The blockbuster trade between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns on Monday tells a tale of two teams taking opposite approaches to this offseason.
The Thunder, who nabbed the fifth-seed and came up one possession short of the second round last year, looked at the hyper-congested Western Conference landscape and decided to zag while every other teams zigged. The Suns, who missed out on the eight-seed by a half-game after an 8-0 run in the bubble – marking their 10th straight season without a playoff berth – decided it was time to try to out-zig the competition.
And so, the Thunder are sending Chris Paul and Abdel Nader to the Suns for Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and a top-12 protected 2022 first-round pick.
Oklahoma City already reportedly agreed to send Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Dennis Schroder to the Los Angeles Lakers, and it now owns 16 first-round picks – with swap rights on four of them – over the next six drafts. The Thunder will almost certainly look to add to that by flipping any or all of Steven Adams (on a $27-million expiring contract), Danny Green (acquired in the Schroder deal), Rubio, and Oubre, either this offseason or ahead of the 2021 trade deadline. They seem intent on stripping their roster for parts to further beef up their already-preposterous asset base.
What this means for the Suns is less clear, and far more interesting.
This is a great trade for Phoenix. The acquisition cost was relatively low; Oubre had a nice season last year, but it became clear in the bubble that Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson were the Suns’ wings of the future, so getting an All-NBA point guard without giving up either of them – or the 10th overall pick in Wednesday’s draft – makes this a nice piece of win-now business. And despite his incongruous age, Paul should be a snug fit next to young cornerstones Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
The opportunity cost isn’t particularly steep, either. Paul will tie up the Suns’ cap space for the next two years, but they were unlikely to be major players in 2021 free agency and compromised very little of their long-term future. There’s no guarantee that waiting things out would’ve given them an opportunity to land a star that better fits Booker and Ayton’s timeline, and with the assets they gave up, it’s hard to imagine them getting a better player than Paul.
When Paul’s deal expires in 2022 (assuming he picks up his $44-million player option a year from now), Booker will still be only 26 and under contract for another two years. Perhaps by then the Suns will have washed off the stink of their past decade of bumbling incompetence and generated the kind of franchise equity that will make them an attractive free-agent destination. Most importantly, they’ll have proven to Booker that they’re serious about competing and also likely have gotten him some valuable playoff experience.
Paul is, above all else, a winner. He has a way of professionalizing teams, and he won’t tolerate the kind of defensive negligence or bad habits that plagued the Suns in recent years. That persnickety attitude grated on teammates in the past, but he proved last season that he can also be a tremendous leader for a team in transition. Booker is a star in his own right, but he can learn a ton from playing with a basketball sage like Paul, whose guidance did wonders for young Thunder backcourt mate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
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As far as how good the Suns can be, a lot of that will depend on how well Paul holds up in his age-36 and 37 seasons. He was remarkably durable last season, appearing in all but two games. Phoenix likely can’t bank on a repeat, no matter how strongly Paul believes in the power of a plant-based diet. But if he can stay reasonably healthy and produce at something close to the level he did last season, the offensive potential of this team is sky-high.
On paper, this Suns supporting cast looks considerably stronger than the one Paul played with in 2019-20 when the Thunder went 44-28 and outscored teams by 6.9 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. In Phoenix, he’ll have more shooting around him, better wing play, a more dynamic co-lead playmaker, and a dramatically better pick-and-roll finisher. He’s joining a team that finished 12th in offensive rating, and second inside the bubble.
Paul continues to drive a hyper-efficient offense (114 on-court offensive rating last year) with his brainy playmaking, self-creation, knock-down shooting from multiple levels, and masterful manipulation of space. His quickness has declined, and his free-throw and at-rim attempts have been in freefall for a while, but he’s proven he doesn’t need to dust bigs off the dribble to be effective.
He was probably the single most clutch player in basketball last year, which will be a boon to a team that’s struggled badly to close games. He remains one of the league’s best pick-and-roll orchestrators, and it’s easy to imagine him carving up teams in a spread offense flanked by Booker, Johnson, and Bridges, with a soft-handed 7-footer in Ayton rolling down the gut. Paul and Booker instantly form one of the best backcourts in the league.
