Suns Get Honest on Trade Deadline
PHOENIX -- The 2024 NBA trade deadline is fast approaching, and the Phoenix Suns are heavily rumored to be players in the market.
Sitting at 30-21 after last night's win against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Suns have now won their last 11-of-14 games entering the deadline as they continue their climb up the standings.
"It's the same thing with every team, every year. If there's opportunities to improve your team, this is the time to explore them at the most. I think we're definitely doing that," said Suns coach Frank Vogel on trade talks.
"James Jones and the front office [are] doing their diligence and seeing what's out there but also remain very confident in what we have."
The Suns can't exactly do much in trade negotiations thanks to a number of factors that range from the team's high placement in the luxury tax to very few valuable draft picks.
Any significant trade pieces are off the page for Phoenix, though rumors of Nassir Little and perhaps Josh Okogie being moved have been floated as of late.
"I've been with teams where we felt like we definitely weren't good enough and had to do something to get better. We do not feel that way with this group," said Vogel.
"Obviously there's a lot of phone calls taking place - if there's ways to improve our team then we'll take advantage of that but we're very confident in the group that we have."
Phoenix's core of players are no strangers to trades, as stars in Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal were moved to the Valley while other starters in Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic also landed in Phoenix via trade.
Beal shed some insight on what a locker room's like during the deadline:
"It depends, honestly. Trade deadline gets a little rocky for teams. There's always the elephant in the room - just a hanging cloud of uncertainty over everybody's head," said Beal.
"Everybody's just like, 'man, just get through 3:00 on Thursday' and you're good then. It's tough, man. I understand it from a player, organizational standpoint. Everybody wants to be better. Everybody wants to be in a good situation."
The trade deadline is Feb. 8 at 1:00 PM Arizona time.
