The Phoenix Suns are in a weird spot. The injury bug plagued the Suns all season and is clearly the biggest reason behind their downward spiral to the bottom half of the Western Conference standings.

With the way the West is bunched up together in the win-loss column, Phoenix can conceivably resuscitate this season once Devin Booker returns from his groin injury. It still doesn't change the fact that they'd need to find a point guard for the future to eventually take over for Chris Paul. According to a report from NBA insider Marc Stein, they're already vetting a shortlist of candidates.

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“Chris Paul is back for Phoenix after missing seven games with a hip injury, but the 37-year-old has played in only 27 of the Suns' 48 games this season, having missed 14 games earlier due to a heel injury. Word is that those realities have prompted the Suns to start assessing their post-Paul future and thus identify Charlotte's Terry Rozier, New York's Immanuel Quickley and Toronto's Fred VanVleet as potential trade targets. The latest signals from the Knicks, as I reported on Jan. 14, indicate that Quickley will not be made available at this deadline. Rozier, though, is widely perceived as attainable given the Hornets' slide into Victor Wembanyama territory, while VanVleet's future with Canada's team remains unclear given the 21-27 Raptors' struggles and VanVleet's desire for a lucrative new contract in the offseason.”

All three of Immanuel Quickley, Terry Rozier, and Fred VanVleet represent varying levels of commitment and risk if they were acquired as the CP3 heir apparent. Even if Paul does play at a high level for the next couple of seasons, having a dynamic playmaker alongside him and Devin Booker would be extremely useful to take the load off the Suns' two brightest stars.