Trade: Chris Paul to Suns for Ricky Rubio and Kelly Oubre Jr.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Chris Paul is 34 without any major injuries and changed his body last season to offset the natural decline in physical abilities. He couldn't get to 60 games a season under D'Antoni, but not many point guards can.

Mike D'Antoni wasn't his coach in 2016-17.

And he missed games because of a torn thumb ligament, not a chronic or load injury.

[INFORMER]

Chris Paul is 34 without any major injuries and changed his body last season to offset the natural decline in physical abilities. He couldn't get to 60 games a season under D'Antoni, but not many point guards can.

Mike D'Antoni wasn't his coach in 2016-17.

And he missed games because of a torn thumb ligament, not a chronic or load injury.

That really doesn't comfort me. 61/58/58 are not games-played totals that you want to see from an aging player. I get he had a resurgent year last year (which featured a nearly 4-month break), but I think that is more an outlier than anything else. We'll see.

[iLLmatic]

Chris Paul is 34 without any major injuries and changed his body last season to offset the natural decline in physical abilities. He couldn't get to 60 games a season under D'Antoni, but not many point guards can.

Mike D'Antoni wasn't his coach in 2016-17.

Lakers gave up more draft compensation also. But his age is a concern for me. That and he sucked up all of our salary cap.

[Superbone]

I don't think I like the idea of bringing in Gallinari. He's a good shooter, but I don't think I like him as a fit here. He's old and slow and not a great fit for our young team and up-tempo offense. He isn't a great defender. And he's an injury risk on a team that already has a prominent injury risk in Paul. Plus Gallo will likely command a decently large salary, and I'm not sure I'd want to pay it to him.

I think I would rather see our PF minutes go to guys like Cam or Saric or some other free agent PF.

Yeah, what's with all the Gallo talk?

Played with CP3 last year, he’s a free agent. He plays a position we have a need at. He’s on record as saying situation is more important than money. He just may be willing to sign for the MLE.

I hope we don't add Gallinari. He isn't a good defender, he is slow, he doesn't rebounder, and he disappears a lot. I get that he is buddies with Booker, but getting all of a guy's buddies doesn't help you keep your star if the buddies aren't that good.

Thank you!

[Shabazz]

I don’t love the idea of Gallo either, but at the mid-level I think that’s good value. That’s also a very flippable contract.

[Split T]

Ya Gallo isn’t my first pick, but he’s great value at the MLE. Wood and Grant will get more than the MLE. Bertans would make for a ridiculous offense. Millsap’s age worries me. No real read on Ibaka. Maybe we take more of a wing/guard? Maybe we split the MLE into 2 guys? What about Rodney Hood? He just opted out.

[pickle]

In a highly unrealistic scenario, I'd love to see us trade the 10th to the Magic for the 15th and Gordon... I'd even throw in a second rounder to make that happen.

Ideally I still want us to get Wood on a 3-4 year deal starting as high as we can possibly afford to.

[wpmiller42]

In a highly unrealistic scenario, I'd love to see us trade the 10th to the Magic for the 15th and Gordon... I'd even throw in a second rounder to make that happen.

Ideally I still want us to get Wood on a 3-4 year deal starting as high as we can possibly afford to.

That would be amazing given the type of deals we've seen so far. I don't think the 10th alone is good enough to get Gordon, but who knows? Maybe the Magic decide to start dumping contracts?

[Split T]

We don’t have the contracts to trade for Gordon unless you’re including Cam Johnson or Mikal Bridges in the trade.

[Mori Chu]

I don't think there is any way the Magic would dump Aaron Gordon just to move up 5 spots in this draft.

[Ring_Wanted]

I don't think there is any way the Magic would dump Aaron Gordon just to move up 5 spots in this draft.

Actually there are rumors they are trying exactly that. And it makes sense, if they have come to the conclusion that despite his gifts, Gordon is not going to ever become a special basketball player.

But like Split points, we don't have the contracts to add Gordon anymore.

