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The 2019 offseason has all the makings of being an explosive one featuring plenty of player movement across the board. Not only will many superstars be free agents, but many teams will try to mix it up trying to offload some players. It now seems like we have reached the first chapter of what could be a very fun summer.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, from intel around the league, Rockets GM Daryl Morey has everyone on the roster on the table outside of James Harden. That means Chris Paul and Clint Capela along with all of their future first-round picks are on the table in certain scenarios.
Sources: In calls to front offices, Houston GM Daryl Morey is showing an aggressive desire to improve roster with all players and picks available in talks. Hard to imagine James Harden scenario, but the rest under contract - perhaps even Chris Paul - could be moved in right deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 29, 2019
Capela seems like the most logical choice to be moved before draft night, because, as Wojnarowski noted, it’s going to be a tough challenge moving off Paul’s remaining $124.1 million owed to him over the next three seasons.
As we wrote about earlier in this month related to the forthcoming chatter around Paul, the Suns would be very wise to avoid calls with a Houston area code.
CP3’s contract would be crippling to Phoenix’s flexibility over the next few years where progress absolutely needs to happen across the board, even though it wouldn’t impede on any forthcoming extensions for Deandre Ayton or Mikal Bridges. With Paul as the Suns’ point guard, they would have no cap space to really improve the team outside of trades until 2022.
Paul simply wouldn’t be the smartest allocation of resources when you see other scenarios around the Association that are more beneficial. Houston would also need to offload one of their own future first-round picks to even get off Paul’s contract.
I’m not suggesting this trade, don’t get me wrong because I fall on the side of not being in favor of CP3 in the Valley, but here’s a realistic scenario if Morey does indeed dial up James Jones’ phone:
Suns - Chris Paul, 2021 1st
Rockets - Tyler Johnson, T.J. Warren, Josh Jackson
Would you do this deal, Suns fans? This means Phoenix would have multiple first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, allowing them more ammunition to stock up on young talent or offload them for win-now pieces.
Stay tuned for more trade rumors, as we are just getting started on the NBA’s hot stove portion of the calendar.