Valley of the Suns
Fansided

Top-5 former Suns who were great after trading away

By Steve Miner

PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 6: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Phoenix Suns handles the ball against the Utah Jazz on February 6, 2015 at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 6: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Phoenix Suns handles the ball against the Utah Jazz on February 6, 2015 at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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News broke this week that Isaiah Thomas, who was traded this summer to the Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving, should return to the court by January. This is good news for a Cavs team that is in win-now mode, as LeBron is likely to leave at season’s end.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 24: Isaiah Thomas #4 of the Boston Celtics handles the ball against the Phoenix Suns on March 24, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 24: Isaiah Thomas #4 of the Boston Celtics handles the ball against the Phoenix Suns on March 24, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Seeing Thomas in the news so much lately only reminds Phoenix Suns fans of what we missed out on. After juggling three starting-caliber point guards blew up in Jeff Hornacek’s face, the Suns ended up trading two of them. Dragic was an obvious choice as he wanted out (even though he was a fan favorite). Thomas, however, showed a lot of promise during his limited playing time and might have worked well with just Bledsoe in the backcourt. At the very least, trading him for Marcus Thornton and a late 1st round pick was a pretty bad idea (so was replacing him with Brandon Knight).

We know how things turned out with Isaiah Thomas, and even Suns’ General Manager Ryan McDonough admits he would take that one back.

Although, this isn’t the only bad judgement call the Suns have made over the years. What other players have the Suns traded or let go that they wish they could have back?

Here are the top five that I could come up with.

To start, there are some rules to make this list. First, it only includes players who the Suns willingly gave up, i.e., those that the Suns had a choice in bringing back. Second, I’m only including players that actually played for the Suns. Therefore, this won’t include players who the Suns traded on or shortly after the draft. Finally, it will only include those who went on to have their greatest success after they left the Suns, such as Isaiah Thomas.

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