Booker is coming off an All-Star season in which he averaged nearly 27 points a game on 61.8% true shooting, bolstered by a career-best 54.9% mark from 2-point range, which is flat-out ridiculous for a high-usage guard. That efficiency was partly the product of ceding a large chunk of his on-ball responsibilities to Rubio and seeking out higher-percentage looks via off-ball movement. He scored 1.59 points per possession off cuts, putting him in the 95th percentile league-wide. Paul is an even better passer and offensive organizer than Rubio, and the threat of his shooting will open up the floor in a way his predecessor couldn’t when Booker has the ball.
Though Paul has historically been extremely ball-dominant, he’s shown he can adapt to playing alongside other high-usage ball-handlers, first with James Harden for the Houston Rockets and then with Gilgeous-Alexander and Schroder in Oklahoma City. He actually spent less time with the ball in his hands than Rubio did last year, according to NBA Advanced Stats.
Dual-ball-handler offenses bring all kinds of benefits, including the ability to stagger minutes and have one of them on the floor captaining the offense at all times. According to Synergy, Paul created an incredible 1.11 points per possession via shots and passes as a pick-and-roll ball-handler last year, while Booker created a more modest (but still robust) 1.01.
Those numbers could be even better with the two playing in tandem. They can serve as pressure releases for each other, whether by spotting up, relocating, or using ball reversals to flow from one pick-and-roll to the next. Paul hit 42.3% on catch-and-shoot threes last season, and Booker hit 39.3%. Between the two of them, the Suns should be one of the best pull-up mid-range shooting teams in the league.
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However, we may see some tension at the offensive end between the motion- and pass-heavy system Monty Williams installed last year and Paul’s probing, isolationist tendencies. The Suns ranked second in assist frequency last year, while the Thunder ranked 28th. The Thunder ranked third in isolation frequency, and the Suns ranked 29th. But Paul and Williams, who’ve collaborated in the past, should be able to meet somewhere in the middle.
The defense will be more of a question mark for this team, but unless he suffers a precipitous drop-off, Paul doesn’t represent a downgrade from Rubio. He still has some of the best hands and help instincts in the game and is an expert screen-navigator, and his strength allows him to defend either guard spot, which could give cover to Booker in certain matchups.
As for the rest of the projected starting five: Bridges’ footwork and ridiculous length make him one of the best wing defenders in the league, Johnson held up surprisingly well at the four as a rookie, and Ayton made huge strides as a rim-protector and pick-and-roll defender in his sophomore season. If all of that holds up, there’s no reason Phoenix can’t jump into the top half in defensive efficiency after finishing 17th last year.
This roster also isn’t a finished product. The Suns still need to decide what to do with backup bigs Dario Saric, Aron Baynes, and Frank Kaminsky, and whether Cameron Payne, Jevon Carter, and Elie Okobo can be the extent of their guard depth. Along with that No. 10 pick, they’ll have the $9.3-million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to play with. They can it use to target another guard (like old friend De’Anthony Melton), an Oubre replacement on the wing (though they did just fine without him in the bubble), or a power forward like Paul Millsap who can further shore up their frontcourt defense.
There’s much work to be done, but as presently constructed, the Suns look like a solid playoff team. That doesn’t mean they’re a lock to make it; next year’s West is going to be a torture chamber, and things will be particularly challenging with a division-heavy schedule since Phoenix resides in the stacked Pacific. The Suns are very much in the mix, though. They’re not on the Lakers’ or Los Angeles Clippers’ level, and they may be a notch below the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets, but they’ve launched themselves into the next tier of playoff contenders, among which they’ll have a strong chance to crack the top eight and maybe even win a series.
That brings us back to Booker. Even with four years remaining on his max deal, the Suns were clearly feeling the pressure to give him a reason to believe in them. When it comes to struggling teams hoping to retain their homegrown stars, the clock starts ticking the moment they sign their rookie extensions. During Booker’s torrid run in the bubble, his own peers were lobbying for him to get out of Phoenix.