[Indy]

this. If we trade away 10 for two late picks, and just try and run it back with the rest of the guys we had, I will not be happy. If you are going all-in, you go all-in. No half-measures.

Would you consider the 14th and 26th, for example, as two late picks? Not challenging you, simply curious.

I am all for trading 10 for other picks and/or players. I just don't think running back last year's roster by swapping Rubio/Oubre for Paul/Nader and adding a couple later draft picks is a recipe for success. Would we be better than last year (assuming another Paul injury-free season)? Sure. Will we be that much better than Portland (with Covington), or Dallas, or Utah? Meh, probably on par. If we made this trade to win now, you need to do more than run it back by swapping out PGs.

[Indy]

Chris Paul is 34 without any major injuries and changed his body last season to offset the natural decline in physical abilities. He couldn't get to 60 games a season under D'Antoni, but not many point guards can.

Mike D'Antoni wasn't his coach in 2016-17.

And he missed games because of a torn thumb ligament, not a chronic or load injury.

That really doesn't comfort me. 61/58/58 are not games-played totals that you want to see from an aging player. I get he had a resurgent year last year (which featured a nearly 4-month break), but I think that is more an outlier than anything else. We'll see.

True, but let's hope we strike gold twice considering what a career year Rubio had last year.

[Ring_Wanted]

If we made this trade to win now, you need to do more than run it back by swapping out PGs.

Absolutely. This is why I don't like the news that they plan to bring back Saric. PF is a position where we can make a real win-now improvement.

[Split T]

At this point we have to. Already made the trade, so we won’t have cap space...or just slightly more than MLE space at best.

[Indy]

If we made this trade to win now, you need to do more than run it back by swapping out PGs.

Absolutely. This is why I don't like the news that they plan to bring back Saric. PF is a position where we can make a real win-now improvement.

Same. I don't really care that much how he played in those 8 games. Half the games the other team was resting players or had significant injuries. And he was clearly playing for his next contract. Could he be good? sure. Are there better people out there (even for the MLE)? I would hope so.

[JeremyG]

I don't like this trade. The one thing we needed most was to finally keep the same team/coach together and let them grow together for once! An aging CP3 is not even necessarily an upgrade from Rubio, plus we gave up Oubre. They may have actually made the team worse. And our cap space for 2021 is now gone.

Nobody wanted us to trade for Chris Paul when he was a year and a half younger, and now it seems like most fans think this is a great deal.

[JeremyG]

If we made this trade to win now, you need to do more than run it back by swapping out PGs.

Absolutely. This is why I don't like the news that they plan to bring back Saric. PF is a position where we can make a real win-now improvement.

Totally agree. In fact, the only thing we needed this offseason was an upgrade at PF.

[Indy]

I don't like this trade. The one thing we needed most was to finally keep the same team/coach together and let them grow together for once! An aging CP3 is not even necessarily an upgrade from Rubio, plus we gave up Oubre. They may have actually made the team worse. And our cap space for 2021 is now gone.

Nobody wanted us to trade for Chris Paul when he was a year and a half younger, and now it seems like most fans think this is a great deal.

Kelly is an expiring deal and likely not going to re-sign here. And to say that Chris Paul, even at this age, is not a lot better than Ricky Rubio is a take.

But I would also say it isn't a good trade if we don't do something else to win now.

[JeremyG]

I don't like this trade. The one thing we needed most was to finally keep the same team/coach together and let them grow together for once! An aging CP3 is not even necessarily an upgrade from Rubio, plus we gave up Oubre. They may have actually made the team worse. And our cap space for 2021 is now gone.

Nobody wanted us to trade for Chris Paul when he was a year and a half younger, and now it seems like most fans think this is a great deal.

Kelly is an expiring deal and likely not going to re-sign here. And to say that Chris Paul, even at this age, is not a lot better than Ricky Rubio is a take.

But I would also say it isn't a good trade if we don't do something else to win now.

Oubre seemed to love it here, I don't buy the argument I've heard that we couldn't have re-signed him. And it's not just a matter of CP3's vs. Rubio's abilities but whether he can even stay healthy.