NBA Trade Deadline 2012: The One Trade the Phoenix Suns Must Make

SUNS TRADE: Steve Nash, Josh Childress and Hakim Warrick

MAGIC TRADE: Jameer Nelson, JJ Redick, Von Wafer, Earl Clark, Daniel Orton, Deandre Liggins and 2012 No. 1 Pick

The Phoenix Suns are headed to the lottery once again.

Their roster is filled with disappointing and overpriced players and the face of their franchise is headed to retirement sooner rather than later.

However, by simply trading Steve Nash, they could start rebuilding again.

Honestly speaking, the above proposed trade is contingent upon Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith's continued ineptitude. That said, I am speaking of Otis Smith here, so the possibility that the Suns could pull off this trade is quite high.

If Smith, who seems to be the reincarnation of Isiah Thomas, continues to be deluded enough to believe that if he can somehow just manage to acquire Steve Nash, Dwight Howard will sign an extension to stay in Orlando.

If taking back the horrid salaries of Josh Childress and Hakim Warrick are well worth such a risk, then it is the Suns' front office's duty to take advantage of such lunacy.

This trade would set the Suns on the course of rebuilding immediately and make a complete transformation possible within just one year's time.

This trade would give the Suns just six players under contract for next season, a veritable starting lineup of Jameer Nelson, JJ Reddick, Jared Dudley, Channing Frye and Marcin Gortat and a talented super-sub in Markieff Morris, along with around $27 million in cap space to spend on free agents.

This trade will also give the Suns just four players under contract for the 2013-14 season in Morris, Gortat, Frye and Dudley and around $40 million in cap space if they so choose.

This is a no-brainer trade for the Phoenix Suns. If they can make this deal and do not pull the trigger, Suns owner Robert Sarver should fire the entire front office immediately.

As for the Magic, it's quite obvious to see that Otis Smith lives in his own little world, perhaps called Smithville (population: one).

It is quite realistic to believe that Smith would agree to this trade if the Suns propose it to him, thinking it will help the Magic retain their "Superman," Dwight Howard, but it would ultimately end in catastrophe, as the Magic would be eliminated from the first or second round of the playoffs.

This would be followed by both Howard and Nash leaving Orlando in free agency for greener pastures in Dallas or Brooklyn—anywhere but Orlando's "Magic Kingdom."

I really don't know what to say to Orlando Magic fans. I cannot possibly put a remotely good spin on this trade, and I feel sad for them due to all the heartache they have been through since the summer of 1996.

There was no reason the Magic should have lost Shaquille O'Neal to the Lakers for nothing that year—no reason other than horrible front-office management.

The Magic easily could have received Vlade Divac, Eddie Jones and the Lakers' first-round draft pick, which turned out to be Kobe Bryant, had they traded Shaquille before the deadline in '96.

This way, the Magic could have had a starting five of Penny Hardaway, Eddie Jones, Dennis Scott, Horace Grant and Vlade Divac with Nick Anderson as their sixth man, and a young Kobe Bryant soon to join Hardaway in the starting lineup to form the best backcourt in the NBA.

The Lakers would have happily given all of those pieces away to obtain the most dominant big man since Wilt Chamberlain, but the Magic wouldn't wake up from their deluded dreams of Shaq signing an extension with them.

On behalf of basketball fans everywhere, I apologize to you, Orlando Magic fans. I hope this time around, your front office is wise enough to trade Dwight Howard for as much as they can possibly get.