Booker said two years ago he was fed up with missing the playoffs, and then the Suns proceeded to miss the playoffs two more times. Keeping him happy is the front office’s No. 1 priority. If winning truly is his primary motivating factor right now, this move should unquestionably help do that.
VANCOUVER – As the Major League Soccer season ticks down, Vanni Sartini wants his Vancouver Whitecaps to make a declaration — the team is ready to compete.
“The time of hiding ourselves, I think it’s over,” the coach said after the ‘Caps earned a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
“We need to really say that we are here to try to be at the ball until the end and trying to shoot for the highest position. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to make it, but we have the quality to do it.”
With seven games left on their regular-season schedule, the ‘Caps (13-8-6) sit in fifth spot in the congested Western Conference, just two points out of fourth.
Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the last-place Earthquakes (5-21-2) from post-season action.
Vancouver has been on a hot streak since returning from the Leagues Cup break and is unbeaten (3-0-1) in its last four outings across all competitions. The team has not allowed a goal in those matches.
“It’s the fact that we play really well,” Sartini said of the clean sheets. “We have the ball a lot, we finish our attack most of the time in their box. So it’s really hard for the other team to attack us. And then when they attack us, in the rare times that they arrive in the final third, we’re very solid.”
Recent additions have bolstered the team’s ranks, including the club’s newest designated player, Stuart Armstrong. The 32-year-old Scottish midfielder scored his first MLS goal Saturday.
Three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Alessandro Schopf, Armstrong gave Vancouver a two-goal cushion in the 87th minute.
Midfielder Pedro Vite dished a short pass to ‘Caps captain Ryan Gauld, who tapped it toward Armstrong. The former Southampton FC player then blasted a shot into the top of the net for his first strike in a Whitecaps’ jersey.
He was mobbed by teammates in the corner of the field.
“I think everyone was happy. Also for the first goal, but also that it was an important three points,” said Armstrong, who signed with the ‘Caps on Sept. 3.
“It kind of felt a little bit like last week, when we had a lot of chances and we didn’t get the three points. So today, I think everyone was just relieved to have that two-goal cushion.”
Vancouver was the dominant team from the outset Saturday and did not relent, outshooting the visitors 19-5 and controlling 54.1 per cent of possession.
Fafa Picault also found the back of the net for Vancouver, while Gauld contributed a pair of assists.
Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka stopped both shots he faced to collect his seventh clean sheet of the year, while Daniel made nine saves for the Quakes.
Gauld and Picault teamed up in the 22nd minute when Gauld curled a cross in and the Haitian striker headed it down toward the net, only to see Daniel catch a piece of the shot with his forearm and redirect it out of harm’s way.
The duo connected again in the 35th minute on a Vancouver corner. Gauld swung a ball in and Picault jumped up from the pack to send a glancing header in past Daniel for his ninth MLS goal of the season.
San Jose briefly appeared to level the score in the 68th minute when an unmarked Ousseni Bouda collected the ball, froze Takaoka and tapped a shot into the Vancouver net. An official quickly raised the offside flag and waved off the tally.
Daniel kept San Jose’s deficit to a single goal with a pair of solid stops in the 82nd minute.
First, the Brazilian ‘keeper dove sideways on his line to tip away a bomb from Alessandro Schopf. He was tested again on the ensuing corner and jumped up to send a header from Picault over the crossbar.
“I think we created a lot of chances again,” Gauld said.
“We probably should have put the game out of their reach sooner. But we’d be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances. Three clean sheets in a row in the league, I think it’s a big thing for us. And it gives us a good platform to go forward.”
NOTES
Vancouver played without leading scorer Brian White for a third consecutive game as the American striker works his way back from a concussion. … Gauld’s second assist marked his 15th goal contribution (six goals, nine assists) in his last 15 Whitecaps games across all competitions. … An announced crowd of 21,309 took in the game at B.C. Place.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps kick off a two-game road swing Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo. The Earthquakes host the Seattle Sounders the same night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
