The Phoenix Suns might be about to go through a rough period without their two best players as a result of injury, but thankfully they have made great roster decisions to see them through this bump in the road.
They are likely to miss out on adding Keon Ellis to their roster, but the fact he is viewed as a player who could help the Suns only proves what the fanbase has quietly known for some time now.
Suns have become excellent at evaluating talent to round out team
You can go as far back as the Deandre Ayton trade to see this in action, even though adding Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen felt like a loss at the time.
Nurkic didn't quite work out, although quite what the Bosnian was supposed to do on such a top-heavy roster is still unclear all this time later.
Allen though quickly became the third option in the absence of Bradley Beal through injury, and as the second-longest tenured player now in The Valley continues to be the elite 3-point shooter they need.
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The franchise did well to add Royce O'Neale under similar circumstances, but it was moving on from Beal and Kevin Durant that really showed us how good they have become at surrounding Devin Booker with talent that has been overlooked elsewhere.
They made solid draft choices in Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, even if the jury remains out on Khaman Maluach. Then there is Collin Gillespie, in some ways the jewel in the crown of this movement.
A two-way player who has come in and been everything the Suns have needed and more, and at this point is a starter for a group that will make the playoffs if they can get healthy.
Trading for Mark Williams was a risk that paid off in a big way, while finding Jordan Goodwin and Jamaree Bouyea on the scrap heap and turning them into key rotation players was amazing.
The same is also true of Isaiah Livers, and you can see why head coach Jordan Ott rates him so highly. Another player who was under-appreciated elsewhere, and who Phoenix quietly turned into somebody once more.
Nigel Hayes-Davis was a whiff and we can admit that, but Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green coming to Phoenix in place of Durant also happened at the perfect time.
All it took was a change of direction and no longer hunting stars for the Suns to show everybody that they have quietly become one of the best organizations in the league at evaluating talent in many different ways.
They now have proven success through the NBA Draft, trades, two-way guys and in signing forgotten about players to the back end of their roster. It is one of the key pillars of their success this season.