You can’t bring up the Phoenix Suns these days without getting into the future of Kevin Durant, and whether he will be traded. The looming extension for Devin Booker, and how the team handles the Bradley Beal situation are close seconds.
That is all fair. These focuses also slightly miss the mark. More than the Suns should be obsessing over blockbuster moves, they should be figuring out how to regain control over their own future.
And that starts with re-acquiring their 2026 first-round pick.
The Suns can reshape their future with this trade
As things currently stand, Phoenix does not have the rights to its own first-round pick until 2032. That is forever away. But they have the power to change that—almost immediately.
It begins with a phone call to the Washington Wizards, who have the right to swap their own pick next season with the Suns’ selection. Phoenix has since traded subsequent swaps in the same year, but because those all include “less favorable” language, it can theoretically retain control over its own 2026 first if Washington gives it back.
How would the Suns pry that swap from the Wizards? Like this:
Surrendering control over two outright first-rounders seems like a lot at first glance. It’s not. We are talking about two ultra-low-end first-rounders for the right to Phoenix’s own pick next season. That is a huge deal.
The Suns could use a gap year
Re-acquiring that 2026 first allows—begs, even—the Suns to embrace a gap year. They could trade KD to the highest bidder, hope a deal materializes for Beal, flip other veterans like Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen for whatever they could get, and treat the 2025-26 campaign like a rebuilding season.
Yes, that would be tough to stomach. But if handled properly, Phoenix would have a high lottery pick in 2026. From there, the Suns can recalibrate around Booker, that first-round prospect, and whatever they get out of a Kevin Durant trade.
That’s not a bad spot to be. Even if you can’t move Beal before then, he will be on an expiring contract entering 2026-27, and perhaps more open to waiving his no-trade clause.
Selling Booker on this vision is the hardest part. But he doesn’t want to leave Phoenix. If the Suns offer him his two-year, $150 million(ish) extension and are open about their plan, there won’t be as much urgency, or potential combustibility.
The perfect KD trade can make this even better
What’s more, a Kevin Durant trade has the power to increase the appeal of traveling down this path.
The Houston Rockets continue to be mentioned as a potential suitor. If the Suns can get their best package to include this year’s No. 10 pick, and Phoenix’s own 2027 first, they will have successfully recaptured their next three draft selections.
So many possibilities open up in this case. Not only do you add another top-10 pick to the assets mentioned above, but having that 2027 first lets the Suns build more aggressive trade packages, or lean deeper into the short-term-rebuild approach. Either way, they would be in better shape as their other post-2027 pick commitments start to convey.
Compared to where the Suns currently sit, this kind of flexibility isn’t just useful. It’s something they don’t have now: a possible pathway toward saving their entire future.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.