The NBA's offseason has only officially begin, and already the Phoenix Suns rank as one of the laughing stocks of the league. They just traded away Kevin Durant for cents on the dollar - and although not all hope is lost just yet - the 36-year-old leaves Phoenix in a much worse state than when he joined.
That's not his fault, but it will be on new General Manager Brian Gregory - armed with a first-time head coach in Jordan Ott and roster that currently doesn't make sense - to try and work the franchise's way out of this mess. Given that this is also Gregory's first GM job in the league, right now it is looking like one of the least attractive.
Owner Mat Ishbia has put Gregory in a massive lose-lose situation.
He's barely in the job a couple of months, but already it feels like Ishbia signed up his fellow Michigan State alumni both to agree with everything he wants to do, and also be the fall guy when fans revolt against the direction of the organization. Consider that he's already lost the Durant trade - in a historically bad way - when the truth is anybody would have struggled in that position.
Rival teams knew the Suns had no leverage in any Durant talks, to the point the Suns couldn't even get one of their own future first round picks back from the Rockets beyond the 10th selection in the upcoming NBA Draft. Next up will be what to do with Bradley Beal - and if he is bought out as could end up happening - it's not going to fix the Suns' problems either.
Still so crazy to me that Brian Gregory is the Phoenix Suns general manager. https://t.co/c2WAiXRAQv
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) June 22, 2025
That will again be Gregory's fault, as well an unsuccessful summer in which the front office is once again armed with the veteran's minimum to try and make this roster better. Tyus Jones is now a cautionary tale around the league - he went to Phoenix on the minimum to contend and then get paid the following year elsewhere - and neither of those things could end up happening.
Which leads to the uncomfortable conversation about possibly one day trading Devin Booker, in order to truly start over again and build from the ground up. The Oklahoma City Thunder just did this to great success, but they also have the best GM in the league in Sam Presti steering the ship. If the Suns trade Booker, Gregory will be viewed as the bad guy who made it happen.
If the team then cannot build a winning team from scratch - which involves nailing draft picks and signing the right free agents - that will again be on Gregory. If the Suns do nothing else this offseason, guess what? That's Gregory's fault for not trying to fix what is clear broken. To you see the pattern that has emerged here? Brian Gregory has signed on for a job he can never truly win.