Right now, the Utah Jazz are focusing on the NBA Draft Lottery that takes place less than a week from now. However, it's never too early to think about adding more help this coming season. Someone like Jazz alum Royce O'Neale would intrigue Utah, but the one problem is the Phoenix Suns have no incentive to help the Jazz.
Sports Illustrated's Jared Koch proposed a reunion between the Jazz and O'Neale, with the following deal.
Jazz get: O'Neale
Suns get: John Konchar, Svi Mukhailiuk, Nuggets 2027 second-round pick
Koch explained why it would make plenty of sense why Utah would reunite with O'Neale.
"O'Neale could be a perfect piece for Utah to re-acquire to fill out their wing, and return to a roster that's once again gearing up to be competitive. He'll be 33 next season, but he's aged pretty gracefully coming off two of his best career seasons in Phoenix, starting in 67 games this past season.
"O'Neale signed under contract for the next two seasons for under $11 million a year, and coming off two years shooting above 40% from three. He could be a perfect veteran on the wing for the Jazz to fill their defensive needs, and return where his journey started as a UDFA in 2017."
None of that is wrong. Why not bring back a familiar face who found his place in Utah? The Jazz have made moves like that recently (look under Niang, Georges), and for what they plan to do, O'Neale fits their plans like a glove.
But why would the Suns trade O'Neale?
The Suns are coming off the best season they could realistically have expected, even as many believed they were among the most helpless NBA teams. They have every reason to believe it's in their best interest to build on it. That's why trading O'Neale would be counterproductive.
Also, Phoenix is pretty barren of assets (Utah had something to do with that), so there's no need to make any major changes. That doesn't mean an O'Neale trade can't happen, but the only way it would is if they got an upgrade.
That's why the aforementioned trade proposal doesn't make much sense from the Suns' perspective, but if they were to get an upgrade for O'Neale, that could orchestrate a blockbuster trade that could get them O'Neale. It's just hard to think of how that could possibly work.
Because the Suns are low on assets, it'd be hard for them to do better than O'Neale. No one should be against him becoming a Jazzman again, but everyone should be realistic about how low the odds would be of that happening.
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