4. Wayne Ellington, G, Phoenix Suns
One of the hot trade candidates early on in the build to the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline was Miami Heat guard Wayne Ellington. The veteran sharpshooter fell out of the rotation with the Heat for the most part and, amidst a pretty dismal overall season in terms of his productivity and efficiency, a change of scenery for a team in need of shooting on the wing seemed to be in order.
Instead, Ellington was ultimately dealt to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday as the Heat traded him and Tyler Johnson in exchange for Ryan Anderson. Following the trade, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Ellington’s agent was planning to work with the Suns regarding a potential buyout so that the North Carolina product could land with a contender down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.
As stated, Ellington has had a rough go of it throughout the 2018-19 season with Miami. He’s played in just 25 games on the year, averaging only 8.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists and one steal in 21.3 minutes per game, all while shooting only 37.5 percent from the field on the year, a career-low mark for the guard.
Having said that, Ellington is still shooting 36.8 percent from 3-point range on the season, which is solid, even if below his career average of 38 percent. Adding an outside shooter and a veteran presence could be critical for several teams eyeing the postseason right now, so he could be a hot commodity should he be bought out.