The Suns acquired Jusuf Nurkic in exchange for Deandre Ayton in the three-team trade that included Damian Lillard. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, The Suns also landed Nassir Little, Keon Johnson from the Portland Trail Blazers, and Grayson Allen from the Milwaukee Bucks. In return, they traded Ayton and Toumani Camara to the Blazers.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!BREAKING: The Portland Trail Blazers are trading guard Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/FRgQyDVjQG
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 27, 2023
Lillard goes Milwaukee as part of a 3-team deal with Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected MIL 1st, and unprotected MIL swap rights in 2028 and 2030 to Blazers. Phoenix lands Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. https://t.co/Ge0H91AiIA
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 27, 2023
In making this move, I believe the Suns lost this trade and have significantly downgraded from the team they were this season.
Ayton had been a shining star for the Suns the last couple of playoff runs. He averaged 18 points and ten rebounds last season and shot nearly 60% from the floor. In the last three playoffs, he’s averaged 16, 18, and 13.5 points per game, respectively.
As for Jusuf Nurkic, the main piece coming back to Phoenix, he averaged 13.3 points per game and nine rebounds last year. So, looking at purely stats, Deandre Ayton is the way better player and four years younger than Jurkic.
Grayson Allen hit his career high in minutes per game last year with 28.7. He only averaged 10 points, and his reputation is not good. Allen’s constant fines and ejections due to dirty hits and cheap shots make him unlikable. However, he averaged 12 points in the playoffs last year in the Bucks one playoff series.
As for Nassir Little and Keon Johnson, they average 28 minutes per game and 10 PPG. Neither have done much in their short careers. Thus, they were add-ons to this trade.
Ayton has meant a lot to the Suns these last three years. He means a lot to this city, which lost Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson last year in the KD trade. Jurkic is good, but his age and worse production bring much to be desired. Combine that with Allen’s terrible history. The Suns downgraded here and are losers of this trade.
