The Feb. 23 trade deadline is a little more than a month a away, and in recent weeks forward P.J. Tucker, center Tyson Chandler and guard Brandon Knight have been mentioned in trade speculation. Of those three, the Phoenix Suns are likely getting more calls for Tucker, while Knight might not be drawing too much interest.

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, sources are telling him the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves are looking for a top defender and have called Suns' GM Ryan McDonough regarding the availability of Tucker. ESPN's Ian Begley also reported this month that the New York Knicks see Tucker as a possible trade target because of his defensive skill set.

Tucker, 31, is in the final year of his contract and he can leave for nothing in July as an unrestricted free agent, which has led to a lot of speculation that he might be moved to a 2017 playoff contender so Phoenix can get some assets for him. McDonough will likely ask for a good player or draft picks in return, but might not be able to get what he is seeking as fair trade value.

"Generally, I think we’re past the point where we’re looking for a volume of picks that aren’t very good or aren’t going to look like they’re very good," McDonough told the Burns and Gambo Show on Wednesday. "A second-round pick is not something we’d be excited about getting for one of our core players. We certainly put P.J. in that mix.

"Just to trade one of our core guys for a second-round pick -- given that we have all of our own picks going forward, given that we have those two Miami picks that are getting closer to conveying, potentially starting next year in the 2018 draft -- second-round picks, they don’t really move the needle a lot for us."

Tucker has also been a major factor in the development of many of the young players, especially Devin Booker, which is why McDonough will likely offer his forward a major contract in July. Tucker is making $5.3 million this season and might be able to triple that as a free agent.

"We have plenty of money available going forward. We don’t have another player like him on the roster. There’s certainly a chance we could re-sign him," McDonough said.

This season, Knight has been relegated to the sixth-man role after starting for most of his career, and his stat-line across the board is down from previous seasons. Through 38 appearances, Knight is averaging 12.2 points, 2.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds. In 2015-16, Knight averaged 19.6 points, 5.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds. Sources have told Gambo that Knight rates out poorly as he is "below replacement level" when it comes to his stats. Also, Knight is ranked 451 out of 452 NBA players with a season plus-minus of minus-7.4.

Knight, 25, is in the second season of his contract, making $12.6 million, and is owed $43.9 million running from 2017-18 through 2019-20.

-- Nick Silva