The Phoenix Suns have officially moved on from Deandre Ayton after months of speculation, adding Jusuf Nurkic from the Trail Blazers as well as a few depth pieces, most notably Grayson Allen and Nassir Little. It's a significant move and one which moves the needle, at least a little, for almost certainly the most talented team in the league – though in which direction that needle swings isn't yet clear.

The Suns were looking to offload Ayton for a while – a reported lack of faith in him from some involved in the team, combined with an enormous salary, meant his head had long been on the chopping block. Jusuf Nurkic certainly doesn't have the talent of the former number one pick he'll be replacing, but he may well be a better fit, with his superior defensive presence and passing ability meaning he will likely slot in very nicely with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

The Suns also addressed their depth in the trade by bringing in Allen and Little, but Nurkic's penchant for getting injured means it's very possible they'll need even more of that, particularly in the front court. In the last four seasons, Nurkic has averaged just over 38 games per season and hasn't exceeded 56. Clearly the Suns will be banking on him playing more than that in 2023-24, but history isn't on their side.

Even with Nurkic fit, the Suns clearly have a dearth of depth in the front court relative to the back – their options behind Nurkic at the five are Drew Eubanks and Bol Bol, while Little is their best bet to slot in at the four off the bench. If – and probably when – Nurkic goes down, that lack of depth will be very much exposed.

They do have options with their roster as it is. Eubanks is a decent enough back-up; if called upon to start in the event of Nurkic going down he won't exactly set the world on fire, but with the quality of his teammates he won't necessarily have to. Alternatively, the Suns also have the capacity to play a small ball line-up with Durant at the five, though they won't want the man who perhaps most tightly holds the key to their success bumping shoulders with the likes of Joel Embiid for too long.

So what does all this mean? The Suns roster as currently stands is pretty damn good and will likely go very, very deep into the playoffs, but there's always scope to improve and for Phoenix, that improvement should come in their front court depth.

Given they've got roughly $-62.8 million in cap space they'll be pretty keen to make those moves cheap ones. They're probably pretty sick of making trades at this point, but if they've got one more in the tank then there are a couple of teams who have a surplus of centers who the Suns could look to deal with.

The Pistons are one such example. In Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart they've got a couple of reasonably talented young bigs to fight it out for a starting center spot, but former number one pick James Wiseman is also hanging around in Detroit, looking to finally make his mark on the league.

Likewise the Knicks. Mitch Robinson is their clear starting center, but they've got both Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims set to fight it out for the back-up position. Both of those players are good enough to get decent NBA minutes, but the Knicks might be more keen to explore Sims' more explosive potential, meaning Hartenstein could be better suited to a new home.

Then there's the Pacers. After a whole lot of rigmarole, Myles Turner has ended up staying put, meaning all of Jalen Smith, Isaiah Jackson and Daniel Theis will be fighting for back-up minutes, and they won't all get them. Theis, a world champion, may struggle behind the other two guys in which the Pacers have invested more heavily, and his experience would be welcome on a contender like Phoenix.

Overall, the Suns' roster is looking pretty good, and after dealing Deandre Ayton they've got a little more of the depth they were looking for. But no team is perfect, and their biggest potential flaw lies in their lack of front court back-up, particularly given how fragile Nurkic has been throughout his career. By making one more move to sure up this part of their roster, they can make themselves into an even more intimidating prospect than they already are.