Things are looking bleak in Phoenix at the moment.

After starting out hot, going 8-2 in their first ten games, the wheels have fallen off. Since that point, the Suns have endured a combined 30 missed games from four starters — Kevin Durant (nine), Devin Booker (five), Bradley Beal (eight) and Jusuf Nurkic (eight) — and dropped 14 of their last 21 contests.

Now, they sit at 15-16 overall and outside the Play-In! That’s right, if the season ended today, the Suns wouldn’t even be able to attempt to sneak into the Playoffs through the extra lifeline thrown out to two extra teams in each conference.

This team is on their third coach in three years, sports the highest payroll in NBA history and has no control over their own draft picks until 2031. They’re as all-in as all-in gets, yet here we are.

The draft pick and payroll situations, combined with second apron restrictions and a lack of feasibility in making a scapegoat out of the coaching again, mean that meaningful change from outside the roster is going to be difficult to come by. But Suns owner Mat Ishbia has shown since he took over the team in February 2023 that he is not one to sit on his hands.

The Suns may need to make moves before the trade deadline to get this season back on track while they still can

Regardless of how grim the situation looks, this team is aiming to make noise in the Western Conference. In the absence of a desire to tear it completely down, there are potentially some maneuvers that could be made along the margins to at least make an attempt at salvaging this season.

For this exercise, we’re going to imagine a sequential series of transactions to fill in different pieces around their stars in hopes of changing their fortunes.

The Suns are currently sitting on one first-round pick and four second-round picks that could be included in trades, in addition to their rostered players.

There are approximately zero realistic situations where this team should be giving up their first-round pick in 2031, so we’re going to take that off the table. Additionally, since we’re avoiding a tear-down, we’re eliminating their star trio from the mix.

Among the many second apron restrictions in play, the team is most notably not able to combine multiple outgoing salaries or take on more salary than they send out in any single trade.

All told, we’re left with a few second-round picks and tradeable salaries in players like Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale and Josh Okogie to work with.

Let’s see what we can come up with.

1. Engage with the bad guys in Hollywood

The Los Angeles Lakers made headlines over the weekend when they snagged maybe the best 3-and-D wing on the trade market in Dorian Finney-Smith. This becomes the crux of the most off-the-wall idea to kick this off.

With Finney-Smith in town, providing basically everything Rui Hachimura has had a hard time providing consistently, we’re counting Hachimura as expendable at this point.

Once you rub off the Lakers shine, you end up with a talented wing who has good size and athleticism while being able to put the ball in the hole when he gets hot. You’re also left with someone who leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end with a spotty track record shooting from beyond the arc who is on an eight-figure salary for multiple years.

It’s no secret that the Lakers are in the market for a big man. Christian Wood has yet to suit up this season and Jaxson Hayes has been in and out of the lineup while providing only middling production when he does play.

Enter the Bosnian Beast, Jusuf Nurkic. He’s had quite an up-and-down season, to be sure, but a change of scenery and a role where he may not even start most nights could be just what the doctor ordered.

For all his foibles in turning the ball over and finishing at the rim, Nurkic is one of the top big men in the league in keeping opponents off the offensive glass and controlling the defensive boards.

The opposition’s offensive rebound rate with Nurkic on the court has been in the 88th percentile or better in each of the last five seasons, an area where the Lakers rank just 22nd in the league this year. His individual defensive rebounding has also been 85th percentile or better in all but two of his 11 seasons.

The Lakers are also 18th in the league in defense, an area where Nurkic still provides value with his rebounding and pick-and-roll coverage as a drop big. While offensive spacing would be a bit of a challenge, pairing Nurkic with Anthony Davis could completely shut off the rim for opponents. Teams take just 28.6 percent of their shots at the rim (87th percentile) with Nurkic on the floor this season, while they take 30.5 percent (72nd percentile) when Davis is out there.

Jarred Vanderbilt is hopefully on his way back after the New Year and Finney-Smith is a complete upgrade on Hachimura, maintaining an acceptable level of wing depth. Swapping an awkwardly fitting role player for a rotation-worthy center while keeping their draft equity, gaining a second-round pick and even trimming their salary a bit could be a creative way to shore up the frontcourt.

For the Suns, this does some reshuffling to help their wing rotation. While Hachimura has his warts, the Suns are completely devoid of forwards with size outside of Durant. Royce O’Neale does an admirable job fighting bigger opponents but at 6-foot-4 is just overmatched in many situations.

Phoenix can also never have too many players able to take advantage of the attention garnered by their stars and put the ball in the basket. Hachimura even does his fair share of crashing the offensive glass, an area where the Suns struggle mightily.

Before you get too bent out of shape about incoming salary, the Suns can in fact absorb Wood into a Minimum Exception in what is technically a separate transaction on the Suns side to get this done. If you want some additional detail around the salary cap hoops, Spotrac outlined a similar scenario for the Suns potentially acquiring Jimmy Butler that explains some of the minutiae. Wood also gets waived in this scenario to maintain an open roster spot.

All in all, this becomes a swap of imperfect players to provide them with new environments and fill some different needs in the teams’ rotations. It also creates a giant hole in the middle for the Suns, which is to be addressed in the next deals.

2. Go back to an old friend out East

The Brooklyn Nets have been the most active team in the trade market so far this season, choosing to start their work early to presumably curtail their unexpectedly respectable start.

