Phoenix Suns Trade Kurt Thomas for $$$ Reasons
On the verge of paying a hefty luxury tax this year, the Phoenix Suns made a move to help trim the payroll even more today. The trade of Kurt Thomas to the Seattle Supersonics will free the Suns of approximately $8 million dollars this coming year. Phoenix was projected to be about $10 million over the salary cap, so by shipping out Thomas, they get into a much more manageable position.
Here's what you need to know:
- Sonics get Thomas and the Suns first-round draft picks in 2008 & 2010.
- Suns should now only be about $2 million over the salary cap.
- Suns get an $8 million dollar trade exception, but it must be used within 1 year.
- Kurt Thomas joins Sonics to mentor rookies Jeff Green and Kevin Durant.
- Thomas is in the last year of his contract, so the Sonics have no obligation next year.
There are rumors that Phoenix made the trade in order to prepare for another trade, perhaps involving Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudemire. Suns' General Manager Steve Kerr said the move was made for financial reasons and that Phoenix still wants to keep it's core of Marion, Stoudemire and Steve Nash together for another championship run.
"We are doing everything we can to keep our core group together. Sometimes in doing so, you have difficult decisions to make," said Suns President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr in a press release Friday.
"We feel good going forward having our core group of players under contract for several years, including the recent addition of free-agent Grant Hill. The bottom line is there are tough decisions to make, but we have flexibility and our core together. We really like the group of players we've assembled and feel we can make a legitimate run for an NBA championship next season."
It's hard to comprehend why the Suns threw 2 first-round draft picks into the trade, but I guess they'll figure it out later. The loss of the picks hurts their chances over the next 3 years to pickup a quality player directly out of college. None of the stories I've read indicate whether the picks are protected or not, but the assumption is that they're not. I doubt Phoenix will be entering the draft lottery in the next few years anyway, so they probably didn't lose too much.
The trade leaves Phoenix very weak in the paint and on defense, something that was already very evident in this year's playoffs. I'm not sure what their plan is, but there aren't a lot of big men available right now, so they're either going into the season with Amare as their biggest post threat, or they have something else planned.