With Nick Richards’ name coming up in recent trade discussions for the Suns, I decided to craft some mock trades, and you guys had mixed opinions on them. A majority of the Bright Side Community did not want ANY guards, regardless of whether that guard can help now and in the future.
That being said, I listened to your requests and decided to look for the position of need: that is, all you clamored for was power forward.
In this article, I now have five more trades involving Richards for that piece everyone so covets in this fanbase, so let’s get into it.
This trade is out of left field, but hear me out: the Suns get Dean Wade and a 2028 second-round Cavs pick for Nick Richards.
The Suns do this to take on Wade’s expiring contract and gain additional draft capital in the process. For many of these Nick Richards trades, this is going to be the outcome of the deal. Richards has yet to prove to be stellar, and teams want his contract for the possibility that he could be solid, but if not, they can free up space to make more moves. Wade is someone the Cavs have been trying to trade since this offseason, as they wanted to avoid the second-apron tax before the start of the year. Wade has been spotty in his performances, and with a disappointing 16-14 record, the Cavaliers could look to make moves.
The Suns also get someone who can do what they need: stretch and space the floor as a three-point shooter and help grab rebounds. He has nights when he can be the hottest from three, so take the risk and get the additional capital to take on an expiring.
The Cavaliers were some people’s favorites out of the East after some successful regular seasons in the past, but with this start, it could look gloomy. I do not think they blow it up, but they could easily trade one or two of the core four pieces to shake it up. The one player that comes to mind for me is Jarrett Allen, someone who I think could be moved somewhere and allow Evan Mobley to take over that center position. That would have them needing a backup center, and Richards could be that guy. As a backup, he could fill the void behind Mobley and be cheaper than Wade,
This trade revisits a team from my last article, the Chicago Bulls, but this time for Jalen Smith. The Suns end up trading Nigel Hayes-Davis, Nick Richards, and a 2026 Philadelphia 76ers second-round pick to the Bulls.
The Suns do this to reunite with Jalen Smith, the former lottery pick who actually found himself a solid role around the league. May not have turned out to be the player the Suns thought they were drafting, but he has been good. We have seen one reunion with Jordan Goodwin go smoothly, so who is to say this one would go south? The Suns bring in Smith, who can play both power forward and some small-ball center (for all those Oso haters, this is music to your ears), and help this team as a win-now player. He can provide similar skills to a Dean Wade and is a better player than him, hence them having to give up more.
Honestly, I do not think Chicago would want to trade Smith, and they would rather have him on their team. They resigned him and have been in on this contending wave for way too long, not knowing when to reset or retool around their stars. That being said, with his contract being minor and him not being a core piece, if the right offer came the Bulls’ way, I think they’d consider it. Richards is a different big man from Smith, but he could be a solid backup to Nikola Vucevic. Not only that, but Richards’s better defense contrasts with Vucevic’s predominantly offensive game.
The only problem with doing this deal one-for-one is that the Suns are hard-capped as a first-round team. Manager of this site, John Voita, wrote a fantastic article detailing the difficulties of moving Richards and explained why here.
I’d also like for you to read the rest of this article to understand all the moving parts in these demands for a power forward.
So, with that being said, I wanted to avoid having the Suns hard-capped as a first-round team, to have flexibility if they look to make other transactions at the deadline as well. Therefore, they toss in Nigel Hayes-Davis to ensure they can maintain the ability to make more moves. Hayes-Davis just hasn’t panned out in his short tenure here so far, and he’s the most expendable contract to toss in. The Bulls will not take him on for free; that is why the second-round pick comes into play with the Suns sending it out.
In retrospect, the Bulls could ask for Oso Ighodaro alongside Richards to nullify the first apron hardcap and the sending of additional draft capital. The thing is, I do not see the Suns moving off of Ighodaro, as they still give him rotational minutes and want to develop a second-round pick they were happy to trade up for.
This is a three-team trade that helps every team involved. The Suns get Guerschon Yabusele and their own 2028 second-round pick back from the Knicks. The Pelicans receive Nick Richards from the Suns and a 2027 Indiana Pacers second-round pick from the Knicks. Lastly, the Knicks get Jose Alvarado.
