The Phoenix Suns made late moves Monday, waiving Koby Brea and then making a surprise move to add Drew Timme. The departure of Brea after one season is the latest reminder to fans not to assume every pick or addition the franchise makes is going to add to their quest to win a championship.
Suns could no longer afford to give Brea time to develop
In his lone season in The Valley, Brea appeared in only 12 games, although he did shoot an impressive 43.3 percent from deep on 2.5 attempts per game. A small sample size, but given the Suns' need to stretch the court for Devin Booker and company, perhaps he could have had some use with the second unit moving forward.
The reality is that the Suns are trying to win a playoff series as soon as this season, and Brea did not figure into those plans. You need only look at the organization's former first-round pick in Ryan Dunn to see how difficult picking the right players and giving them time to mature into the talent they are hoped to be actually is.
Dunn has somehow given himself another opportunity to stick on this roster for the 2026-27 season after some nice preseason play. That is surely in part because he is a former first-rounder, and giving up on him after only two seasons would be a bad look for a team that has precious future draft capital.
Not every youngster can go on to flourish and exceed expectations like the recently extended Oso Ighodaro. If anything, he is the exception rather than the rule: a second-round pick who is going to start for the franchise to begin the regular season. Even that didn't look likely 12 months ago when he struggled badly to begin his sophomore campaign.
Suns still making more right moves than wrong to help Booker win
There were moments during Summer League last season when Brea looked like "Booker-Lite" with his shooting stroke and ability to create a little for himself. That didn't translate into a full-time spot in Phoenix, and it is a timely reminder to fans that it's okay to be critical of players or to not believe they can add to a winning team once we have seen a large enough sample size.
That is not hating on the Suns or their own players; that is the reality of building a roster in the NBA. There will be mistakes, and some players just won't fit with the vision the franchise has for success. Brea never looked like a Jordan Ott player in the same way Jordan Goodwin does, for example, but he could excel elsewhere if given the chance.
It is not a failure on the part of the front office that the pick didn't work out, and it remains acceptable for fans to question future additions and not be ridiculed for it either.
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