Phoenix Suns and the 2022 Trade Deadline
- Matt Elvy
- Feb 14, 2022
- 3 min read
Heading in to the 2022 NBA trade deadline, most expected the Suns to make some moves to solidify this already strong roster.
There were a few names that had been floating around Suns Twitter all season:
Thaddeus Young, Eric Gordon & a "Torrey Craig type" player.
Young was the first of the list to be taken off the board, as he was traded from San Antonio to the Toronto Raptors.
Thad had been rumoured since last season. Sources have been claiming for a while that the Suns and Young were both interested in a union, but the Spurs had apparently been uninterested in the package the Suns had been offering. As has been well documented the Suns have built up a bevvy of Centres this season and the emergence of Bismack Biyombo and his signing till the end of the season was probably the giveaway that Young wouldn't be coming to the Suns.
Eric Gordon stayed put in Houston.
The excitement around Gordon was there, as he fills the need of an additional creator and scorer, behind Book and CP3. I personally really wanted this to happen for that exact reason. We saw in last year's Playoffs that when Book or CP3 are not feeling it, we had no additional playmaker to get the team going. Well, we do have Payne, but teams have him a lot higher on the scouting report this season. We've recently seen Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson have more time on the ball, so maybe Jones and Monty are happy enough with their progress in that area, enough to not address it via trade. His large contract could have also meant losing a core bench piece, messing with chemistry.
Lastly, the "Torrey Craig role". This is a reference to the small ball 5, energy player we've missed since Craig signed with the Pacers this past Summer and this is the trade that came to fruition.
James Jones traded Jalen Smith and this year's 2nd round pick to bring back Torrey Craig, to fill in that "Torrey Craig role". As we've seen James Jones likes roster continuity and this trade is the epitome of that ethos. Craig knows the system extremely well, following the Finals run last year and he address the small ball 5 gap, as well as giving us ANOTHER versatile, hard-nosed wing defender.
The second trade Jones made came so far out of left field that most speakers on the Suns Trade Deadline Twitter Space were expecting this acquisition to lead to another trade - more specifically a young player that could be sent to Houston in a Gordon trade.
Jones acquired Aaron Holiday (the youngest of the Holiday brothers) for cash. Without it being announced the Suns had been granted a Disabled Player Exception for Dario Saric. This allowed the Suns to trade for a player making less than 50% of the disabled player's salary and be in the last year of their contract. Aaron Holiday fits the bill.
This trade could signal that Cam Payne might be out longer than expected and also that the team wanted a more "pure point guard" in the back-up spot, with Payton being more of a combo guard.
To facilitate this this trade the Suns needed to release a player, as the roster was full. They decided to let go oft-injured small forward Abdel Nader. With Craig back in the fold, his lack of availability he'd become expendable.
Recap Time
Trade 1
Player In: Torrey Craig
Player Out: Jalen Smith + 2022 2nd Round Draft Pick
Trade 2
Player In: Aaron Holiday
Player Out: Abdel Nader (released to make room on roster)
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