The Suns lost the championship to the Bucks last season, which made veteran Paul extremely depressed, and now he has led the Suns to make a comeback and has always occupied the top position in the league, if you can maintain such strength and status, the Western Conference championship should be no problem. But against rivals in the East, the Suns' interior line has always been unable to compete. If they don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, the Suns are better off looking for opportunities to reinforce the inside before the trade deadline. While time is running out, the Suns appear to have a concrete deal in place and could be a key deal to influence the winning situation.
It is reported that the Suns no longer intend to continue to cultivate Ayton, targeting the pacers who are entering the rebuilding phase, of course, the target is not Turner, but All-Star center Sabonis Jr. The deal negotiated would be for the Suns to send Ayton, Smith and a first-round pick, while the Pacers would only need to send Sabonis Jr. Many fans are very surprised that how the Suns and Pacers can make such a deal, which is obviously an unequal trade.
For the Pacers, being able to get Ayton is the most important step towards rebuilding, and it is possible to build a team around Ayton as the core. In the minds of the Pacers, although Sabonis Jr. did not continue to enter the All-Star team, the data and role he contributed were no less than those All-Star interiors, averaging 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists per game this season. Compared with Ayton, with Paul's help, his statistics are only 16 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists per game, which actually does not achieve the expected effect.
Therefore, the value of little Sabonis is actually very large, which to a certain extent confirms that the Suns have taken out three trading chips for him, which is relatively reasonable. It is worth mentioning that the Suns are currently unable to meet Ayton's salary requirements because there is not much space left, but instead at the Pacers, he can still pursue a larger contract. Combined with the current excellent ability to eat cakes than Yongbo and McGee, Ayton's future in the team is actually unclear. For the championship, the Suns should have fought hard this time.
The Pacers are expected to agree to the deal, with sabonis Jr.'s Suns, who may lack the ability to protect the basket, but he can instead complete some finishing on the outside, which is a space-type outside line, and it seems to be more suitable to match paul. The 36-year-old Paul should be the closest to the championship this season, after all, the performance of other strong teams is not very stable, and if you get the help of Sabonis Jr., the dream championship is really a play.