Trevor Ariza pouts, Kelly Oubre promises punishment post-trade

Before either player has taken the court for their new teams, it already appears the Suns have won the trade that brings Kelly Oubre Jr. to Phoenix and sends Trevor Ariza to the Washington Wizards.

We’ll see what happens when both get around to punching the clock. Ariza spent the first two months of the season giving the Suns as little return on their $15 million investment as possible. This week he complained to the Washington Post’s Candace Buckner that playing basketball in Phoenix was hard in a veiled introduction.

“They were struggling a little bit, but couldn’t have been struggling worse than what I was struggling with,” Ariza said of his new team. “Everybody has their things that they go through, it’s just about how you get through them or how you do what you do everyday to change them. Being here, I plan to come in and just try to work through whatever it is we’re going through at the time.”

Inspiring.

On the other hand, new Sun Oubre, who has been aware he could be traded for awhile, had a different tone today when speaking with Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

“Anything can happen, it’s a business. I was just on the business side of basketball, so (now) I make a new home in Phoenix.”

Ok, good. What about what happened in Washington?

“What I will say is that it was definitely a lot of changes and people have to adjust to change,” Oubre said. “The energy was just a little off. That’s kind of what led to that story coming out like that. I can’t really speak on that. I just try to control on what I can control.”

Fair.

“Defense leads to offense. Just focus on that, just continue to keep that gameplan solid,” Oubre said. “I’m a confident individual but one thing I know I can control everyday is my effort and my energy. I will do that each and every night. My offense will follow. I’m not really worried about that because I know I can play.”

Good answer.

“I’m trying to kill everybody, man. Straight up. If you’re in my way, you’re getting destroyed.”

HELL YEAH.

Get your first look at the newest Sun Wednesday when Phoenix clashes with the Celtics in Boston.