For the Suns, they get a power forward, one who had a good year with the 76ers but has not fit in on the Knicks. The Suns take a flyer on the Euro League and Olympic standout who is looking to stay in the NBA. Yabusele can be exactly what Smith and Wade can be for this team as that bench power forward who can play some filler minutes as they await the development of Rasheer Fleming. They also get their own second back for taking on this contract, helping them restock ammo for trades.
The Pelicans do this deal, as they have been rumored to move off Alvarado for a bit, with the Knicks holding interest. The Knicks want to bring back the hometown kid and could use his scrappiness and solid playmaking to bolster their bench. Since the Pelicans do not wish to take on Yabu’s contract as they have Derik Queen fulfilling their forward minutes, they take on Richards and a second, as Alvarado holds value to New York.
The Knicks sent out Yabusele as he does not fit into their new system with Mike Brown, and has been struggling. In return, they get a much-needed bench needle mover in Jose Alvarado, who does all the little things championship contenders love. Only moving off two seconds is fine as well, leaving you still with some rookie contracts to use if needed as enticers in moves down the line.
Once again, we revisit the team we covered in the previous trade article, the Washington Wizards. This time, they ended up sending the Suns Marvin Bagley III and Anthony Gil for Nick Richards.
Marvin Bagley has turned himself into a solid role player for the Wizards in his post-Kings tenure. Unfortunately, injuries derailed this center’s early years, but he is starting to be a solid rotational piece later in his career. As a solid rebounder and shooting almost 62% from the field, he will definitely garner some trade interest. He could be an impactful forward they use alongside Mark Williams or Oso Ighodaro, and he is also not a significant investment on the expiring deal.
Now, Anthony Gill, I know, is a beloved Wizards bench guy, but the trade could not be completed unless he was included. If this were to transpire, I’d expect Gill to be waived and then resign for Washington, with the agreement reached before the deal was done.
For the Wizards, they ultimately move off Bagley and bring in Richards, someone who is going to replicate Bagley’s role as the backup behind Alexander Sarr. With Bagley playing up his value and the Wizards wanting to be bad, taking a flyer on Richards and then moving him for another piece, as they did with Bagley, could get them another pick, which helps in a rebuild.
Trade 5: The Let’s Throw a Shot for It
Now here is the big three-team trade, and one I think would be the hardest to accomplish out of this list. The Suns get Jarace Walker from the Indiana Pacers. The Raptors get Nick Richards from the Suns. Lastly, the Pacers get Ochai Agbaji from the Toronto Raptors, along with two seconds from Toronto in 2026 and one from Phoenix in 2029.
For the Suns, they get Jarace Walker, a lottery pick who does not have the high potential many saw in him as he rose. Regardless of whether it was stagnant playing time in his developmental years or his inability to shine now with the Pacers’ injuries, he has not been great for this team.
That being said, the Pacers covet every one of their guys and do not give them up for anything cheap. Even with his struggles, I think the Pacers view Walker’s trade value as higher than many teams that want to acquire him; that is why they would likely need to be enticed with draft picks. They get the 2029 Phoenix second-round pick, but do not want Richards’ expiring contract. They are in the market for a starting big man and have an excellent quality backup in Jay Huff already, so no need for Richards.
That is where Toronto comes into play, taking on Richards’s contract. They have been linked to him in the past, with some recent reports suggesting they tried to send Suns Agbaji’s contract. The Raptors need a third center in this rotation, and Richards can do that perfectly, providing the shot-blocking and rim protection that their backup, Sandro Mamukelashvili, does not offer. By doing this favor and taking Richards, they need the Pacers to return the favor. For them to do that, though, the Raptors have to throw in their own second-round pick.
Finally, here is where the Pacers catch up on two second-round picks and Agbaji’s contract. Similar to Walker, he still has one more year left, so it’s mainly a trial for these guys in their new homes. Agbaji, though, brings some solid scrappiness and solid perimeter defending that this team needs. Being another aid to the group of Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard gives this team even more depth as it heads toward a big run next year.
They also get two seconds, as they are going to be reluctant to move off Walker for their attachment to lottery picks and the holes in his positional need. The Pacers will be the most hesitant, but they could also pull the trigger with their season already gutted.
Well, that one was a lot harder than the previous one, but it was still a fun exercise. I love coming up with these mock trade articles, scanning for specific players who could help take this team over the top and into those fun conversations in a few years.
Let me know your thoughts on these moves below, and explain why you would or would not. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well! You may see some more of these break out as we inch closer to the trade deadline.