The Phoenix Suns may be confident that LaMarcus Aldridge will join the team. They have cleared cap space by shipping Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock, and Danny Granger to the Detroit Pistons for a 2020 second-round pick, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting.

The Suns met with Aldridge on Wednesday quickly after signing Tyson Chandler as an attempt to entice the 29-year-old power forward. Aldridge was certainly intrigued by the Suns, but in order for Phoenix to acquire him, they will need to clear cap space.

This move allows the Suns to potentially attain Aldridge without having to execute a sign-and-trade using Eric Bledsoe, as they have dumped $8 million in salary to clear nearly $20 million in cap room. However, to absorb the contracts of both Chandler and possibly Aldridge, the Suns will also need to dump the salaries of Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker as well.

Of course Aldridge hasn’t assured the Suns that he will join them, but he is very interested, giving Phoenix the motivation to push hard.   

The Suns signed Marcus Morris, along with his twin brother Markieff, to a four-year contract extension last summer. The two brothers, who also played together in college, have flawless chemistry with one another.

Unfortunately for twin brother Markieff, the Suns have broken up the duo in hopes of landing the highly-prized Aldridge.

In Detroit, Marcus Morris could potentially land a starting small forward role. Morris is an adequate outside shooter, though he needs to be more consistent at times. Morris upped his numbers last season with increased play time by averaging a career-high 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds.

Reggie Bullock is quietly the best piece in this trade. Although he did not see much action in Phoenix, Bullock could play a major role in Detroit. He is a young, strong perimeter defender who could also show offensive improvements if given minutes.

Danny Granger is the only piece in this trade who may not see many minutes and could ultimately be waived.

After losing Greg Monroe to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pistons are doing everything they can to make up for it. Aside from this trade, they recently signed center Aron Baynes to a three-year deal and are still likely to re-sign point guard Reggie Jackson. 

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Vahan Shakhpazyan
Vahan Shakhpazyan loves the NBA with a passion and has been an avid follower for 18 years. He is a UCR graduate with a BA degree in Creative Writing. The man behind the Facebook page NBA updates.