NBA Trade Rumors: Phoenix Suns may trade Emeka Okafor to Philadelphia Sixers for Evan Turner
By Josh Hill
The Phoenix Suns weren’t supposed to be good this year, but now that they’re sitting in the Western Conference’s sixth seed and are less than four games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the lead in the Pacific Division, plans of tanking have changed to plans of going all-in.
Phoenix isn’t going to blow up their roster to acquire a star, rather they’re going to package Emeka Okafor with some of the first-round draft picks they have stockpiled in order to land a veteran. One or two of those veterans may come from the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers have made it no secret that they wish to trade Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes and Evan Turner for first-round picks. Phoenix happens to have those first-round picks which could lead to a deal being struck between the two before the deadline.
According to Chuck Myron, a potential hangup in the deal may be that the Suns don’t want to give up assets for a short-term rental player, which is what Turner would be. Another hangup is salary as the Suns may not want to pay Young’s salary through the 2016 season.
Still, the stars may have aligned for the Suns to acquire Turner and Young before the deadline and the situation will be one to monitor closely.