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According to a report earlier today from Yahoo's respected news-breaker, Adrian Wojnarowski, the Phoenix Suns would like to keep Goran Dragic, and are more likely to trade Isaiah Thomas and/or Gerald Green by the trade deadline on Thursday, February 19th at 3 pm E.S.T.
In addition, Adrian noted that if the Suns were to trade Dragic, they would be asking for either a current, or a potential future All-Star player in return, along with a pick.
Here are the actual tweets from Woj earlier today:
Sources: Suns want to keep and re-sign Dragic, but to even consider a deal, they would minimally want player w/ All-Star potential and pick.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 17, 2015
If the Suns make a move before deadline, it is far more likely to include Isaiah Thomas and/or Gerald Green, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 17, 2015
Of course, this merely echoes the sentiments that many reporters and media members who have spent at least a little time around the Suns organization, including myself, have believed all along.
Suns GM Ryan McDonough, President Lon Babby, and Coach Jeff Hornacek, have always remained consistent in their desire to keep Dragic in Phoenix long term when asked about Goran's future with the team, so this really comes as no surprise.
In fact, the only aspect of this whole scenario that caused a bit of trepidation, was the fact that Dragic would be an unrestricted free agent after this season, and could choose to sign elsewhere if he was unhappy with the current state of the team, or his role in it.
As a preemptive measure to help ensure that both sides were on the same page, Dragic's agent met with the Suns' front office today. And while no reports have come out as a result of the meeting, one is led to believe the intent of these talks was to iron out how to make this relationship between Dragic and the Suns succeed going forward.
Of course, there's no guarantee that the Suns end up trading Thomas or Green either. Isaiah has been a very potent scorer off the bench and a great back-up on a very team-friendly deal. The Suns don't need to push him out the door, and if they want to move him, can wait until later if need be to get the right amount of value in return.
As for Green, he's a free agent at the end of this season, and if the Suns can't trade him, they can always decide to simply let him walk if he doesn't fit into their future plans. I see this trade as being the most probable of all, but it will still likely depend on what they can get for him in return.
In other news today, it was originally reported by HoopsHype.com that both the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks are interested in Miles Plumlee.
Lakers, Knicks eyeing Miles Plumlee. http://t.co/sPXYGVoXi0 pic.twitter.com/fcQmNQz0m9
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) February 17, 2015
Although the rumors surrounding Miles had been quiet in the week leading up to the All-Star break, due to Miles returning to the starting line-up in place of the injured Alex Len, the Suns could be aggressively shopping him again now that Len has likely recovered from his sprained ankle, and could be gauging interest from teams who are in need of a young, athletic, defensive big man who can help them on a cheap contract.
For now, at least, the Suns have continued working quietly behind the scenes, likely working the phones and attempting to make some deals to improve their team this season, without hurting their chances of continuing to build a playoff roster that can hopefully contend for a championship in the near future.
Nearly two full days remain before the trade deadline, and there could still be more changes to come. But for now, at least, it seems that Dragic is very much a part of the team's plans going forward.
More to come, I'm sure.