Phoenix Suns Receive: F Thaddeus Young
San Antonio Spurs Receive: F/C Dario Saric, F Jalen Smith, PHX 2024 1st Round Pick (Top-8 Protected), PHX 2025 2nd Round Pick
We normally do not see teams with the best record in the league look to make a trade, as it can screw up the chemistry that has been built, but as Marks states, this trade really would not screw anything up for the Suns’ roster because Saric is not playing and neither is Smith.
The only real value the Suns would be losing in this trade based off of first glance is a first-round pick in 2024, but in reality, this team does not need first-round picks right now because they are contending for a championship!
Young can play perimeter-to-post at the power-forward position and in smaller lineups, he can even be the center while guys like Ayton and McGee are on the sideline getting a break. He would take pressure off of both Chris Paul and Devin Booker to make every play for this offense and make the Suns, the 15th best rebounding team, even better in terms of rebounding the basketball on both ends of the floor.
Dario Saric tore his right ACL in the NBA Finals this past year and is likely going to be out for the entire 2021-22 season, unless he is able to return sometime in the playoffs. At that point, it really would not be worth Phoenix bringing Saric back since he has not played all season, which is why trading him away would not be a loss for them.
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So why would San Antonio want him and a young prospect in Jalen Smith that the Suns have given up on?
Outside of Jakob Poeltl, the the San Antonio Spurs do not really have many frontcourt pieces right now, which is why both Saric and Smith could be valuable to them moving forward. For his career, Dario Saric has averaged 11.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and has shot 44.1% from the floor, 35.7% from three-point range.
He could be the stretch big man that the Spurs need behind Poeltl in their rotation, opening up new possibilities for their offense that has been troublesome at times this season. As for Jalen Smith, the Suns declined his team option for next season prior to the start of this season, making him a free agent at the end of the year.
At 21-years-old and standing 6’10” in the frontcourt, the Spurs would acquire the lengthy prospect with no long-term leverage tied to Jalen Smith and they would get a sense on whether or not he is someone that they can turn into something.
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Bringing in Jalen Smith at the cost of Thaddeus Young is a no-risk, potential moderate reward for the the San Antonio Spurs and they would also be getting a first-round pick in 2024 as insurance in case both Saric and Smith bring nothing to the table.
The Suns do not need to trade for Thaddeus Young in order to be a real title threat in the league this year, but bringing in the veteran forward definitely increases their chances of making it back to the NBA Finals.
