Phoenix is exploring a deal that would send Grayson Allen and the No. 47 pick to the Denver Nuggets for Cam Johnson and the No. 26 selection. Allen is earning $16.9 million this season with two years left on his four-year, $70 million contract. Johnson, acquired by Denver from Brooklyn last summer in the Michael Porter Jr. swap, is making roughly $21 million this year on the final two seasons of his four-year deal and posted 12.2 points on 48 percent shooting with 43 percent from three across 54 games before a knee injury sidelined him.

The fit screams upgrade. Johnson gives the Suns a 6-8 forward who can switch, stretch the floor at 43 percent from deep, and bolster a frontcourt that has been alarmingly thin behind Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Allen shot just 34.9 percent from three this season on high volume while posting a career-worst 40.3 percent from the field, turning him into a high-cost specialist who no longer spaces the floor at an elite level. Swapping a guard-heavy wing for a bigger, more versatile one who defends multiple positions aligns with what Phoenix needs to survive Western Conference physicality, even if it costs them the modest salary relief and shooting gravity Allen once provided.

Phoenix must decide by the draft whether nostalgia for Johnson's 2021-23 tenure outweighs the realities of two similar mid-level contracts on a tax-strapped roster. If the Nuggets pull the trigger to clear cap space for Peyton Watson, the Suns gain immediate frontcourt help and a higher first-round talent without surrendering future picks. Passing means banking on Allen's bounce-back or hunting a different wing via Royce O'Neale or future assets, but the timeline for contention around Booker and Durant demands adding size and shooting that actually holds up in playoffs now.