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The Phoenix Suns have acquired guard Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Nick Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis, reports Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro.
Richards is the largest salary involved in the trade at $5 million, and the move gets the Suns under the luxury tax threshold, which could allow them to avoid repeater tax penalties as a tax-paying squad in three of the last four years. They were last under the tax in 2021-22.
Richards averaged 3.2 points and 3.3 rebounds this year after being acquired last season for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks.
Over 36 games and 34 starts for Phoenix in 2024-25, he averaged 9.5 poinst and 8.6 rebounds per game, providing a physical interior presence. But under first-year coach Jordan Ott, Richards lost a rotation role behind starting center Mark Williams and with the emergence of second-year pro Oso Ighodaro.
Hayes-Davis signed as a free agent after spending his career overseas since 2018 but failed to carve out a rotation role. He’s averaged 7.2 minutes in 27 appearances.
Anthony, a 25-year-old combo guard, spent his entire career with the Orlando Magic until this season and has career averages of 12.0 points and 3.8 assists.
This year, he is averaging 6.7 points and 3.5 assists on 42.4% shooting in 15.1 minutes per game (35 games).
Coffey, 28, averaged a career-high 9.7 points per game last season with the Los Angeles Clippers but this season has only averaged 8.8 minutes per game for the Bucks.
What did the Suns get in the Nick Richards trade package?
The Suns checked an important box here, but in doing so, did add a few questions.
It was written on the wall that Nick Richards was on the move, both for salary reasons and because he fell out of the rotation behind Mark Williams and a surging Oso Ighodaro. No, Phoenix did not get any draft compensation back after they burned three second-round choices to add Richards last year, but the team added some proven rotation guys in Anthony and Coffey.
Do the Suns keep both Anthony and Coffey? They don’t need to release either, and this just makes the bench options more numerous.
Gambadoro believes the Suns are set up to hand out a standard contract to Jamaree Bouyea — they have an open roster spot, still. Anthony has a little more playmaking chops than Bouyea but has never been the most efficient scorer. He is what he is at this point.
The No. 15 overall pick in 2020 has been a double-digit scorer and starter in this league, but his lack of an above-average 3-point shot has limited who he can be as an offensive player.
Coffey has a little more size and was reliable enough that he started 13 games and averaged near double-figures for the Clippers last season while shooting 40.9% from 3.
In one way, this move could complicate the outlook for Bouyea and Jordan Goodwin. But they’ve been solid to great. Viewed from another lens, however, and it could just be viewed as financially motivated. Anthony and Coffey are insurance pieces. Jordan Ott can roll with the rotations as-is until injury or a few chances given to Anthony or Coffey force him to make a change.
