Brandon Knight is off the market for now

NBA News – Phoenix Suns’ general manager Ryan McDonough said in an interview on Wednesday that the team is not looking to trade sixth man Brandon Knight:

“We’re certainly not looking to move Brandon, we haven’t been close to trading Brandon,” Ryan McDonough said. “I think he’d love to be starting, we understand that. He’s accepted the role very well. I think you guys will see him go on a run here. As you know, watching him play the last couple years, he has the ability to get hot and put up a lot of points in a hurry and take over stretches of games — he hasn’t done that yet for us consistently but I think it’s coming.”

Of course, one shouldn’t take anything a general manager says about trades at face value. It would be foolish for McDonough not to at least explore his options. Knight is a superfluous piece on a team that already has rising star Devin Booker and guard Eric Bledsoe. While McDonough is saying all of the right things, one has to believe that the Suns just have not found a suitable trade partner.

One likely reason there has not been a Knight deal is that the guard has not adjusted well to his new bench role. In 25.1 minutes a game, he’s averaging just 12.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists a game. He is shooting only 37.7 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. Sadly for the Suns, who acquired Knight for a highly coveted draft pick in next year’s draft, Knight’s value has dropped quite a bit. They need to accept that new reality if they are indeed going to pull off a trade before the February trade deadline.

Knight could be an interesting buy-low candidate for the right team. He is still young, and chances are that he’ll bounce back given the right opportunity. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the Suns will receive much in return. They have no trade leverage and Knight hasn’t impressed this season. They need to enter a full rebuild. Even with Knight as the team’s third guard, they are not a playoff team.

The Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, and New Orleans Pelicans could all be interesting landing spots for Knight. However, it is unclear what any of these teams have to offer that the Suns need or want. The Suns will probably need to accept less than expected in order to move on from the Knight era.

Category: Basketball