Suns exploring trade for Pau Gasol

[Davis_Mike]

Pass on this if anything other than Okafor's contract & 2nd round pick was involved. And even then, I don't like this trade.

With our without Gasol, the Suns are 2nd round team at best. Gasol's slow plodding ways & soft defense isn't what I would call an asset for a fast break team. So giving away a 1st round pick for 3 months of Gasol would be asinine. Would he make the team better? Possibly. But we already short on minutes for big guys as it is. If the Suns are trying to develop Alex Len for the future, adding Gasol would decrease his minutes & hamper his growth.

This is likely just another ESPIN fabrication for clicks on their website.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Yeah Suns, come help make our team worse, get us in the lottery, give us another pick and get us under the cap. The Lakers will laugh all the way to the bank if they pull this off.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

I really don't think that trade makes sense for either team to be honest. If the Suns want rid of Okafor which they should want rid of him - getting him for another draft pick would make more sense. If they had made that trade in the summer for Gasol it might have more more sense or - I had not thought of this before, but they need a third team where the Lakers ends up with a couple of first round draft picks, someone else gets Okafucked, and Phoenix gets GaSlow.

 

[Davis_Mike]

No one is going to trade picks for Okafor. Okafor's value comes from his contract expiring & that 80% of that contract is covered by insurance. Okafor is likely not going to play this season. Any team wanting to acquire Okafor is likely trying to it because they want to dump a multi-year contract. Or in the Lakers case, get below the luxury tax cap.

The Suns likely would only take back a young player on a multi-year deal or a more expensive expiring contract plus a draft pick. That is why anyone thinking the Suns would send Okafor + picks for an expiring contract is delusional. They would be better off just standing pat & letting insurance cover 80% of his contract.

 

[HizzleRocker]

Kind of makes sense for the Suns, if they can re-sign Gasol. Gasol > Okafor for starters. Then a healty Gasol >>>> injured and not playing Okafor.

Suns would still have 5 good picks in the next 2 years. Gasol still likely has 3 good years left. Put that onto a playoff team, along with 5 picks over next 2 years and they could make some damage.

Part of this is my hoping it goes through as well.
1) We get worse this year with Operation Tank in full force. This = Ping Pong Balls.
2) We get another 1st Round pick.
3) We save 5 million.
4) Maybe Okafor could come back next year and still get us 10/10 per night. If not, cut him.

Let's make this happen!

 

[The Derski]

Kind of makes sense for the Suns, if they can re-sign Gasol. Gasol > Okafor for starters. Then a healty Gasol >>>> injured and not playing Okafor.

Suns would still have 5 good picks in the next 2 years. Gasol still likely has 3 good years left. Put that onto a playoff team, along with 5 picks over next 2 years and they could make some damage.

Part of this is my hoping it goes through as well.
1) We get worse this year with Operation Tank in full force. This = Ping Pong Balls.
2) We get another 1st Round pick.
3) We save 5 million.
4) Maybe Okafor could come back next year and still get us 10/10 per night. If not, cut him.

Let's make this happen!

Okafor hasn't played a single minute all season so the Gasol > Okafor is void. I don't know why the Suns are interesting in fixing something that is not broken.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

No one is going to trade picks for Okafor. Okafor's value comes from his contract expiring & that 80% of that contract is covered by insurance. Okafor is likely not going to play this season. Any team wanting to acquire Okafor is likely trying to it because they want to dump a multi-year contract. Or in the Lakers case, get below the luxury tax cap.

The Suns likely would only take back a young player on a multi-year deal or a more expensive expiring contract plus a draft pick. That is why anyone thinking the Suns would send Okafor + picks for an expiring contract is delusional. They would be better off just standing pat & letting insurance cover 80% of his contract.

Thats the reason this trade makes no season for either team. Just look at the comparison here

Gasol is getting 19.28 million this year and is an expiring contract

Okafor is not even on the books on Hoops hype, but I found where he is supposed to get 14 million which means one of two things

1. the Lakers would drop about 5 million of their books which would save them 10 million or more in luxary taxes which is worth it when you think about, but it would not put the Lakers below the salary cap

UNLESS

Okafor's salary doesn't count against the cap which is the reason his salary is not shown in Suns box because he was waived or amnestied. I wasn't able to find any detail except that he was traded to the Suns last season in a bigger deal.

I am guessing, but I think the Lakers would do this only if none of Okafor's money counts in the salary cap and they fall below that cap and saves them money and I am concluding that's the reason. In the mean time, the Suns has the rental of Gasol for a few extra bucks for three months to see if it works and has nothing to lose

 

[HizzleRocker]

Okafor hasn't played a single minute all season so the Gasol > Okafor is void. I don't know why the Suns are interesting in fixing something that is not broken.

