Grayson Allen has learned to keep going amid trade rumors: ‘You grow used to it’

Phoenix Suns wing Grayson Allen has been to the playoffs in five of his first six years in the NBA as a role player. He’s been thrown into trade rumors and even dealt three times throughout his career.

The Suns are currently in a predicament with few assets to trade while the team hovers at .500 nearing the halfway point of the season. Phoenix already traded three second-round picks for center Nick Richards and a second-rounder, a sign that the team has not given up on making something work this season.

Adding another star such as Jimmy Butler is a very complicated prospect, and in order to do so they might need to acquire more assets. There is also the possibility the Suns pivot and go after picks and younger players for the future depending on the next couple weeks before the Feb. 6 deadline. All of which throws the likes of Allen and his $15.6 million contract into trade rumors, which he handles by carrying on.

“You just keep playing,” Allen told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Friday.

“And for me, the last four years I’ve been on a good team that has championship aspirations. And whenever you’re on a team like that, I would say there’s probably two or three guys that don’t get talked about in trades, and everyone else gets talked about like they’re gonna get traded tomorrow. So you grow used to it. Just keep your head up, keep playing and focus on what we got.”

Allen claimed that speculation never comes up in the locker room, even when noise grows louder.

“We leave that up to front offices and everyone to talk about behind the scenes,” Allen said.

The Suns have 10 more games before the deadline. Phoenix only has a 2025 second-rounder courtesy of Denver and its 2031 first-rounder in the picks cupboard, but Arizona Sports‘ John Gambadoro reported the Suns have not brought up using their lone first-round pick in a straight-up deal for Butler.

It has never been discussed with Miami. They are just making stuff up. The 2031 pick is very valuable. I believe they would be open to trading it but not in a straight trade for Butler. Would have to be for something different. https://t.co/iuHSBHD9Fp

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) January 17, 2025

Grayson Allen heating up

Allen has found a rhythm offensively after injuries have hampered his start to the season. In his last five games, Allen has scored 16.0 points per contest while shooting a blazing 60.6% from beyond the arc. For the season, he is 17th in three-point shooting at 42.8%.

“Being in the league for an extended period of time now, I kind of just have a good feel and rhythm about getting back into the games,” Allen said. “It was a little different at the beginning of the year with some of our lineup changes, playing in different spots, different minutes, running different stuff and but I think I got into rhythm pretty quickly after that, and I’m settled in now.”

Allen has started one of 31 games played this year after he was a regular in the starting five in 2023-24.

Grayson Allen impressed by Ryan Dunn’s rookie year

The Suns have paired Allen with Bradley Beal coming off the bench, inserting rookie Ryan Dunn into the starting lineup.

Dunn has impressed his veteran teammates, as Allen said he’s earned the minutes with his defense but has stepped up on offense, as well. Since entering the lineup eight games ago, Dunn has scored 11.6 points on 39% shooting from deep along with 5.3 rebounds per game.

“I think he’s shooting a lot better than everyone thought,” Allen said. “He’s learning when to take those drives, when to pick his spots to go attack. Offensively, he’s really good at driving, getting to the rim and he’s also kind of picked up our small-small screening really well.

“And being a roller, being a playmaker, when you catch the ball in the paint, that’s a four-on-three. It feels like he’s shooting 90% on those little like seven-, eight-foot bunny shots. … Obviously his defense, taking on the best matchups with the other team and picking them up full court and hounding him, he’s done a great job.”

The Suns resume their schedule on Saturday at the Detroit Pistons at 2 p.m. MST.

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