Report: Suns agree to trade for Paul, send Oubre to Thunder originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Roughly an hour after the NBA's trade moratorium period ended, the Suns struck a deal with the Thunder for All-Star point guard Chris Paul.
Phoenix is sending Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for Paul and Abdel Nader, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. It's the second reported trade involving a Thunder point guard in the last two days.
The Suns were on the outside of the western conference playoff picture looking in at the beginning of the NBA restart, but an 8-0 run that left them just short of a play-in scenario.
Paul had a surprising 2019-20 season in his own right as well. After he was cast aside by the Rockets for Russell Westbrook, Paul had an All-Star campaign and led a thought-to-be-rebuilding Thunder team to the brink of the Western Conference semifinals.
With Paul joining Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton and Mikal Bridges, the Suns could be a major threat in the West. For the Thunder, they add yet another first-round pick to their war chest of draft assets.
