One of the standouts of this year’s Olympics was Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanović. The guard helped his home country win bronze, and pushed Team USA to the brink of elimination in the process.
Bogdan has had a respectable NBA career as a role player, averaging 14.7/3.4/3.3 and hitting 38% of his attempts from deep.
Every team can use someone like that, including the Phoenix Suns, who have had multiple opportunities to get Bogdanović in the orange and purple.
Actually, Bogdanović technically was a Sun, but he never played a game for them. Back in 2014, the Suns selected Bogdan with the 27th overall pick of the draft. That summer, he would sign with a team in the Turkish League, where he would remain for the next three seasons instead of coming over to the NBA.
There were a variety of factors that might've made him stay put. The Suns had a crowded backcourt at the time with Goran Dragić and Eric Bledsoe, which stayed that way with both Isaiah Thomas and Brandon Knight passing through The Valley.
The Suns also embraced the tank around that time and weren’t an attractive destination. Finally, if Bogdan stayed overseas long enough, he would be eligible for a bigger contract when he did come over.
Whatever the case may be, the Suns grew frustrated with Bogdan and, due to the emergence of Devin Booker, were content with trading the Serbian in 2016. It would be another year after that before he finally came over to the NBA, playing for the Sacramento Kings.
Given the way the next few years played out, it’s fair to wonder if both parties regretted their decisions.
The Suns guard situation became less crowded in the years following the trade, and by the time Bogdan did come over, the Suns backcourt was thin. He would’ve gotten plenty of starts for them throughout their tanking years before shifting to a bench role, which is similar to how his tenure with the Kings played out.
If Bogdan stayed with the Suns, he would have been a valuable piece for them as they became contenders. The Suns have searched fruitlessly for a bench scorer of his caliber throughout their contention window, and still have not found one.
Maybe that’s not enough to turn the 2021 Finals loss into a win, but he undoubtedly would’ve improved their chances that year and the year after.
Bogdan remained on the Suns radar as he established himself into a quality NBA player, and they had a chance to rectify their mistake a few years later.
Around the time when the 2022 season kicked off, the Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported that the Suns were interested in trading for Bogdan. They were still in search of shooting and scoring off the bench, and would be throughout the year. Despite that, they opted not to trade for him, and instead tried Landry Shamet, Terrence Ross, and T.J. Warren in that role, none of whom succeeded.
The trade the Suns did pull off that season was the one for Kevin Durant, but given Bogdan’s contract and value at the time, it’s unlikely that trading for him would’ve impacted the Suns chances of landing KD or even Bradley Beal later on.
Acquiring Bogdan before the new cap rules took effect would’ve put the Suns at a huge advantage when maneuvering them. They would still be way over the second apron as they are now, but would've started out with much more talent under contract.
Unfortunately, the stars never aligned for the Suns and Bogdan. Which is a bit ironic considering he was one of their best draft picks in the last decade. The Suns have had plenty of success without him, and Bogdan has experienced some playoff success of his own playing for the Atlanta Hawks, but they would have accomplished even more together.