Suns' Chris Paul Cut or Trade? What It Could Mean for Mavs

Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes reported that the Phoenix Suns will cut veteran point guard Chris Paul, but another report from The Athletic's Shams Charania states that Phoenix is keeping its options open with CP3 in the coming weeks.
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On Wednesday afternoon, Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes reported that the Phoenix Suns are planning to cut 12-time All-Star Chris Paul. However, according to another report from The Athletic's Shams Charania soon after, there could be more to the story than that.

"The Phoenix Suns have notified Chris Paul that they intend to find a resolution this offseason that fits the veteran star and the Suns organization, which could include parting ways, league sources tell The Athletic," Charania writes.

"The Suns and Paul are exploring multiple options, league sources tell The Athletic, including a trade, waiving and stretching his contract over multiple years, or waiving and potentially re-resigning him in free agency."

Although the Suns likely are exploring all possible scenarios with Paul, trading the 38-year-old might not be as realistic as waiving him would be. "The Suns have a June 28 guarantee deadline on Paul’s $30.8 million contract. Roughly $15 million is guaranteed," the report continued.

Whether Paul is traded or waived, either outcome could potentially affect the Dallas Mavericks. The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to Mavs star point guard Kyrie Irving for more than a year now, but that could change if L.A. ends up signing Paul as a free agent or trading for him. And what about the Suns wanting to trade for Irving at this year's deadline alongside Kevin Durant?

Given the new CBA rules, any Irivng sign-and-trade to another team could be complicated, especially if said team is significantly over the salary cap. But ... given Irving's reported desire to re-sign with the Mavs, and that he's apparently on the recruiting trail looking for more star talent to bring to Big D, we don't think that particular scenario involving Phoenix is something Dallas should have to worry about. Buckle up for the next few weeks as things start to get crazy around the association.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.