The Suns have made a deadline deal with the Nets in each of the last two seasons, trading for Kevin Durant in 2023 and Royce O’Neale in 2024. There has clearly been a functional working relationship there, but did they lose it when the Suns hired Matt Tellem away from Brooklyn this summer? We’re going to assume Tellem can work his magic once again from the other side.

Sharpe is an athletic rim-runner who failed to reach an extension agreement with the Nets, putting his future with the team in question. He’ll be a (likely restricted) free agent this summer. He has had a tough time staying healthy early in his career but has flashed glimpses of talent as a finisher, shot blocker and rebounder.

A true lob threat could work well with ball handlers like Booker and Tyus Jones, while weakside shot blocking is another element of athleticism that isn’t abundant on the Suns. Sharpe is also an elite offensive rebounder, adding to that theme.

The price is a tricky question. He’s clearly not as established as guys like Finney-Smith and Dennis Schröder, who netted three seconds, but his youth and untapped potential make him less essential to move for Brooklyn. Two seconds try to thread that needle while accounting for the fact that the Nets don’t seem to be sold on Sharpe’s future.

The Suns are not shy about spending money, so acquiring a young talent up for a new contract when his old team may be unsure how much to pay him is a solid piece of business. Trendon Watford is a salary fodder sacrifice that is waived after this deal.

The Nets continue to add to their war chest of draft equity for a player whose future they don’t seem too certain about. They are prioritizing cap space in 2025, and while Sharpe would not carry a large cap hold, ending up with Okogie’s non-guarantee for next season helps eliminate questions for easier planning. This is straightforward as a concept for the Nets, the question is simply whether this is an acceptable price.

The Suns may miss Okogie’s energy, offensive rebounding and point-of-attack defense, but he hasn’t been getting much playing time when the team is healthy. Plus, they can hopefully make up for it with the final step of this scenario.

3. Right a previous wrong with Portland

Nurkic was acquired by the Suns in the fall of 2023 from the Portland Trail Blazers in return for DeAndre Ayton and Toumani Camara. With Ayton continuing to show the limits of his production and Portland’s other young building blocks not developing the way they’d hoped, the Blazers remain at the bottom of the standings and look to be sellers at the deadline.

After starting with the most unconventional of these ideas with the Lakers deal, we’re now into the idea that may be the toughest sell.

The easiest part of this deal is likely the part where Grayson Allen ends up with the Orlando Magic. Allen is an absolute sniper from long range and is locked into a reasonable contract for multiple seasons, which is important for a Magic team that is going to get quite expensive over the next few years. Orlando gives up some draft capital here, but that should mean significantly less to this team in the position they’re in than the recipient.

Orlando is in desperate need of shooting and Allen provides that without them having to break the bank to get it done. He’s not an amazing defender but he fights hard on that end and the Magic have plenty of defensive talent to insulate him there.

Portland is the team that needs convincing here, as they will not be excited about dealing Toumani Camara back to Phoenix. They would have to perform an about-face that is more pragmatic than they’ve shown to want to be recently.

This team is going nowhere. While Camara is a great story on a team full of disappointing young players, the fact is that role players with limited offensive potential only provide so much value to a rebuilding team. In a similar situation that they’re facing with Deni Avdija, there just isn’t much upside to keeping these types of players around in a situation like this. By the time this team is good again, both will be much older and on much bigger contracts.

The draft capital received in this scenario will likely be of much more use to this team than anyone they’re sending out, making something like this painful but probably beneficial in the long run. Or perhaps it’s just wishful thinking for Phoenix.

When it comes to trade value, Robert Williams III is one of the most enigmatic trade candidates we’ve seen on the market in recent years. Taking only his on-court talent into account, he is easily worth multiple first-round picks on his own.

Alas, Williams has played just 51 games in the last three seasons combined and never topped 61 games played in a season throughout his career. This makes trading for him a huge risk, which significantly drives down his trade value. Neither he nor Camara would likely net a first-round pick on their own, but together they garner that and some seconds in this scenario.

The Blazers are also saving almost $5 million immediately with this deal and getting out from the money owed to Williams next season, as Gary Harris has a $7.5 million salary that is non-guaranteed for next year.

The Suns are a team that may be in desperation mode, so taking a gamble on a game-changing defensive big man becomes a bit more palatable. Their defense ranks just 24th in the league and their challenges containing dribble penetration would be aided significantly by one of the elite help defenders in the league.

The injury history is what makes the additional deal for Sharpe worthwhile, as Williams is all but guaranteed to be missing time. The hope would be that it is not during big playoff games when this does happen, but this duo turns their athleticism in the middle from a weakness to a strength.

Adding Camara also provides a point-of-attack defender who has a year of experience under his belt that rookie Ryan Dunn does not. Between the two of them, the Suns could throw a couple of long, athletic and pesky defenders at opposing ball handlers and not be completely overmatched.

With a series of moves like this, the Suns revamp their center position and add some much-needed size and athleticism to their supporting cast around their offensive stars. They sacrifice some shooting, but a wing rotation that includes Camara, O’Neale, Hachimura and Dunn offers so much more size and versatility than the currently employ. Is it enough to vault them into title contention? Hardly. But perhaps it could at least give them the jolt they need to secure a playoff spot, avoiding a completely disastrous finish.