The Phoenix Suns were recently named the fourth-worst front office in the NBA by Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, and he is unfortunately correct in his assessment.
Unwillingness to plan for future will eventually cripple Suns
The main bone of contention Quinn has is the Suns’ complete lack of future planning, as evidenced by their desire to trade future draft capital as soon as it is available to them. They don’t even have access to all of their own picks currently, thanks to the time spent in the second apron when Kevin Durant was in town.
To have given away an unprotected first in 2033 as part of a package for Miles Bridges is downright negligible, and at that point, Booker will be 36-years-old, if he is even still in Phoenix at all. To give the front office some credit here, they have done a nice job of changing course in the wake of moving on from Durant and Bradley Beal at a time when nobody else thought it was possible.
Booker, Bridges, and Dillon Brooks are not a bad starting point; the problem is they have been brought together to win now and aren’t close to the level of some other contenders in the league.
Another frustrating issue with this short-term thinking, which warrants the Suns being criticized by Quinn in this way, is how sneaky good the front office has become at drafting. Toumani Camara debacle aside, this is a franchise that found Oso Ighodaro and Rasheer Fleming in the second round and got a forward in Koa Peat, who looks like he will help this team right away.
Extracting the 10th overall pick in 2025 in the form of Khaman Maluach from the Houston Rockets was another smart decision, and if the Suns had some future draft capital to pair with the clever moves their front office has made, despite clear restrictions, they would be a problem. Instead, it has become a yearly scramble to put the best product possible around Booker.
Suns finding value around the fringes going to waste
The organization has also done a brilliant job of unearthing diamonds in the rough, which has helped to keep them surprisingly competitive. Former two-way hero Collin Gillespie is the standard-bearer here, although Jordan Goodwin and Jamaree Bouyea also qualify.
Nabbing Pat Spencer on a two-way was tasty business, while Haywood Highsmith is the most underrated player on their roster. Finding this kind of value to fill out their roster is excellent, but it would be so much more impactful if the Suns were both better placed now to win and if more of their own future draft picks were secured.
That is the dream combination with which to build a winner around Booker, and they are missing a critical piece of that puzzle.
The only way to fill their war chest with picks once more is to trade Booker, and owner Mat Ishbia has been firm in his stance that that won’t be happening on his watch. Which means Quinn is sadly correct in his assessment of the franchise.
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