(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Phoenix Suns have gone all-in on the present, and they have seriously mortgaged their future in order to do so.
In February, they traded for superstar forward Kevin Durant and paid a king’s ransom in order to get him, surrendering five future first-round draft picks and two very good complementary players in Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson.
Then came another blockbuster trade this week that netted Phoenix Bradley Beal, a three-time All-Star, for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, six second-round draft picks, and four first-round pick swaps.
This means the Suns will not be in control of any of their draft picks until 2031, which is a whopping eight years from now.
In 2024, 2026, AND 2028 the Wizards or Nets will have the right to swap for a first-round draft pick before the Suns are able to claim it for themselves pic.twitter.com/4YWa05zQVr
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 22, 2023
While many feel the Suns have just made themselves the second-best team in the Western Conference and possibly the co-favorites to reach next year’s NBA Finals along with the world champion Denver Nuggets, the reality is that they have made two very risky moves.
For one, the Durant and Beal trades have left them severely bereft of depth, not to mention a legitimate floor general and point guard in Paul, even though he is in decline at age 38.
A number of teams in recent years, including Durant’s last team, the Brooklyn Nets, have proven that one cannot win it all with a top-heavy roster.
Then there is the matter of Durant’s age, plus his wear and tear.
He will turn 35 just before the start of training camp, and ever since tearing his Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals, he has been injury-prone.
He played in just 47 games this season, and he played in just eight regular-season games with Phoenix because of two separate injuries.
Phoenix seems to have adopted the Los Angeles Rams’ approach of completely devaluing draft picks in order to win a world championship right now, only in a much more risky way.
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