The four giants may look "fragrant", but "raising" them is "expensive".
In the 2023-24 season, Durant's salary is $47.7 million, Bill's is $46.7 million, Booker's is $36 million, and Aton's is $32.5 million - the total salary of Sun's new Big Four alone has reached $162.9 million, while the trigger line of Luxury tax is $162 million. To pay the salaries of these four players, the Sun will pay Luxury tax - if you add more than 10 other players, the total salary expenditure of the Sun must be very considerable.
Multiple experts believe that the next reasonable operation for the Suns is to replace several character players with Aton, making the lineup more reasonable. At present, although the Sun is definitely willing to keep Aton, the salary cap restrictions make it difficult for them to do so. Swapping Aton for two or three outstanding rotations and hoping to get one or two first rounds at the same time is a more suitable choice - not to mention, Aton has been clamoring to leave more than once in years.
At present, it seems that Aton's potential successor may be the Celtics. Previously, there were reports that the Suns were interested in the Green Army's Brogden, who is also the most likely defender to be traded by the Green Army - the Green Army wants to trade the back court for the front court, and Aton's abilities should meet the Green Army's needs.
In addition, the sun is also interested in the eagle's Corinth, and Aton is also one of the eagle's goals. Due to the fact that the Hawks' center, Capella, has already been targeted by multiple teams, if Capella is traded, the Hawks can find Aton and create a combination of him and Trey Young - this is also a reasonable choice.
Will the Suns bring the Big Four lineup into the new season, or will they trade Aton to enhance the depth of the lineup? I believe there will be an answer within the next few days.
