It didn't take long after Monday morning's lifting of the NBA's trade moratorium for the first major domino of the offseason to fall: Chris Paul is headed to Phoenix.
The Suns swung a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the future Hall of Fame point guard on Monday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Phoenix is sending Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre Jr., Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick to OKC for Paul and Abdel Nader.
For the Thunder, who also reportedly agreed to trade guard Dennis Schroder to the Los Angeles Lakers for Danny Green and the No. 28 overall pick in Wednesday's draft, the Paul deal represents the latest and biggest step to the full teardown general manager Sam Presti has been telegraphing since last summer's trades of Paul George and Russell Westbrook.
For the Suns, the intent is the opposite: The franchise hasn't made the playoffs since the departure of Amar'e Stoudemire in 2010, and it fell just short of breaking that drought in the bubble despite an 8-0 record in the seeding games. Adding a talent and presence like Paul was the biggest swing the Suns could have taken toward making that jump.
There's a lot to unpack in the fallout from the deal, even with so many more moving parts still to come in what is already shaping up to be a chaotic abbreviated offseason.
Winner: Devin Booker
Few players' reputations received a bigger boost from the bubble than Devin Booker, despite the Suns missing out on the playoffs. They went undefeated in the seeding games, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Booker was stellar, averaging 30.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds in the most meaningful games of his NBA career. Up until the summer, he had developed a reputation as an empty-calories star, putting up huge box-score stats on teams that never won much or even came close to making the playoffs. In the bubble, he showed he's just as good when he's actually playing for something.
Now, the Suns are firmly in the playoff mix, and Booker gets a still-very-good future Hall of Famer as a backcourt partner in the most pivotal season of his career.
Paul is well-known for the impact he has on younger guards on and off the court, from Eric Bledsoe with the Clippers to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander last season in Oklahoma City. Booker is more accomplished than either of those two, but he still stands to greatly benefit from spending the next few seasons learning from one of the best guards of his generation.
Loser: The Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have been rumored as a possible Paul destination practically from the minute they were eliminated in the second round by the Miami Heat. Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to become a free agent after this coming season, so the Bucks are under enormous pressure to improve their roster and convince him to sign a long-term extension.
They'll have other options, but with Paul going to the Suns, their biggest potential upgrade is now off the board.
Antetokounmpo could still sign the extension this month, and he's given no indication that he wants out. But adding Paul would have been the most impactful move the front office could make to improve the team going into his final year.
Schroder, another Thunder guard who also could have helped the Bucks, is reportedly out of the picture now, too. The Bucks seemed to be a logical trade partner for the Thunder, but they'll now have to look elsewhere.
It will be fascinating to see how they go about making upgrades.
Winner: Monty Williams
After four years out of the head coaching ranks, Monty Williams had a stellar first season in Phoenix.
The Suns fell short of the playoffs—they might have made it if not for Deandre Ayton's 25-game performance-enhancing-drug suspension last December—but their 8-0 performance in the bubble earned Williams the NBA's first and only Coach of the Seeding Games award. The level of respect he commands around the league is a big part of why many are as high as they are on the Suns' future.
Williams is now reunited with Paul, whom he coached for one season in New Orleans in 2010-11. In Williams' first season as a head coach, the Paul-led Hornets made the playoffs and won two games against the top-seeded Lakers in the first round.
Paul asked for a trade the following offseason and ultimately landed on the Clippers, but his dissatisfaction in New Orleans was more due to their ownership situation than the coaching. Paul has spoken highly of Williams as recently as last December.
Phoenix isn't a lock to make the playoffs, but with Oklahoma City in teardown mode and Houston seemingly on the verge of imploding, the path is there for the Paul-Booker pairing to help Williams lead the Suns back to the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.
Loser: Ricky Rubio
In his nine-year NBA career, Ricky Rubio hasn't become the star he was projected to be coming over from Spain, but he's put together a very good career as a starting-quality point guard in Minnesota, Utah and Phoenix. He's made the playoffs only twice in that span—the two seasons with the Jazz in 2017-18 and 2018-19—but he looked poised to be a part of the Suns' breakthrough following their bubble success.
Instead, Rubio is being shipped to a rebuilding Thunder team that figures to be one of the worst in the Western Conference. He'll get to play with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who looks like a future All-Star, but the 30-year-old would likely rather be trying to make the playoffs.
After news of the trade broke, Rubio didn't seem thrilled.
His best hope is for the Thunder to flip him to a contender at the deadline, which is always a possibility for a rebuilding team that doesn't see him as a long-term piece.
Winner: Sam Presti
As he did last summer with Paul George and Russell Westbrook, Presti sold high on Paul. He got back two quality rotation players in Rubio and Oubre along with yet another first-round pick to add to the whopping 14 first-rounders and two pick swaps he already has between now and 2026.
Presti isn't going to use all of those picks himself, but he can make basically any deal he wants whenever a star becomes available. If a team is looking for picks when its star wants out, Presti can beat any offer.
He likely wasn't going to find a better deal for Paul, who is 35 and owed $41.3 million next season with a $44.2 million player option for 2021-22. This was the perfect time for Presti to sell.
Paul was named second-team All-NBA last season and appeared in 70 of 72 regular-season games for the Thunder, who took the Rockets to seven games in the first round. He's a win-now player, and the Thunder are no longer in win-now mode.
It's always tempting to say one team got the better end of any deal in the immediate aftermath, but this seems like the rare blockbuster trade that's great for both sides. The Suns were looking to get better immediately and take another step into playoff contention, while the Thunder were looking to rebuild and collect assets. Both got exactly what they wanted.
