Assets Phoenix Suns once gave away now valued as second best in entire NBA

There is no doubt that the next few years of Phoenix Suns basketball - as the roster is currently constructed - are not going to feature a lot of winning. Which is why we can suggest seemingly outrageous ideas such as this one to make the franchise better at the point guard position.

The hope is that new recruits such as Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks can really pop, while the quicker 18-year-old center Khaman Maluach gets to grips with the league, the better this team is going to be. The Suns are also incentivized to win - which is why they gave Devin Booker a contract extension - because they don't control most of their upcoming first round draft picks.

Suns first round picks in 2027 and 2029 more valuable than ever.

With the outlook of the Suns' franchise uncertain at best right now, Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes reckons their first round picks in 2027 and 2029 - which are currently owned by the Houston Rockets - are the second most valuable trade chips in the entire league right now. Unfortunately for The Valley, Hughes is not wrong either.

Which is not a good place for the organization to be in as they try and find a way out of this mess that they created for themselves, made even worse by the fact they also sent Kevin Durant to Houston as well. So not only did the Rockets acquire the best realistic option from Phoenix this summer to improve their roster - we'll come back to Devin Booker - they also control the Suns' future too.

If they don't have a good year in 2025-26 - getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs again for example - those two pics are massively appealing to all manner of franchises in trade talks. The Suns aren't going to be anything close to contenders for the next two years, which only forces the value of these selections higher.

Hughes does go on to say that the Suns should just cut their losses entirely here, and send Booker to the Rockets for those two picks back plus some young players including Reed Sheppard. While that would give them control over their future once more - which right now they do not have to a worrying degree - this is a step too far.

You can't in one summer send your two best players to a rival that finished above you in the standings last season anyway, even if the path back to relevance becomes more clear. Booker means too much to Phoenix and it would also take away from his own legacy there, even though he didn't ask to be traded.

If the Rockets won with that pair, the Suns would be the laughing stock of the NBA for years to come. Not that riding this situation out is the answer either - Phoenix needs to recoup as much of its own draft capital as it can in the coming years - but their pursuit of a championship backfired and they now need to live with the results.