SAN ANTONIO — Lonzo Ball and the Phoenix Suns are once again being mentioned in the same breath.
On Monday, Anthony Davis made it clear to the Pelicans that he wanted to be traded away, and the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly his preferred destination.
But with less than two weeks before the Feb. 7 trade deadline, several dominoes need to fall for the New Orleans All-Star center to join LeBron James in Los Angeles.
Rich Paul, who represents both James and Davis, will need to work some magic here and help pay a $50,000 fine he helped Davis incur Tuesday for making his trade demands public.
To make the deal work, the Lakers will likely need to unload some of their young talent, like Lonzo Ball — and likely get a third team involved to pull off this deal.
Enter Phoenix.
The Suns need a point guard. Ball reportedly would like to play for a team that needs one. Ball is averaging 9.9 points with 5.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game, but he's also out right now for four to six weeks because of an injury to his left ankle.
Still, it sounds like a match that was in the works when the Suns were looking to deal Trevor Ariza, but back then, the Lakers made it clear they weren’t letting go of their young core.
That could change if they were able to land one of the NBA’s top five players.
So could it happen?
Yes, but Phoenix would have to give up a young player, or two, to make it worthwhile for the other two teams.
TJ Warren? Mikal Bridges? Josh Jackson?
Earlier this month, league sources said the Suns weren't interested in putting Warren on the trading block. Warren, who is out with right ankle soreness, is second on the team in scoring, averaging 18 points per game.
Phoenix traded to acquire Bridges in the draft. He’s averaging 7.7 points, but he’s started 38 games and has tremendous upside with his length and athleticism.
Trading him again, even for a point guard, would make that initial trade look bad.
Then there’s Jackson.
Talented. Explosive. He plays hard and with an edge, but he hasn’t made the leap the Suns were looking for after closing out his first year strong in earning second-team All-NBA rookie honors.
The Suns have multiple wings, including their latest addition — Kelly Oubre Jr. — who they acquired from Washington for Ariza in December.
He’s averaging a career-high 14.7 points per game, is highly competitive like Jackson, and has been a good fit.
If Phoenix is comfortable parting with one of its wings, Jackson would appear to be the first one to go, but then the Suns would be giving up on a fourth-overall draft pick who could become a very good player down the road.
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