By the time this column reaches your eyes, the direction that the Phoenix Suns organization takes is likely to have been decided.

There are three doors­ — here is what lies behind each.

There’s one mistake door.

Door one: Trade Amar’e Stoudemire for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, J.J. Hickson and a late first-round pick.

He is the ‘Big Z’. He’s big and his first name starts with a Z, but his nickname is much more telling — put me to sleep.

But if Ilgauskas agrees to a four-way sprint tournament with Gheorghe Muresan, Charles Barkley and Dick Bavetta, I’m in.

You guessed it — door one is the mistake door.

First, Hickson is too undersized and under-skilled to make his athleticism an asset worth trading for. Ilgauskas is an expiring contract who would likely sit at the end of the bench or be waived.

Essentially, this is a salary purge deal that relies on a basic premise: the Suns are clearing salary in hopes of entering the market in the offseason.

Chances are you won’t be able to sign a player of a caliber better than Stoudemire. Realistically, if you make this deal and Stoudemire opts out of his final contract year, he may be the best bargain anyway.

Door two: Trade Stoudemire to the Miami Heat for Michael Beasley, two first-round picks and a filler.

You would have to be Michael Beasley kind-of-crazy not to make this happen.

Wait, maybe that’s why the ink hasn’t dried on this deal.

Speaking of ink, did you know that Beasley has tattoos of plastic bags on his back? Yeah, a lot of people think the same thing you just thought.

Maybe that is Robert Sarver making sure he gets high-character players and not high players.

Frankly, Beasley has issues and did post suicidal messages on his Twitter account.

But he is 20 years old and putting up 16 points and seven rebounds in just over 30 minutes per game.

He’s developed quite a bit since his rookie year, and given his ball-handling ability, left-handedness and range, has a higher ceiling than Stoudemire.

Plus, by clearing “Stat’s” contract, the Suns would actually sign two first round picks. The Heat aren’t going to win, so the picks could enter lottery territory. If Beasley wasn’t such a no-brainer, this deal would be.

Door three: Keep Amar’e.

Sure, it is sort of insanity defined. Maybe the Suns can change expectations and keep the turnstiles revolving.

It’s hard to imagine a team winning an NBA championship with Stoudemire as the second-best player. But, look at how the other top teams in the Western Conference went from very good to elite.

The Lakers lucked into a deal for Pau Gasol.

The Nuggets lucked into a deal for Chauncey Billups.

Both teams took advantage of insider trading (a different kind).

While the Lakers have spent like the Yankees, paying over $40 million to the league for being $20 million over the luxury cap, the Nuggets organizational model and spending is similar to the Suns.

It doesn’t appear that Nash nor Stoudemire’s performance will drop precipitously in the next two seasons. Perhaps in that time, the Suns will have the right pieces and connections to take advantage of a team trying to rid itself of a player good enough to put the Suns into the “elite” conversation.

Given the economic conditions of the league, Stoudemire is likely to opt into his final year. While the risk of losing him for nothing in two years is great, the alternative is losing him for J.J. Hickson and being much less likely to sign a player of Stoudemire’s caliber.

That makes door number three both the second-worst and best option.

Reach Nick at nruland@asu.edu