Building a ‘Dream’ Suns team with perfect NBA Draft picks

Since selecting Devin Booker with the 13th pick in 2015, the Phoenix Suns have had six whole picks inside the lottery. And they haven’t exactly nailed them.

Save for an All-Rookie First Team from number one overall selection Deandre Ayton, the sum total accomplishments of those six top selections reads like the Where Are They Now? montage at the end of a really sad documentary. Ahem… (sad violin begins)

Here lie the remains of the Phoenix Suns’ topflight talent, gone too soon and too disappointingly. We mustn’t forget the tragedies of Dragan Bender and Josh Jackson, a pair of now-teamless number four picks, even when All-NBA talent lurked only a few spots later.

Nor should we sneer at the legend of George Papagiannis, the second most important “Giannis” in NBA history, who was sent to Sacramento before he could even spread his wings. Instead, the Suns grabbed Marquese Chriss, a fun but ultimately uninspiring forward who struggles to stay on the floor.

Ayton may still prove useful, though his favor in Phoenix may be wavering. And then came sixth pick Jarrett Culver, who was immediately traded for Dario Saric and the eleventh pick, which would become Cam Johnson—a good player, gone too soon from the Sun-lit halls. The only savior of the class was Sir Mikal Bridges, who now roams free in Brooklyn. (roll end credits)

The Suns have missed on almost every selection they’ve made since Devin Booker.

Thankfully, due to an extremely aggressive new owner in Matt Ishbia, the Suns’ current roster does not reflect this persistent draft failure. A shrewd trade for Bridges on draft nigh in 2018—along with a boatload of first-round picks—facilitated this year’s world-breaking trade for Kevin Durant.

He and Booker should form a solid enough core for the next few years of Durant’s contract, though the supporting cast is looking a bit more like a carousel than a coherent basketball team. Former head coach Monty Williams struggled to find consistent rotations throughout the playoffs, and Frank Vogel’s new administration will have to figure out the filling if this team is going to get over the hump any time soon.

But what if we could go back in time and fix it all for Frank and Co.? What if the Durant trade never had to happen, and Phoenix could keep all its future picks because their time-traveling GM made all the right calls? Such a team would make Booker and Durant look like chump change.

So without further ado, I present to you the time-travel super team constructed from every selection since the Booker pick, with relevant trades considered.