National Post (National Edition)
Paul to join rising Suns in Phoenix
VETERAN GUARD PART OF BLOCKBUSTER TRADE AS THUNDER CONTINUE STOCKPILING PICKS
It didn’t take the NBA long to rev up basketball interest again. With the league opening the trade window, teams wasted no time in making a splash.
One future Hall of Famer is reportedly switching teams, with Chris Paul heading to Phoenix, while another, James Harden, may or may not be headed east to make life that much more difficult in the Toronto Raptors’ conference.
Paul leaves Oklahoma City for Phoenix where he will team up with a like-minded competitor in Devin Booker, which should make the Suns relevant for the first time since Steve Nash dazzled Arizona crowds.
In exchange for Paul and an often overlooked talent in Abdel Nader going to the Suns, Oklahoma City will receive guard Kelly Oubre, point guard Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick.
OKC general manager Sam Presti is right on point with this one, collecting yet another firstround pick as he once again sends an elite talent packing.
In essence, Presti has turned the duo of Russell Westbrook and Paul George into eight first round picks, a year of Chris Paul, Canadian standout Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and two pick swaps.
That is some heavy wheeling and dealing for any one man’s resume.
The deal has some potential upside for the Raptors as well as it eliminates Phoenix as a potential bidder for free agent point guard Fred VanVleet.
Without Phoenix in the point guard hunt, the only teams with available cap space to not just take on VanVleet but offer him enough that the Raptors wouldn’t match are the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons.
OKC, meanwhile, continues to turn valuable pieces into valuable pieces for the future.
The Suns, with their too-often meddlesome owner Robert Sarver, have spent years trying to build through the draft, only to see that same owner ignore the competent basketball advice from far more accomplished basketball people to go with his own choice.
The arrival of Paul to a team that was already showing signs of turning a corner during the bubble phase of last season is the first real sign of a roster that can make some noise in the NBA’s tough Western Conference.
Even at 35, Paul is still considered an elite talent with a basketball IQ matched by very few in the league. That IQ and his ultracompetitive nature are very much what the league has already seen in Booker and together that duo could change the fortunes of a previously lagging franchise dramatically.
THE OTHER POTENTIAL
BLOCKBUSTER
Early Monday there was plenty of talk about Harden, the former MVP with seven All-NBA team honours on his resume, moving from Houston to Brooklyn to join the Nets.
The Nets already have both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Durant in particular was reportedly high on bringing his former OKC running mate to Brooklyn.
That deal could still be in the works but by mid-afternoon the talk of Harden heading to Philadelphia had retaken the top of the rumour mill.
Philadelphia, now home to former Rockets GM Daryl Morey, has struggled finding consistency with young stars like Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Harden would take that roster to another level.
Whether this is just Harden’s wish list of a new landing spot remains to be seen.
Should Harden leave Houston for either team, the deal would most definitely rival the Paul trade in blockbuster status.
Where that would leave Russell Westbrook, who joined Harden a year ago in Houston, would be another situation worth monitoring.
Even before the Harden rumours began, there was plenty of talk about Westbrook wanting out of Houston. The only problem was finding a team that actually wanted to take on the Westbrook drama along with his rather large ticket.
Westbrook has three years and US$131.5 million left on his contract.
QUICK HITS
New Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue officially unveiled his staff as the league trade frenzy began. Lue will be joined by associate head coach Dan Craig and assistants Kenny Atkinson, Chauncey Billups, Larry Drew and Roy Rogers. That’s a ton of experience on one NBA bench ... Former Raptor DeMar DeRozan did the expected and picked up his player option which will pay him $27.7 million in the coming season. The San Antonio Spurs forward (he moved from guard to forward last season) will become an unrestricted free agent after this year and in that regard would be a favourable target for a trade this year with a contending team. Over the weekend there were reports that the Los Angeles Lakers, his hometown team, might be interested in taking a run at his services ... The Pistons sent defensive guard Bruce Brown to the Nets for forward Dzanan Musa and a 2021 second round pick that had previously belonged to the Raptors.