After Trae Young — a four-time All-Star and former All-NBA guard — was traded by the Atlanta Hawks for a package that didn’t include a single draft pick, it seems the NBA as a whole may be moving on from the era of blockbuster mega-deals wherein multiple first round picks are shipped off for an established player. (Cut to Ted Stepien rolling over in his grave.)
As the Oklahoma City Thunder show that building through the draft can win you a title (TBD on titles, plural), the era of teams tripping over themselves to form a “Big Three” may be in the rearview mirror.
The Phoenix Suns, likewise, are showing that a cohesive team with depth that plays hard can be superior to a top-heavy roster with big-name stars and a roster filled out with minimum contracts.
Phoenix joins teams like the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers as cautionary tales of the downside of mortgaging future draft picks on established stars.
ESPN’s Zach Kram broke down lessons from 14 blockbuster trades since 2013, including two made by the Suns.
In that mix was the ill-fated Nets deal to acquire aging Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics for four first-round picks. Boston used the future picks Brooklyn gave up to draft both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
While it remains to be seen if the Suns’ recent blockbusters will reach that level of disaster-class, they each earned “Major Failure” grades from Kram.
Kevin Durant, Brad Beal blockbusters among the worst in recent NBA history
In 2023, the Suns opted to trade “The Twins” Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, along with Jae Crowder and five first-round picks/swaps for Durant.
Fast-forward to 2025-26 and the KD era in Phoenix had already reached its end.
“This trade would be a failure just from the Suns giving up five first-round picks and swaps,” Kram writes. “The fact that they also gave up Bridges and Johnson, only to watch Brooklyn trade them for first-round picks, makes this arguably the most expensive trade in NBA history.”
As we now know, the return on investment for the Suns was one playoff series win in three years with KD in tow (amid a revolving door of coaching changes).
Provided the Suns had already reached the NBA Finals with Devin Booker, Bridges and Johnson on the roster, it’s tough to justify this trade with hindsight.
At the time, the logic was “It’s Kevin Durant.” He’s a future Hall of Famer and one of the best scorers the league has seen or will ever see.
Unfortunately, the Suns opted to compound this “major failure” of a blockbuster by doubling down with another.
If there’s any silver lining, the Suns at least opted to send the Wizards pick swap rights instead of unprotected firsts in the Beal trade. All told, the Wiz received Chris Paul and swap rights in 2024 (not exercised), 2026 (also high likelihood to not be exercised), 2028 and 2030.
Kram notes that the Suns may never deliver any draft capital to Washington given the Suns’ turnaround and the Wizards’ standing as a rebuilding team, but this trade was pretty indefensible even in the moment.
“Beal’s fit in Phoenix was such a debacle, in terms of roster fit and the franchise’s finances, that this trade still isn’t redeemable,” Kram wrote.
The Suns, of course, ultimately waived and bought out the remainder of Beal’s deal, effectively paying the three-time All-Star to not play for them.
But as the Suns continue to beat expectations in 2025-26 thanks to additions of Mark Williams, Dillon Brooks and first-year head coach Jordan Ott, Kram notes it’s not all doom and gloom in The Valley despite those ugly miscues on blockbuster trades.
“Even Phoenix, which looked to be in the worst shape of any team in the league last summer after the failures of the Durant and Beal trades, already has a winning record again this season,” he writes. “Even the failures aren’t forever.”
Giving up picks can certainly hamstring front offices as they look to build out a roster without any draft capital, but as Kram notes, the losses in terms of financial and roster-building flexibility is the true death knell for most ill-fated blockbuster trades.
Perhaps the KD era in Phoenix would have ended differently had the Suns not also opted to add Beal in a short-sighted attempt at a “Big Three.”
On that front, we can only wonder what could have been.