Much of the conversation around the Suns interest around Kevin Love has been centered around should the Suns make a trade for him?
Circumstances have changed and after a recent eight game losing streak and more recently an embarrassing loss to the Lakers on New Year's Day and a home loss to the Grizzlies last night, the question should be do the Suns NEED to make a trade for Kevin Love?
Love recently let his frustrations get the best of him on the floor multiple times, was fined by the team, had an outburst with his general manager and issued an emotional Instagram post explaining his actions.
In other words, he ripe for the picking for a trade.
The Suns wouldn't offer him an immediate reprieve from losing but he'd at least be warmer and have a change of scenery.
And the price may be right. The Suns may be able to pry Love away for Tyler Johnson, Dario Saric and a protected first round draft pick.
Any trade scenarios involving Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges or Ty Jerome should be immediately shot down by the Suns but if they could do the above deal for salaries and a pick, don't they at least have to consider it?
Clearly, the Suns are also frustrated.
Normally mild mannered Monty Williams had what by his standards could be called an outburst after the loss to the Grizzlies.
This Suns season has stalled. Old (bad) habits die hard. They're in danger of going from one of the early feel good stories of the NBA season to one of the stories that makes Suns fans queasy all over again.
Kevin Love is not a perfect fit. He's missed an average of 34 games due to injury the last three seasons, is 31 years old and makes an exorbitant $90 million over the next three seasons.
He's also a double double machine, plays hard when he's on the floor and is shooting 38% on over six three point attempts per game this year.
He can help but he's not the solution.
Is that enough for the Suns to pull the trigger?
Not yet. I'd let the Suns sink or swim with this roster for the entire season. They need to know exactly what Deandre Ayton is and isn't capable of doing heading into next year. The need to know exactly how Devin Booker fares leading a team without any veteran training wheels for an entire season as a max contract player. They need to know if Mikal Bridges or Cam Johnson is capable of being anything more than a nice role player down the road. And they need to know if Kelly Oubre is a bankable building block piece for them going forward.
Kevin Love complicates all of those evaluations for now.
At the end of the season, if the team needs to shake up their core and commit cap dollars to an overpriced but productive star like Kevin Love, that opportunity will likely still be there.
Until then, the Suns roller coaster continues.