Mar 7, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Wesley Johnson (4) during the first quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. Timberwolves won 106-94. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The Suns’ made a big move today acquiring 3^rd year swingman Wesley Johnson from the Minnesota Timberwolves as well as a first round pick and sent Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick to New Orleans. This is a great move for the Suns as they add a young prospect in Johnson, a first round pick, and also getting rid of Hakim Warrick’s contract.

As I expected Lopez secured a deal via sign and trade worth 15M over 3 years. The Suns’ now have 6 first round picks and 5 second round picks in the next 3 years, those are extremely valuable assets for a rebuilding team and the Suns now put themselves in a great position to make a run at free agent superstars next year.

The addition of Wesley Johnson now gives the Suns major depth at the wing positions as they now have Shannon Brown, Jared Dudley, Wesley Johnson, P.J Tucker and Michael Beasley. After being slammed for trading Steve Nash to the Lakers the Suns have bounced back in good fashion and put themselves in a great position to be relevant again much sooner than most expected.

April 24, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez (15) walks off the court after the game against the Utah Jazz at Energy Solutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The Phoenix Suns’ have made many moves this off-season, but as I’ve written in my previous article, they’re still a couple of moves away from wrapping up their off-season. They still have yet to deal with the Robin Lopez situation however they did complete the signing of Shannon Brown to a 2 year 7M dollar deal. Ironically the team that’s trying to execute a trade for Lopez is the team that ultimately matched the Suns’ offer for Eric Gordon, that’s right it’s the New Orleans Hornets.

According to a tweet by Adrian Wojarnarowski of Yahoo! Sports “Hornets have worked hard on executing a sign-and-trade for Suns RFA center Robin Lopez, but deal hasn’t come together, sources tell Y!,” Question at this point, do the Suns’ attempt to keep Lopez for the price around 4-6M annually or do they trade him for future assets?

It’s not exactly news that NBA centers have been expensive in recent years as Omer Asik who played less than 15 minutes a night during the 2011-2012 season, received a 3 year 24M dollar contract from the Houston Rockets. Lopez had a good stretch at the end of year becoming a solid rim protector and became a little more effective offensively. The Suns at this point have every reason to not to keep Lopez based on logjam issues with their front court alone so I’d imagine if the Hornets make a decent offer the Suns would let him walk.

The Suns already have 4 players at the power forward position next year and Marcin Gortat at the center position, so even if Lopez does return he probably won’t play more than 18 or so minutes per night. On top of that Channing Frye or Markieff Morris can fill Lopez’s role on the team as they will be fighting for playing time after the Suns’ signing of Luis Scola.

It’d make sense right now for the Suns to trade their back-up center for some much needed future assets whether it’d be from the Hornets or another team. The Suns are in a rebuilding mode, that’s been established. They already have 10 draft picks in the next 3 seasons, but it wouldn’t hurt to add more. If the Hornets offer a future a first round pick and maybe a second round pick as a throw-in I’d take that deal in a heartbeat.