While the Los Angeles Lakers look to close out the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semi-finals the Phoenix Suns lost in six games to the Denver Nuggets. If the Lakers can outlast the Warriors then they get to avoid having to play Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Phoenix losing in the second round has more implications than that, though. After trading for Durant and failing to reach the Western Conference Finals, it appears that Phoenix is looking to make some serious changes this offseason.
The Suns could reportedly move on from both Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton this offseason with the former being “aggressively shopped”. If the Lakers end up falling short in the NBA Playoffs this year, perhaps the front office would get pressure from LeBron James to trade for Paul so that the two could finally play together.
LeBron knows that this is possible as there are two different trade packages the Lakers could offer for CP3 this summer.
D’Angelo Russell is an unrestricted free agent this summer and the Lakers could look to utilize his Bird Rights and execute a sign-and-trade to flip him for Paul. The Suns would be getting a younger point guard with more floor-spacing that wouldn’t need to dominate the basketball like Paul.
The big hurdle in this scenario would be the fact that it would hard cap the Suns at the luxury tax next season as they would be acquiring a player via sign-and-trade. They could get under the luxury tax if Russell is making less than Paul and the team moves Ayton for less money in return.
The second trade could be if the Suns are looking to add depth to the roster around Durant and Booker. Here, the Suns would be getting a center that could help replace Ayton while spacing the floor. They would also acquire Beasley, who in theory can be a great off-ball shooter for Phoenix (although he struggled in LA).
The 17th overall pick is thrown in as Beasley and Bamba don’t have a ton of trade value. Paul doesn’t at this point in his career, either, but the Lakers have traded first-round picks for less. They traded one for Dennis Schroder, after all.
Lakers must avoid these Chris Paul NBA rumors and not make either of these trades
All this being said, while it is possible for the Lakers to add Chris Paul via trade this summer the team should not be interested in doing so. It definitely is conceivable that the front office would get pressured by LeBron James but the team has to stay strong and avoid making a mistake.
This is the exact same mistake the team already made with Russell Westbrook. Paul is not at the same point that Westbrook is at but they would be trading for an over-priced guard past his prime and would have to sacrifice some depth because of it.
The only saving grace is that Paul’s contract for the 2024-25 season is non-guaranteed, so the Lakers would essentially be taking on an expiring contract. That might make it easier to swallow trading non-impactful role players or Russell for but are we even sure Paul is an upgrade from Russell at this point?
The Lakers should stay away.