Things aren't looking too great for the Utah Jazz right now, but things are much bleaker for the Phoenix Suns. A Kevin Durant trade is coming. Whether it's today or on Draft Night, he's going to another. However, another added wrinkle has recently come to light: Jazz alumni Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale could also be traded.
NBA Insider Jake Fischer reported on The Stein Line that the Suns will also try to include Allen and/or O'Neale along with Durant in a potential trade.
"There has been a good bit of chatter this week about the Suns' willingness to explore trades involving Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale as part of the Durant discussions, sources say, to reduce their tax bill further," Fischer wrote.
The Suns are above the NBA's second tax apron, and now that they know for sure that their roster construction is too flawed for them to contend, even with Durant, it's time for a re-tool. Adding Allen or O'Neale (or re-routing them elsewhere) could actually give an aspiring title contender a final piece of their puzzle.
Both of these players have carved out their own niche, and even though they haven't really helped the Suns in their title pursuits, tha doesn't reflect on them as players.
Allen didn't stay in Utah for long, but has developed into a solid complementary scorer. His first season in Phoenix went better than his second, but he has gradually found himself in his time going from Utah to Memphis to Milwaukee to Phoenix. His contract isn't that expensive, which could be quite convenient in an NBA environment where teams want to avoid overpaying their players.
Ditto goes for O'Neale with his contract. He isn't the scorer Allen is, but he has come along as 3&D wing. He has helped multiple playoff teams from Utah to Brooklyn to Phoenix. He's not the best two-way wing in the game, but he's good enough for a playoff team to depend on him like they have in the past.
Both show how good the Jazz are at scouting talent
Both Allen and O'Neale have been nice stories in the NBA, but they also reflect well on how good the Jazz are at evaluating talent. Allen was a late first-round pick who may not have done all that much in Utah, but him turning into a dependable rotation player shows that the Jazz know how to scout young talent from the draft.
O'Neale had to work his way from the bottom, going from an undrafted free agent who got his start in the Summer League to a Jazz starter. His story shows that Utah can find diamonds in the rough. All these years later, they've developed impressively, thus showing the Jazz's history of finding good players in unlikely places.
Neither will go down as all-time Jazzmen, but they are good evidence that fans shouldn't lose faith in Utah's long-term plans, no matter how bad things have been in the last few years.