Should the Phoenix Suns move Brandon Knight?

Some of the maligned contracts that were struck over the last few summers can suddenly be looked at under a "glass half full" prism. After losing a summer-long standoff with Eric Bledsoe over his contract, his $14 million 2016-17 salary is a steal given the scale of the new market. Same goes for Tyson Chandler's nearly $13 million salary. And say what you want about Brandon Knight, but I would much rather have him around his $14 million average yearly salary than (insert wing that got "overpaid" over the last few days here).

Knight is only 24, and will be under team control for four more seasons at what instantly appears to be a reasonable price. The duration of his contract will last through his pre-prime and perhaps even take up some of the early stages of his prime. Smaller guards tend to disintegrate earlier in their career than the bigger lugs who can rely on their sheer size and girth to command a hefty salary (Timofey Mozgov chuckles with delight).

Pundits have been waiting for the demise of Chris Paul as the "Point God," but it has yet to happen. Paul is the outlier when it comes to smaller guards transitioning out of their prime and still being an upper echelon contributor at their position, and it shouldn't be expected that Knight will fall in similar footsteps. Phoenix was wise to lock him up through his age-28 season, as this is when he is most likely to reach his ceiling -- however high it may be.

I bring up Knight because there has been a universal clamoring for the front office to gauge the trade market on his services, and there seems to be a general annoyance towards the way he plays. Much of this stance may be in part to the emergence of Devin Booker towards the end of last season and the natural assumption that he should usurp Knight as the starting two guard.

Knight has not done himself any favors with the fan base by swatting away any notion that he would transition into the sixth man role (heavily regarded as perhaps his best fit), but I don't think that means that Ryan McDonough should be lighting up the phone lines looking for the first offer to ship him out of town. The terms of his contract are lucrative in both yearly salary and duration, and give the front office control -- a reality that is vastly becoming extinct under the whirling nature of today's NBA.

And who could blame Knight for not wanting to give up his starting role to a 19-year-old kid for a team that won 23 games last season? It is one thing to be stubborn about giving up a starting gig when you are on a winning team and it gives you the best chance to win, but it is entirely different to want to man a post you covet when you are a young player on a rebuilding team.

Trading Knight this summer would be overreacting to the lost campaign that was the 2015-16 season. His assumed value is far less than what the Suns paid for him, and buying low on a talented guard that can create his own shot is a wise gamble that could strike huge dividends for another team.

It is not as if the Suns are one move away from becoming a legit contender (let alone a playoff contender) so why rush to be rid of a young asset that is under team control for four more years? From an asset management perspective, it has never made sense -- especially after seeing what a player of Knight's caliber would go for on the open market this summer.

Call me crazy -- I know you all will -- but I think Knight is here to stay for the time being, and it will end up being the right call.