The Phoenix Suns made a key in-season addition through a trade.
With the NBA trade deadline coming in the next few weeks, teams across the league will be working to secure deals to suit whatever a squad might need in the second half of the season.
For the Phoenix Suns — that problem was glaring. Their center rotation wasn’t cutting it. With a roster built around Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, there are plenty of strengths, but the weaknesses made it hard for the team to sustain continued wins.
To try and address the issues, the Suns traded Josh Okogie and draft capital to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for backup center Nick Richards.
For a club like the Suns, the owner Mat Ishiba is going to make win-now moves. For a superstar like Durant, that’s admirable as he is ensured the team will try their best to build a championship-caliber team.
A relationship between an organization’s decision-makers and their superstars is incredibly important. It means something for Durant and Booker to be happy about the addition of Richards. Recently, Durant opened up about the trade and talked about the addition.
“He’s a strong presence in the paint, a big body that can wreak havoc down there and cause some problems with his rim protection,” Durant said. “Getting his hands on the basketball on the offensive glass and then finishing above the rim. It’s something we all have to get better at as a group. Hopefully he leads us in that area. Just controlling the paint.”
It seems the superstar forward is quite fond of the addition and what it will bring to the lineup, though the team had to move on from Okogie.
“I really appreciated how Josh approached the game and his love for his teammates. I wish him the best. I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. He’s a great teammate, but I’m looking forward to having Nick on the team,” Durant said.
Phoenix has had clear rebounding issues, and it’s been a big reason for their subpar 19-20 record that leaves them seeded No. 11 in the Western Conference. Adding Richards should certainly help the team improve in that regard.
The Suns also drafted Iso Ighodaro in the recent draft with the No. 40 overall selection. The second-round pick has provided quite a strong impact in his 16.8 minutes per game.
The two aforementioned centers — Richards and Ighodaro — are the team’s new center rotation after Mason Plumlee and Jusuf Nurkic were sent to the bench.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Suns are able to find consistency not just on the boards, but overall as a team with their two new centers alongside the rest of the rotation.
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