NBA Rumors: Phoenix Suns plan to waive Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott
The Phoenix Suns plan to waive their two trade acquisitions from the deadline
The Phoenix Suns made a few moves right at the end of this year’s trade deadline. They traded away P.J. Tucker — who was way too good to be on their team — for Jared Sullinger and two second round draft picks. They then traded for Mike Scott and the draft rights to Cenk Akyol, with cash considerations, while sending out a heavily protected second-round pick. The Suns made these trades with the future in mind, because it looks like they have no plans to keep Sullinger or Scott.
Suns plan to waive Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott, both acquired in trades today. They'll sign G Ronnie Price for rest of the season.
— Doug Haller (@DougHaller) February 24, 2017
Phoenix clearly made these trades to acquire draft assets and in typical Suns fashion save some money. The draft picks and rights to Akyol are a nice grab, but they really have no need for Sullinger or Scott. Phoenix is a young team in the process of developing their talent and two veterans in need of minutes would just make that more difficult. Both parties will be happier parting ways.
Sullinger signed with Toronto in the offseason after a decent stretch with the Boston Celtics. However, his role in Toronto didn’t fit well and with the additions of Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker making his skill set unnecessary for them. He’s a solid rebounder that in the right situation can provide quality minutes. The key to any team looking to sign him will be finding that right situation.
Mike Scott’s status as an NBA player may be in jeopardy after being traded. He was never great in Atlanta and his minutes had fallen off a cliff this year. He only appeared in 18 games and it was clear the Hawks no longer had a need for him. His main skill is 3-point shooting, but that’s about all he can really do in a league where single skill set players are losing value.