The case for trading Jalen Green

I was never a fan of the Jalen Green trade, and this past season illustrated the problems I anticipated. The Suns were exceeding all expectations while Green was out with injury, but then fell to earth when he returned. If it felt like they were worse after he came back, you’d be right. The team was 17-15 (.531) when he didn’t play, and 28-22 (.560) when he did. When you consider Booker’s injuries, the Suns were 24-13 (.648) when Booker played, and Jalen Green didn’t.

To put it in perspective: taking Jalen Green out of the picture, and a little better health by Booker, could have put the Suns in a position to compete for the 4th seed in the West. This would have given them a real shot at making the second round instead of getting splattered by the Thunder in a four-game sweep.

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On the surface, this doesn’t seem to make much sense: why would the Suns be worse with their second or third-best player on the court? The short answer is that when he’s on the court, it forces the Suns to play lineups that are very sub-optimal. When he’s sitting on the bench, that’s $36.3 million in wasted salary. This puts the Suns in a position where there is no good answer other than to move him for a player who can play as a power forward.

Thinking through the lineup permutations, if the Suns play a lineup of Booker and Green in the backcourt, plus a “normal” frontcourt rotation with a small forward (Brooks) and a power forward, then they don’t have a true point guard running the offense, and Booker is being used sub-optimally. Booker’s best play has always been next to a point guard, whether Rubio, Chris Paul, or Collin Gillespie.

If the Suns play Gillespie, Green, and Booker, it puts Booker at small forward (he’s not a small forward) and then forces the Suns to either play Brooks at power forward (where he’s outmatched size-wise) or sit him (which puts your second or third best player on the bench). Again, this forces the Suns to either play people out of position or put their best players on the bench.

You theoretically could put Green on the bench as a super-Sixth Man, but that’s $36.3…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/case-trading-jalen-green-000000695.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-31 00:00:00

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