Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon reportedly generating trade interest from Suns
The Celtics have reportedly been active in trade talks.
The Phoenix Suns seem to be interested in a couple of Celtics point guards.
Malcolm Brogdon is a player the Suns have shown interest in so far in trade talks in the early part of the offseason, Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer reported.
As the Celtics have reportedly been active in trade talks, Brogdon also appears to be one of the players most commonly involved in rumors. The Celtics are “evaluating” trade avenues to upgrade their frontcourt with one of the more frequent ideas being trading one of their top guards (Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard), Fischer reported. Brogdon has been the player who has been mentioned “the most” by league executives, while White is viewed as the “least likely” Celtics guard to be traded this offseason, Fischer added.
A trade involving Brogdon to the Suns would be a bit difficult to pull off and, as Fischer noted, might have to be accomplished through a three-plus-team trade. The Suns only have seven players on their roster for the upcoming season. That includes Chris Paul, who the Suns have to determine whether they want to guarantee the final $15 million of his $30.8 million by June 28 or waive him.
The Suns could also fully guarantee the remainder of Paul’s salary with the intention of moving him in a trade. That would facilitate a possible Brogdon-to-Phoenix trade as Brogdon will make $22.5 million next season and with both teams over the salary cap, neither can take more than 125 percent more in salary than they’re sending out.
If the Celtics opt to keep Brogdon, they have another guard that appears to interest the Suns. Pritchard has “several supporters” within the Suns’ organization, Fischer reported earlier in June.
“[Pritchard] is expected to feature prominently in the NBA’s general trade landscape this summer,” Fischer wrote on Pritchard’s possible trade market this offseason.
Pritchard has a much smaller salary at $4 million next season, the final year of his rookie contract, and admitted after the trade deadline that he hoped to have been traded in order to receive more playing time elsewhere.
The main reason why Pritchard’s playing time dropped during the 2022-23 season was due to the arrival of Brogdon, whom the Celtics traded for in July 2022 in a deal with the Pacers.
The veteran took Pritchard’s spot as the main backup point guard, scoring 14.9 points and dishing out 3.7 assists per game en route to winning Sixth Man of the Year. Pritchard, meanwhile, scored 5.6 points per game while appearing in 48 games this past season.
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