Suns Showing Trade Interest in Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma, Kings’ Harrison Barnes, Others

Suns general manager James Jones is apparently a busy man these days, perhaps busier than usual.

Not only are the Suns looking for trades centered on small forward Jae Crowder, but they are exploring the market for other forwards. Likely, those two things are related.

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Suns have expressed interest in everyone from the Kings’ Harrison Barnes to the Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma to the Rockets’ KJ Martin, as well as the Hawks’ John Collins, who is reportedly available.

All of those players are forwards, a spot the Suns are looking to fill as they wait for Cam Johnson to return from a knee injury. Crowder, of course, has not played since requesting a trade after losing his starting role to Johnson.

So it seems Jones and the Suns are aiming high in terms of what Crowder (and perhaps some picks) might garner them in return.

At any rate, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line, there are some “credible rumbles” that Crowder will be traded soon. That followed an Instagram post in which Crowder displayed a ticking clock.

Along with all that, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported that the Suns were getting close to finalizing a three-team trade centered on Crowder.

The Heat and Bucks are among those who have been linked to Crowder — with Ian Begley of SNY.tv last week reporting the Suns and Heat have spoken recently. Several Hoops Wire sources have said that both the Knicks and Wizards are also interested.

There is no indication that the Wizards are looking to move Kuzma, however, and would likely only add Crowder if it meant keeping Kusma, Kristaps Porzingis and, of course, Bradley Beal.

But Crowder is undoubtedly the type of player who would fit with the Kings of coach Mike Brown, though it’s hard to know if he’d be an upgrade over Barnes.