With the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns selected Khaman Maluach, freshman center out of Duke University.
The Suns used their own draft pick, but it took quite the circuitious route to get back to them. They included the pick in their trade for Kevin Durant at the 2023 Trade Deadline, part of a truly massive haul that Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks extracted from new owner Matt Ishbia -- picks that they are nowhere near close to paying out.
Last summer, the Houston Rockets then made a pick-only trade with the Nets, swapping around to send Brooklyn's own picks back to them. That landed the 2025 Phoenix Suns' first-round pick in Houston, a pick that landed 10th after the Suns' disappointing season.
That pick was just returned on Sunday when the Suns traded Kevin Durant to Houston in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and five second-round picks. That set the Suns up to make a lottery pick to start opening a new chapter of basketball success in the desert.
Suns draft Khaman Maluach
It was an open question what caliber of prospect would be available with the No. 10 pick. While it's a valuable lottery pick, the draft was often thought of as having a top 8 collection of prospects. With the New Orleans Pellcans at No. 7 and the Toronto Raptors at No. 9 both in need of centers -- and with Toronto's Masai Ujiri holding such close bonds with NBA Africa -- it seemed like something close to a lock that the best center in the draft would be off the board.
Yet the Brooklyn Nets surprised everyone to draft BYU point guard Egor Demin, and the Raptors took defensive maestro Colin Murray-Boyles. Suddenly, Khaman Maluach was waiting for them at No. 10 to set up their center of the future.
In a somewhat shocking moment, they also traded two first-round picks for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams at the same time they drafted Maluach. They went from zero viable centers to having two, and now have built a strength in the middle.
There is still more work to do to dig themselves out of this hole. They may end up needing to move on from Devin Booker in the near future. For now, however, they got useful players and a high-pedigree center back for Kevin Durant to jumpstart a pivot. With Maluach falling, the pick ended up with something approach a best-case scenario for the Suns.
It's only one move, but new GM Brian Gregory has a feather in his cap.