The Phoenix Suns are reportedly discussing a trade to send Mirza Teletovic to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Now that the NBA trade deadline is only a matter of hours away, the Phoenix Suns are definitely a team to keep an eye on. They still haven’t dealt Markieff Morris, who has drawn interest from multiple teams and is surely departing Phoenix soon. Plus, seeing as the Suns’ season has been spiralling out of control ever since the injury of Eric Bledsoe, they may well look for other moves, too.
ESPN’s Marc Stein has reported that they’re discussing a deal that could send Teletovic to the Milwaukee Bucks. Although, while the latter would prefer to use a trade exception, they will need to offer the Suns something in return to make the cap situation work:
"Among the many things Phoenix is discussing today, sources say, is dealing Mirza Teletovic to Milwaukee. But the Bucks’ largest trade exception is agonizingly too small ($5.2 million) to absorb Teletovic’s $5.5 million salary, so any deal would have to involve players from both teams."
For the Suns, they won’t just want to give up Teletovic to dump a $5.5 million contract that hardly makes much difference going forward when the salary cap soars this year. Not to mention, he’s a valuable role player, and power forwards who shoot 40.5 percent from deep and make 4.1 three-pointers per 36 minutes shouldn’t be traded without fair return.
From the Bucks’ perspective, acquiring someone like Teletovic would make sense. The rapid decline of their previously elite defense won’t be improved in this deal, as the problems of Greg Monroe ‘protecting’ the paint won’t just go away. That being said, Teletovic is an ideal player they can bring off the bench to add some floor spacing to a frontcourt that doesn’t have too much.
Monroe’s jumper will only go so far and someone like John Henson is incredibly limited when he isn’t blocking shots. Jabari Parker doesn’t help too much in this regard either, with a grand total of zero made threes this season.
Besides sending Morris on his way, the Suns may shake up other areas of the roster, too.