With the NBA trade deadline approaching, the latest flurry of rumors could reveal what moves (if any) the Phoenix Suns decide to pursue.
Those rumors include the Suns’ reported interest in young San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan. He said the Suns are among “several teams” that have signed with him Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The target makes sense, provided Phoenix is interested in improving the power forward spot.
Sochan, the former No. 9 overall pick in the 2022 draft, has largely fallen out of San Antonio’s playing rotations this season. After three consecutive seasons of playing at least 25 minutes per game to start his career with the Spurs, the 22-year-old from Baylor is averaging just 13.1 minutes per game this season and has yet to start any of the 27 games in which he has played.
He is currently sidelined with a quad injury.
No doubt Sochan would like a change of scenery. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so getting more opportunities to play and showcase his talent could help him pursue a new contract next summer.
Could the Suns trade for Jeremy Sochan?
As Scotto reports, “Suns center Nick Richards was brought up during exploratory talks, sources said. However, such a move would push the Suns further above the luxury tax, which isn’t ideally something Phoenix wants to do.”
Richards has long been considered the top trade candidate for Phoenix this offseason, provided his contract expires and has not received consistent minutes, with Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro getting most of the points at center (with No. 10 overall draft pick Khaman Maluach waiting in the wings).
Moving Richards to Sochan could benefit both teams, but moving further into the luxury tax zone when Phoenix’s target appears to fall below that threshold is clearly a sticking point.
However, if the Suns were to trade the expiring contracts of Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis to San Antonio for Sochan, Phoenix could achieve their power goal while getting out of repeater tax territory. It is unclear whether Spurs would be interested in doing that only for pieces with a different descending depth.
Sochan averaged 11.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for the Spurs a season ago while converting 53.5% of his field goals. It’s worth the gamble for the Suns to get that kind of production for the remainder of the season, even if they don’t plan to keep Sochan beyond this season.
The downside to a guy like Sochan is that he’s a poor perimeter shooter – career 28.7% shooting from three-point range, so he won’t help in terms of spreading the floor. He also fails to knock down his free throws consistently (shooting less than 70% from the charity stripe in three of his four pro seasons).
Still, the change of scenery for a guy playing for a new contract, as a young talent and former lottery pick, could give the Suns another jolt heading into the playoffs.
Tom Petrini of Sports Illustrated ranked the Suns among the top possible trade destinations for Sochan. So at the very least, Phoenix is recognized as an ideal situation for the young veteran.
Scotto reported that the Spurs rejected a trade package from the New York Knicks that included Guerschon Yabusele, citing San Antonio’s unwillingness to pay out his contract after this season.
Maybe they’re open to moving Sochan to Phoenix on expiring deals since there’s no money coming back in the long run, but it stands to reason that they’ll likely demand draft pick compensation to incentivize a trade. Logically, the Suns would be hesitant to even include second-round picks given their lack of draft assets.
Moving Richards and adding Sochan both make sense on paper, so we’ll have to see if San Antonio fails to find better offers elsewhere before the February 5 deadline.
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