1. Long-Term > Short-Term
That being said, that doesn’t mean there’s no reason for optimism. By trading Dragic, the Suns avoided being sucked into a situation where they had to dish out a five-year, $100 million-plus contract to a 28-year-old. Dragic’s crafty playing style will help him remain effective into his 30s, and the salary cap is set to jump through the roof in the next few years, but now the Suns have cap space to play with.
Marcus Thornton is a streaky bench scorer much like Gerald Green, but if he doesn’t fit, his $8 million contract expires this summer. Even if the Suns keep Granger, he’s on a super cheap contract. In other words, the Suns could be players in free agency this summer.
They’ll likely have to pay Knight a contract that goes into 10 figures, but they have the room to do so after shipping out Dragic and Thomas. And by nabbing all those future first rounders, the Suns made their long-term future a little bit brighter, even if that 2021 unprotected pick is six years down the road — giving the Heat plenty of time to prepare for it.
The Suns still have young, extremely talented players to work with. Bledsoe, Len, the Morrii, Knight and Goodwin form a promising core that will need time to grow together. McDonough did the best he could being forced to work out that many trades in such a short amount of time, so even though losing that valuable Lakers pick hurts, the Suns are still in decent shape with this rebuild.
Next: Phoenix Suns Trade Grades: Goran Dragic Joins Miami Heat