Lakers Rumors: Phoenix Suns’ ownership wouldn’t trade with Lakers

Recent Los Angeles Lakers involve the Phoenix Suns, as Suns ownership reportedly wouldn’t make any trades with the Lakers.

There have been a lot of Los Angeles Lakers rumors in recent days involving the Phoenix Suns and Trevor Ariza. The Lakers were attempting to acquire Ariza to bolster their forward position off the bench.

Unfortunately, the deal did not come together. Los Angeles attempted to complete a three-team deal, but the Suns declined.

The reason for finding a third team was because the Suns did not want Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whom the Lakers were dangling in offers.

Plenty of news and new Lakers rumors came from these discussions. The Houston Rockets emerged as a potential suitor for Caldwell-Pope, and the Suns asking price seemed to be ridiculously high.

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Phoenix was looking for a playmaking guard and draft assets in return, but Los Angeles was unwilling to move any of their young core, and rightfully so.

The Suns were then a part of the weirdest NBA debacle in recent history. News began trickling in that they had agreed to a three-team deal, but not with the Lakers. Instead, they had agreed to the framework of a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards.

Ariza would be heading to Washington, Kelly Oubre was heading to Memphis and the Suns were getting back Austin Rivers, Wayne Selden and Dillon Brooks. Or was it MarShon Brooks? Well, the teams didn’t even know which one was involved.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the deal fell apart because the Suns believed they were getting Dillon, while the Grizzlies were under the impression they were moving MarShon.

With all of this occurring, it looked like the Lakers were re-entering the mix. Ariza had let it be known he was willing to return to the Lakers.

Those efforts went for naught. The Suns re-worked a deal with just the Wizards, reportedly trading Ariza for Oubre and Rivers. Why the Suns would accept this deal, after what they had asked for from the Lakers, is anyone’s guess. Oubre is entering restricted free agency and the Suns used first round picks in consecutive years on wing players Josh Jackson and Mikal Bridges.

Had they been able to find a third team, one would think that the Lakers could have put together a competitive offer. However, they were never truly afforded that opportunity.

According to David Aldridge, the Suns’ owner, Robert Sarver, stepped in and would not allow a trade to be made with the Lakers. He was adamant that Ariza would not be traded there.

Well then. It would be fair to assume some of this animosity toward the Lakers is because they signed Tyson Chandler after the Suns bought him out earlier this season. However, to completely rule out a team without even seeing what they have to offer is a foolish way to go about doing business.

This is not the first time we have seen a team refuse to deal with the Lakers. When Kawhi Leonard was made available via trade this summer, the San Antonio Spurs didn’t want to trade Leonard to the Lakers.

This was a missed opportunity for the Lakers, as Ariza would have helped to further bolster their 3-point shooting and perimeter defense. Expect Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka to continue working the phones in an effort to add more depth to the team.

While a blockbuster deal for a superstar is unlikely, the Lakers have multiple players on one-year deals they can look to move to shuffle the deck. Caldwell-Pope’s team has reportedly been looking for an opportunity that would lead to more playing time, so he is someone that could be moved sooner than later.