We are over one year removed from the Phoenix Suns giving up on the Kevin Durant era, and it has taken that short amount of time for the best player the franchise got back from the Houston Rockets in Jalen Green to actually end up being the worst.
Green doesn't move needle now or figure to be future asset
Landing a 24-year-old former second overall pick who was coming off a postseason explosion in a win over the Golden State Warriors sounded great in theory, but the reality has been that Dillon Brooks has been much the better contributor in Phoenix.
Right away, he became the emotional heartbeat, giving out nicknames such as "Villain Jr." to Collin Gillespie and treating every regular season contest like it was do-or-die. The Suns badly needed that injection of snarling confidence, and it was a big reason they won 45 games and made the playoffs.
A veteran international who has elevated rosters in the past being more valuable than Green in year one was somewhat acceptable, but having less trade value than 19-year-old center Khaman Maluach is a whole other story.
There is a premium on big men with upside in the NBA today, and any organization interested in trading for Maluach would be doing so because of the prospect of what he could become. But when you consider that he was added to the Durant deal as a 10th overall pick himself, to have overtaken Green in value despite having achieved so little in his rookie campaign is alarming.
Green doesn't even have the reputation as a player who shows up every night to fall back on at this point, either. He was an Ironman while in Houston, but in his first season with the Suns, he was limited to only 32 appearances thanks to a persistent hamstring issue.
Green running out of time to change narrative
The best solution for the Suns and Green could be to bring him off the bench. If that happens, it will be hard to change the opinion that he ended up being the worst player they got in return for Durant.
Only morphing into one of the top sixth men in the league (Collin Gillespie is knocking on the door) could salvage the situation, and that is far from a given. As long as Brooks keeps producing and proving he was worth extending, and assuming Maluach continues growing as expected, Green will face an uphill battle.
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