The Washington Wizards are on the brink of having one of the worst seasons in franchise history. They are currently 7-32 and have yet to build a win streak. In fact, all but one of the teams they grabbed victories against are currently under .500.
But one player who isn’t to blame for their struggles is point guard Tyus Jones. Some people even believe that he should be taking his talents elsewhere -- one of them being NBA legend Kevin Garnett. On a recent episode of Garnett and Paul Pierce’s podcast KG Certified, Garnett mentioned the Phoenix Suns as a team whom Jones should be performing for.
“You know who Phoenix needs to go get? Tyus Jones,” Garnett said. “That motherf—ker, other than Haliburton, he is prolific when it comes to being effective in taking care of the ball. He does not turn the ball over. And then when you think about Memphis, when they was playing without Ja , he was the head of that. Nobody talks about that piece, man. I go get Tyus Jones, man. He in Washington, just giving away years, man. Just because he’s young.”
Before the season began, many NBA pundits questioned how the situation with the Suns will play out. During the offseason, they acquired star shooting guard Bradley Beal from the Wizards. When he arrived in Phoenix, adjustments to the roster had to be made in order to fit him in with superstars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. As a result, Beal retained the shooting guard position, pushing Booker to the point guard one.
While this may look like a winning lineup on paper, it doesn’t gel well together. After eight years of being the primary scorer at the shooting guard spot, Booker had to figure out how to adjust to being a playmaker and moving without the ball. Although he is leading the Suns with a career-high 7.7 assists, they have a 21-18 record and fighting to hold playoff position.
Acquiring Jones via trade would help the Suns out in multiple ways.
Firstly, putting Jones at the point guard position would relieve Booker from playmaking duties. However, since Beal is at the two, he would have to take the small forward position, pushing Durant to the power forward one. Sure, it’s not the spot Booker would’ve preferred but at least he would be able to score more without worrying about passing the ball.
Obviously, Jones would finally give the Suns a player who is well-experienced as a pure point guard. Right now, he is averaging a career-high 5.6 assists with the Wizards and rarely turns the ball over. In fact, he currently has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 6.61, placing him seventh in the league.
Even though he’s known for his playmaking style, Jones can also contribute with his scoring. This season, he’s averaging a career-high 12.8 points per contest and shooting the ball extremely well. He’s shooting 52 percent from the field and 42 percent from beyond the arc, both setting career-highs. With that, he has a true shooting percentage of 60 percent.
Sure, this is just another scenario but if a trade does go down, it could benefit the Suns in a huge way.