It didn't take long after Monday morning's lifting of the NBA's trade moratorium for the first major domino of the offseason to fall: Chris Paul is headed to Phoenix.
The Suns swung a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the future Hall of Fame point guard on Monday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Phoenix is sending Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre Jr., Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick to OKC for Paul and Abdel Nader.
For the Thunder, who also reportedly agreed to trade guard Dennis Schroder to the Los Angeles Lakers for Danny Green and the No. 28 overall pick in Wednesday's draft, the Paul deal represents the latest and biggest step to the full teardown general manager Sam Presti has been telegraphing since last summer's trades of Paul George and Russell Westbrook.
For the Suns, the intent is the opposite: The franchise hasn't made the playoffs since the departure of Amar'e Stoudemire in 2010, and it fell just short of breaking that drought in the bubble despite an 8-0 record in the seeding games. Adding a talent and presence like Paul was the biggest swing the Suns could have taken toward making that jump.
There's a lot to unpack in the fallout from the deal, even with so many more moving parts still to come in what is already shaping up to be a chaotic abbreviated offseason.
Winner: Devin Booker
Few players' reputations received a bigger boost from the bubble than Devin Booker, despite the Suns missing out on the playoffs. They went undefeated in the seeding games, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Booker was stellar, averaging 30.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds in the most meaningful games of his NBA career. Up until the summer, he had developed a reputation as an empty-calories star, putting up huge box-score stats on teams that never won much or even came close to making the playoffs. In the bubble, he showed he's just as good when he's actually playing for something.
Now, the Suns are firmly in the playoff mix, and Booker gets a still-very-good future Hall of Famer as a backcourt partner in the most pivotal season of his career.
Paul is well-known for the impact he has on younger guards on and off the court, from Eric Bledsoe with the Clippers to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander last season in Oklahoma City. Booker is more accomplished than either of those two, but he still stands to greatly benefit from spending the next few seasons learning from one of the best guards of his generation.
Loser: The Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have been rumored as a possible Paul destination practically from the minute they were eliminated in the second round by the Miami Heat. Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to become a free agent after this coming season, so the Bucks are under enormous pressure to improve their roster and convince him to sign a long-term extension.
They'll have other options, but with Paul going to the Suns, their biggest potential upgrade is now off the board.
Antetokounmpo could still sign the extension this month, and he's given no indication that he wants out. But adding Paul would have been the most impactful move the front office could make to improve the team going into his final year.
Schroder, another Thunder guard who also could have helped the Bucks, is reportedly out of the picture now, too. The Bucks seemed to be a logical trade partner for the Thunder, but they'll now have to look elsewhere.
It will be fascinating to see how they go about making upgrades.
Winner: Monty Williams
After four years out of the head coaching ranks, Monty Williams had a stellar first season in Phoenix.
The Suns fell short of the playoffs—they might have made it if not for Deandre Ayton's 25-game performance-enhancing-drug suspension last December—but their 8-0 performance in the bubble earned Williams the NBA's first and only Coach of the Seeding Games award. The level of respect he commands around the league is a big part of why many are as high as they are on the Suns' future.
Williams is now reunited with Paul, whom he coached for one season in New Orleans in 2010-11. In Williams' first season as a head coach, the Paul-led Hornets made the playoffs and won two games against the top-seeded Lakers in the first round.
Paul asked for a trade the following offseason and ultimately landed on the Clippers, but his dissatisfaction in New Orleans was more due to their ownership situation than the coaching. Paul has spoken highly of Williams as recently as last December.
Phoenix isn't a lock to make the playoffs, but with Oklahoma City in teardown mode and Houston seemingly on the verge of imploding, the path is there for the Paul-Booker pairing to help Williams lead the Suns back to the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.
Loser: Ricky Rubio
In his nine-year NBA career, Ricky Rubio hasn't become the star he was projected to be coming over from Spain, but he's put together a very good career as a starting-quality point guard in Minnesota, Utah and Phoenix. He's made the playoffs only twice in that span—the two seasons with the Jazz in 2017-18 and 2018-19—but he looked poised to be a part of the Suns' breakthrough following their bubble success.
Instead, Rubio is being shipped to a rebuilding Thunder team that figures to be one of the worst in the Western Conference. He'll get to play with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who looks like a future All-Star, but the 30-year-old would likely rather be trying to make the playoffs.
After news of the trade broke, Rubio didn't seem thrilled.
His best hope is for the Thunder to flip him to a contender at the deadline, which is always a possibility for a rebuilding team that doesn't see him as a long-term piece.
Winner: Sam Presti
As he did last summer with Paul George and Russell Westbrook, Presti sold high on Paul. He got back two quality rotation players in Rubio and Oubre along with yet another first-round pick to add to the whopping 14 first-rounders and two pick swaps he already has between now and 2026.
Presti isn't going to use all of those picks himself, but he can make basically any deal he wants whenever a star becomes available. If a team is looking for picks when its star wants out, Presti can beat any offer.
He likely wasn't going to find a better deal for Paul, who is 35 and owed $41.3 million next season with a $44.2 million player option for 2021-22. This was the perfect time for Presti to sell.
Paul was named second-team All-NBA last season and appeared in 70 of 72 regular-season games for the Thunder, who took the Rockets to seven games in the first round. He's a win-now player, and the Thunder are no longer in win-now mode.
It's always tempting to say one team got the better end of any deal in the immediate aftermath, but this seems like the rare blockbuster trade that's great for both sides. The Suns were looking to get better immediately and take another step into playoff contention, while the Thunder were looking to rebuild and collect assets. Both got exactly what they wanted.
