Knicks. They almost got Hill this offseason, and everyone knows both Hill and Nash LOVE the city of NY. Nash even lives there in the offseason. With Dantoni's job on the line its make or break for him and the Knicks aren't doing so well this season. They looked lost and unorganized. The offseason acquisition of Chandler isn't working out so well. His greatest attribute, defense, is lost on a team when he's the only one playing it.

In order to make any trade work a third team would have to be brought in. I saw in an earlier post that the Bobcats are shopping Diaw (and maybe Augustin?) so i looked to them for the third team. NOTE: with the players involved, this trade couldn't take place until March due to recent signings. The trade after the jump...

Suns Lose: Nash, Hill, Lopez, Warrick Suns Gain: Augustin, Diaw, Bibby, Davis, Diop

Outgoing Salary: $25.3 mil Incoming Salary: $21.8 mil

Knicks Lose: Chandler, Douglas, Bibby, Balkman, Davis Knicks Gain: Nash, Hill,Lopez

Outgoing Salary: $18.6 mil Incoming Salary: $21 Mil

Bobcats Lose: Augustin, Diop, Diaw Bobcats Gain: Chandler, Warrick, Balkman, Douglas

Outgoing Salary: $19.2 mil Incoming Salary: $20.2 mil

SUNS DO IT BECAUSE: It puts Nash/Hill on a contending team in a place they love plain and simple. Plus we gain very servicable PG play in return with Augustin and Davis, if he can get healthy. If not we waive him. I would think we waive Bibby and Telly to clear room. Plus we get Diaw to run the offense on the second team. He's a one year rental aka cap relief next year and if he impresses maybe we could re-sign him on the cheap. Also we get the backup center in Diop from losing Lopez. Now I understand that we would be taking Diop for next year for $7.3 mil which sucks, but hear me out. First its an additional incentive for the Bobcats to do the trade and second, it doesnt REALLY hurt us on next years cap. If we were to keep Lopez next year it would cost us 4mil qualifing offer. All said and done next year's salaries would be 34.9 with Lopez, vs. 37.7 with Diop AND Diop would create 7.3mil of cap space come 2013 and we could get another nice piece with that. Also keep in mind that at some point Chilly will get amnestied. add that together and you get 13.8mil. Thats a nice chunk to sign a big name or two medium sized names. Look it up. Who's available in 2013? Josh Smith, Al Jefferson, Kevin Martin, Milsap (all unrestricted), Blake Griffin, Lawson, Jennings, Harden (Restricted) just to name a few.

KNICKS DO IT BECAUSE: Dantoni loveslovesloves Nash as well as his job. Like I said before, adding Chandler has not made them better, if fact I would say worse. They are a hard team to watch. This would instantly make the Knicks one of the top 3 teams in the East for the next couple of years if they re-sign Nash (which I believe they would). And a midseason trade/lacking chemistry is no issue. We all know what Nash, Amare, Hill, and Lopez can do together (WCF anyone?). Now throw Melo into that equation. Losing Bibby and Davis would go unnoticed, as Davis hasn't even played and Bibby well, shouldn't be. ALSO, this would actually create CAP ROOM for the knicks next season. Go figure! You see, next year the Knicks will have 53mil invested in Melo, Amare, and Chandler. Altogether, 59.2mil under contract for 2013. With this trade, the Knicks will have only 41.8mil under contract with the ability to sign Nash (and possibly Hill) to minimum contracts which would allow them to find another piece or two. Also this trade allows NY to keep their two best young pieces in Shumpert and Fields. Shumpert would get the extreme benefit of playing behind Nash and learning from one of the greats.

BOBCATS DO IT BECAUSE: I don't know really, but I'm gonna make something up. Here it is: They get the best player in the trade with Chandler. They messed up in letting him go, and they know it. With the departure of Diop and Diaw, his salary is manageable, especially considering he is better than Diaw and Diop put together. Diawop. Augustin is an acceptable loss when you have Kemba Walker who is their PG of the future. You also get Douglas to back Kemba up and maybe play some SG as well. With Diaw gone you can move your rookie, Biyombo into the starting lineup and back him up with Warrick, Balkman, Thomas, or whoever else. Overall I feel that they upgrade their roster by replacing Diaw and Diop with Chandler. NOTE: If needed we could replace Warrick with Dudz, but I would like to keep him.

I'm not too sure about the salaries matching, especially the Knicks. I thought the incoming salaries had to be within 120% or 110% of the outgoing or something like that. I've also heard of teams throwing in cash considerations to even things out. maybe the suns could do something like that. I don't know. I'm tired and it's 3am. Because of the incoming/outgoing salaries, I'm pretty sure this trade would need to be tweaked somehow, but it was the best I could do. Anyways, what do you guys think? Like i said this is a trade idea to HELP Nash and Hill, not nessessarily help the Suns (except to help them get the #1 pick). But to be honest the Suns are horrid this year with or without Nash/Hill so why should they suffer after all they've done for us. Lets let them move on. Come on Nash. Help me help you. Help ME...help YOU.