For the past few years, the Phoenix Suns have been one of the most active teams in the NBA when it comes to making moves at the trade deadline. They’ve been one of the most active teams in general. They went from Mikal Bridges to Kevin Durant to Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks. Ever since Mat Ishbia took over in Phoenix, the roster has been in a constant state of change.
But not anymore. Duane Rankin of Arizona Republic reported that the Suns aren’t planning on making moves at this year’s deadline: “The Phoenix Suns have been active around this time of year since Mat Ishbia became team owner in February 2023, but sources inform The Arizona Republic that team officials “love” the current chemistry and aren’t looking to make a move unless it’s an “amazing” deal.”
Ishbia’s Suns have finally learned.
Suns are finally learning from their trade mistakes
Nothing has worked out for the Suns in recent years. Ever since they made the Finals in 2021, it’s been all downhill. They gutted that roster in pursuit of improvement, and it all failed miserably.
Durant coming to town didn’t work out as planned. He never even made it past the second round with the Suns, and the only time he made it past the first was in his very first postseason there—the season he only appeared in eight regular-season games for Phoenix.
After that, Ishbia made things even worse. Rather than letting the Suns move forward with that core, he traded Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton that summer, completely reshaping the team.
Phoenix brought in Bradley Beal, sending the Washington Wizards a ton of draft capital in order to make the move happen. Then, in the Ayton trade, they added Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen.
The rest is history. The Devin Booker-Durant-Beal-led Suns never won a playoff game together. They got swept in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs and failed to even make the postseason in 2025.
It’s clear the Suns have learned from their mistakes. They know they have something good on their hands. Booker, Brooks, and the rest of this year’s roster have completely outperformed expectations.
Why mess with a good thing? They’ve done that before, and it worked out terribly. So, they don’t want to make any rash decisions anymore.
Obviously, it would have been better if the Suns hadn’t rushed their success a few years ago, but they did. So, the only thing they can do now is learn from their mistakes.
And now, it seems as though they are doing just that.