I’m still a little skeptical of this trade, which is making all of the headlines now.

To break it down, here are the potential benefits:

Phoenix

1) Phoenix gets a dominant player for the playoffs, one who has 4 rings. It’s hard to say that Phoenix could have actually won in the playoffs with their current roster. They were a great regular season team, but when defenses get tough, I think the Utah Jazz and the San Antonio Spurs would have prevented them from winning the West, let alone the title. For all their talk, I think Phoenix management even knew that they couldn’t do it with their current roster.
2) Phoenix gets something for Marion, who might bolt after the season anyway. He can opt out of his contract, and he has publicly voiced his displeasure over playing third fiddle to Nash and Stoudemire.
3) Amare Stoudemire gets to play power forward, a more natural position for him — at least, in the playoffs he can. In the regular season, Shaq is probably injured.

Miami

1) Shaun Marion, assuming he doesn’t bolt at the end of the season.
2) No ailing Shaq eating up all their money and giving very little back, except in a post-season which they will not likely be in anyway.
3) Time to get some quality players around Dwyane Wade before he decides whether or not to bolt for greener pastures.

So why am I skeptical?

Phoenix essentially has to pay $20 million per year for the next three years for a player who is too injury prone to do anything except be dominant in the post-season, and this from a team who has been notoriously stingy of late on even being willing to pay first round draft picks a couple of million per year. A trade would probably be good for Phoenix, but it’s hard to say that Shaq is really the player to trade for, from a health standpoint alone.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this happens.