The Phoenix Suns are heading into the 2025-26 regular season with very different expectations than we have seen in the last couple of years, but that is no bad thing. Fans were ready to move on from the unsuccessful Kevin Durant era, while they couldn't wait to see the back of Bradley Beal.
Keeping Devin Booker around and engaged was the main thing - and outside of this burning media day question - the organization appears to have done just that. It is going to be the 28-year-old's show this season in The Valley, and the front office have attempted to add younger players with more upside for the future around him.
Suns need to be taking Kobe Bufkin style swings on talent.
With essentially all of the offseason movement now complete, few were paying attention when the Brooklyn Nets - also rebuilding like the Suns now are - swung a trade for Kobe Bufkin of the Atlanta Hawks. Casual fans aren't going to be too familiar with the guard's game, he is one of the deeper cuts in the league.
The Atlanta Hawks are trading guard Kobe Bufkin to the Brooklyn Nets for cash considerations, sources tell ESPN. Bufkin was Atlanta's No. 15 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, and this now gives him a fresh opportunity in Brooklyn, and the Hawks some roster flexibility. pic.twitter.com/5km2RMICrS
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 15, 2025
But what Bufkin also happens to be is a 21-year-old who was moved by the Hawks because of circumstance more than anything else. They are running out of time to prove that building around Trae Young can lead to long-term success, which was why they went out and got Kristaps Porzingis themselves this summer. Alongside Dyson Daniels, they are in win-now mode.
Getting a prospect like this for cash considerations is also a piece of business that you do every time, and this is the part the Suns better be paying attention to. Already this offseason we've seen names like Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook mentioned as potential solutions to their clear point guard problem. But when you're rebuilding known faces should be out, in favor of high potential.
Which made targeting Devin Carter of the Sacramento Kings - who themselves were rumored to be interested in Westbrook - the play here. What the Suns should be doing right now - and which the Nets just pulled off successfully - is watching other franchises who are panicking for different reasons, and gratefully scooping up the talent they give up on to soon.
The Kings were doing Kings things by talking themselves in Westbrook maybe being the answer, while the Hawks are in a different situation. They have a more competent front office, but they also have to add players who can help them win right now. Bufkin is not one of those guys - at least right now - which is why the Nets pounced.
With Booker signed through to the end of the decade, taking swings on under-appreciated assets elsewhere will help the Suns navigate this rebuilding process more quickly. Getting three rookies of their own for this coming season is a good start, the next phase of the plan is outsmarting other front offices. The blueprint on how to achieve this is right there in front of them.