PHOENIX SUNS

Suns receive respectable grades in trade for Nick Richards

Jan 16, 2025, 1:29 PM

Nick Richards #4 of the Charlotte Hornets looks on during the second half of the NBA game at Footpr...

Nick Richards #4 of the Charlotte Hornets looks on during the second half of the NBA game at Footprint Center on January 12, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Phoenix Suns acquired a center in hopes of bolstering their big man rotation. Phoenix made a trade with Charlotte on Wednesday to acquire center Nick Richards.

It’s not the sexy, big splash Jimmy Butler move that fans are waiting for, but it is a move that makes the team better immediately. The consensus around the league is that Richards helps the Suns at their weakest position.

It’s no secret that Phoenix was looking to add a center with the current rotation of Jusuf Nurkic, Mason Plumlee and Oso Ighodaro allowing three games this season with 20 or more offensive rebounds, which is the most in the NBA.

ESPN’s Kevin Pelton and CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn both gave the Suns a B+ for the trade.

Pelton gave Phoenix a B+ as the Nurkic experience this season has not worked out. Nurkic has been out recently due to illness. Plumlee is shooting 56% from the field, his lowest since the 2016-17 season with an 11% usage rate. It’s seventh-lowest in the league for players seeing at least 500 minutes of action, according to Pelton. The undersized rookie Ighodaro is in the bottom 10 of that category as well.

Richards isn’t shooting any better this season (56%) but he has scored more efficiently than any Suns center in a much larger role in Charlotte (17% usage). With better floor spacing, Richards has shown to be hyper-efficient. In 2023-24, his .717 true shooting percentage was fifth-best of any NBA player who saw at least 500 minutes.

Arizona Sports‘ John Gambadoro reported that Richards would be starting for Phoenix when acclimated. In nine games this season as a starter, Richards is averaging a double-double: 11.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2 assists in 27.2 minutes and 1.7 blocks.

Pelton argued Richards provides an upgrade defensively over Nurkic and Plumlee.

… opponents have made just 57% of their shot attempts within five feet when he is the primary defender according to Second Spectrum tracking on NBA Advanced Stats. That’s an upgrade on Nurkic and Plumlee, who have both seen opponents shoot 62% on such attempts this season.

Pelton also classified the move as financially helpful to the Suns for a team that is over the second apron. Richards is under contract for $5 million this season and for the next.

Quinn compares the Suns’ move to acquire Richards to Dallas acquiring Daniel Gafford from the Wizards last season at the trade deadline. Dallas turned an athletic center into a pivotal piece on their way to a finals run last season.

Quinn would go on to say that Phoenix can try the same blueprint and attempt to move itself out from play-in tournament hopefuls into a playoff threat in the West.

Take an extremely athletic center off of a dysfunctional team, put him on a better one, and watch him soar. They can say relatively confidently that the Hornets, like the Wizards a year ago, are such a team because they watched (P.J.) Washington break out the moment he left Charlotte. In an increasingly cost- and asset-obsessed NBA, paying market-price for a viable starting center was not tenable to a team as limited as the Suns are right now. They had to try to create their own.

The Suns currently sit at a record of 19-20 before they take on the Wizards on Thursday night. If there was a time for the Suns to flip the switch it would be now. As the NBA’s unofficial halfway point, the All-Star break, sits a few weeks away. With a move addressing the team’s weakest position, Phoenix is committed to turning its season around and it might not be done dealing.

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