As the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs are poised to face off in the 2026 NBA Finals, star players throughout the postseason remind Phoenix Suns fans of what could have been.
Phoenix has a lengthy history of whiffing throughout the NBA draft process. Aside from slam dunk selections like current face of the franchise Devin Booker and Rookie of the Year winner Amar’e Stoudemire, a number of busts and draft-day trades have continually hampered the collective joy of Suns fans since the turn of the century.
But as Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges chase a title for New York, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did everything he could to will OKC in a seven-game series loss against San Antonio in the Western Conference Finals, the 2018 NBA draft stands out even more as a major failure for the Suns front office.
The 2018 NBA draft was a disaster for the Phoenix Suns
As we all now know, the big draft blunder in 2018 for Phoenix was selecting center Deandre Ayton out of the University of Arizona with the No. 1 overall pick ahead of Euroleague MVP and future two-time NBA scoring champ Luka Doncic.
Much of the discourse at the time in the Ayton vs. Doncic debate centered around whether international NBA prospects were more likely to bust than American talents who played at colleges in the U.S. Of course, the data showed there isn’t much truth to overseas prospects busting more often in the NBA draft.
Nonetheless, the Suns chose to ignore Doncic’s already remarkable overseas career, Euroleague MVP award and the fact that Phoenix’s coach at the time — Igor Kokoskov — was already familiar with Doncic having coached him prior.
Ayton, though, was the choice. And while both he and Mikal Bridges were part of the 2021 Suns team that reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993, DA’s tenure in The Valley ultimately ended in a three-team trade shipping him to the Portland Trail Blazers as the Suns got Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkic and other pieces in return.
Speaking of Bridges, the No. 10 overall pick was traded on draft night to Phoenix, one slot ahead of the future MVP, SGA. Bridges is a solid player in his own right, and had some great moments in a Suns uniform, but missing on both Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander is an all-timer of a “what if” in hindsight.
And the Suns 2018 draft woes didn’t even end there…
After selecting DA over Doncic at No. 1 overall and trading for Bridges at No. 10 instead of targeting SGA, Phoenix somehow whiffed on a third All-NBA talent in that same draft.
With the 31st pick, the Suns drafted French point guard Elie Okobo over fellow point guard and Bridges’ Villanova teammate in Brunson, who was picked two slots later at No. 33 overall.
Okobo had a disastrous NBA career, playing parts of just two seasons in Phoenix while never shooting better than 39.8% from the floor before flaming out. He played 108 total games in the NBA.
Brunson, meanwhile, just guided the Knicks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
With hindsight, the Suns had their choice of Doncic, SGA and Brunson at various slots. They passed on all three, and now they’re still looking for a solid point guard to slot beside Booker.
It’s a wonder how the Suns made the Finals despite that flurry of draft blunders, but as time goes by, it becomes more clear that Phoenix's scouting department missed the mark in historical fashion.
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