2. Dante Exum
The Suns missed out by not signing Dante Exum this summer, but so too did a lot of teams. Instead it was the Dallas Mavericks who brought the Australian back from Europe, and in doing so helped him to completely rejuvenate his career in the league.
This one hurts because of all of the holes that Exum could have filled on the current roster. Exum has experience running an NBA team and although he is not the most composed point guard out there, his athleticism and newfound shooting ability from beyond the arc more than make up for that. Still, he would have been an excellent backup behind Booker.
Exum is also somehow shooting 45.2 percent from deep - and although that has come on only 2.1 attempts per game - that kind of scoring far surpasses that of Watanabe. It would be better to have a guard who can knock down a 3-pointer and is putting up 9.3 points per night by scoring in a variety of ways in Exum, than Watanabe who is struggling from beyond the arc and averaging 4.2 points.
Worst of all, Exum was signed to a two-year, $6.1 million deal, with the second year non-guaranteed. In other words, exactly the kind of contract that the Suns gave to Watanabe, Bol, Gordon and Josh Okogie, to name a few. Their roster is filled out by players on minimum deals, yet they let the perfect one slip through their grasp and into the hands of a direct rival in the Mavericks.