That's my point. You're not giving anything up for this season with this deal. Simply adding an all star caliber 7 footer to your roster can only help your team. Now, the extra money and draft pick may not be worth it in the long run - don't know. But it will only help your playoff bound team this year at the minimum.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

If you read the ESPN article - it tells you why both teams are considering the deal. Here is the paragraphs that explains it

A trade for Okafor's expiring deal would not save the Lakers as much as a deal for Bynum would have, but it would come with undeniable financial benefits. The $4.8 million difference between Gasol's cap number and Okafor's would immediately drop the Lakers less than $3 million away from the league's luxury-tax threshold, meaning one more smaller deal before the Feb. 20 trade deadline could conceivably be enough to take them out of tax territory completely.
There would also be salary savings involved because insurance began picking up 80 percent of what remains on Okafor's contract once Phoenix passed this season's 41-game midpoint because of a long-term neck injury that has sidelined the nine-year veteran all season.
The Suns are known to be shopping Okafor's contract aggressively in advance of the trade deadline as a means for whoever acquires the 31-year-old to potentially save more than $5 million in salary payouts thanks to the insurance coverage.

 

[Lakers+USC=#1]

Okafor hasn't played a single minute all season so the Gasol > Okafor is void. I don't know why the Suns are interesting in fixing something that is not broken.

Because they want to improve and isnt satisfied with an early playoff exit like some Suns fans are.

 

[Clayton]

Because they want to improve and isnt satisfied with an early playoff exit like some Suns fans are.

Yeah but it goes against everything the Suns have been doing as of late in terms of style and age. They've nailed a whole bunch of moves in a row.

You have to lose before you win with young teams in the NBA anyways. Suns aren't going anywhere near the Finals this year without Lebron or KD but they'll figure out what they actually have when they hit the playoffs and build for next year (like the Rockets from last year)

The Lakers will get some team to make a bad move but I dont think its the Suns

 

[The Derski]

Because they want to improve and isnt satisfied with an early playoff exit like some Suns fans are.

So a team that has already whipped the Clippers in LA before CP3 was hurt, beaten the Blazers twice already, destroyed the Pacers twice, dominated the Rockets in Houston, and played just about half the season without Eric Bledsoe who is averaging 18 ppg and 6 assists, can't win in the playoffs?

 

[The Derski]

If the season ended right now the Suns would play the Blazers in the first round. We have already beat the Blazers 2 out of 3 match ups this season.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

If the season ended right now the Suns would play the Blazers in the first round. We have already beat the Blazers 2 out of 3 match ups this season.

I swear, Suns fans are the only ones who care about the regular season.

 

[Clayton]

I swear, Suns fans are the only ones who care about the regular season.

Every team is beatable in the first round in the West except for a healthy OKC

 

[bksballer89]

Well this thread really took off today I see...

 

[Lakers+USC=#1]

Suns fan logic: We only want a player that is going to make us a contender right away. We dont want to take steps on getting better. We would rather stay mediocre because it isnt broken, instead of taking baby steps to get better.

 

[The Derski]

Suns fan logic: We only want a player that is going to make us a contender right away. We dont want to take steps on getting better. We would rather stay mediocre because it isnt broken, instead of taking baby steps to get better.

So adding an aging player past their prime will make the suns better in the long run? And still confused as to why you keep saying the Suns are mediocre... 11 games over .500 and multiple wins and some dominating games against current playoff teams in a brutal Western Conference. Suns resume is pretty darn good. Not to mention without Bledsoe for much of that. Wake up and smell the roses rookie.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Suns fan logic: We only want a player that is going to make us a contender right away. We dont want to take steps on getting better. We would rather stay mediocre because it isnt broken, instead of taking baby steps to get better.

I would be okay with that logic really because that's what Gasol did for the Lakers. Now on the other hand, Gasol is on a team that sucks right now and a change of venue might be the best thing for them. Who's to say Gasol wouldn't take them atleast to the WCF's. It is a no lose situation though because most of the season gone enough that the money and bills being transferred wouldn't hurt them for the next three months and it would with one strike of the pen and a trade, take the Lakers under the luxary tax. I don't see how they could do that though considering their situation, but we will see

 

[Lakers+USC=#1]

So adding an aging player past their prime will make the suns better in the long run? And still confused as to why you keep saying the Suns are mediocre... 11 games over .500 and multiple wins and some dominating games against current playoff teams in a brutal Western Conference. Suns resume is pretty darn good. Not to mention without Bledsoe for much of that. Wake up and smell the roses rookie.

Middle of the pack team that has no shot of winning a ship. Happy now?

Adding a quality player past his prime is a piece that can help the Suns in the next few years. You might not know this, but championship teams dont have all young players in their prime.

Miami is very happy they added an aging player past his prime named Ray Allen.