Suns forward Amar'e Stoudemire admitted that trade rumors bothered him earlier this week.

"In the previous two games, it did (distract me) a little bit, but I got over it," Stoudemire said. "I've just got to keep playing and putting it aside and focus on the game.

"It's the nature of the beast. It's the way the business has always been played. I really try not to be too involved in it. I let the front office handle it with my agent, and the decision is made from there."

Stoudemire was benched during the entire fourth quarter of Phoenix's game against Dallas on Thursday night.

"We have to have him rebound better," coach Alvin Gentry said.

"We said right from the start that - he Robin (Lopez) and Channing (Frye) - we need the combination of those guys to come up with 17-20 rebounds for us. They haven't done that for us in the last few games, so we've got have Amar'e step it back up, really."

Stoudemire has just 21 rebounds over his last five games.