Suns' Past Trades Rank Among Worst NBA Mistakes of Last 5 Years

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns officially moved on from the Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal era in Phoenix this offseason after underachieving greatly in two-straight seasons with the star duo alongside Devin Booker.

Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets last month, while Beal was bought out last week.

With both players on the roster, the Suns ended up winning 0 playoff games across two seasons and missed the playoffs completely last season for the first time since 2020 despite Beal and Durant ranking among the top-10 highest paid players in the league.

ESPN's Zach Kram ranked the Suns' trades for Durant and Beal in 2023 as the second-worst mistakes in the NBA since 2020 behind only the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kram wrote:

"Mat Ishbia officially assumed controlling interest as Phoenix's new owner on Feb. 7, 2023. Just over 24 hours later, the Suns traded for Durant. So-called new owner syndrome had never before manifested so quickly: Ishbia pushed his team to give up a massive haul for Durant -- Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected first-round picks and a swap -- setting into motion a chain of events that have all but wrecked a team that reached the NBA Finals in 2020-21 and won a league-best 64 games in 2021-22.

"It wasn't just the Durant trade that was the problem; it was the Suns' insistence on doubling down again and again, mortgaging every aspect of their future for increasingly long odds of winning in the present. That summer, Phoenix traded Chris Paul for Bradley Beal, who had a no-trade clause and more than $200 million remaining on his contract.

"The total cost for Durant and Beal, counting the extra picks that Brooklyn and Washington landed when they rerouted Bridges, Johnson and Paul, was 12 first-round picks and six swaps, plus by far the most expensive roster in the NBA and extraordinary punishments wrought by the second apron.

"And the reward for all of that aggressive spending? A second-round playoff loss in Durant's first season, a first-round sweep in his second (Beal's first) and an 11th-place finish in the West last season.

"Now Durant has been traded away for much less than what brought him to Phoenix; Beal has been bought out and stretched, and will count $19.4 million against the Suns' cap for the next half-decade; and the Suns don't control their first-round pick until 2032. No franchise in the NBA is in a worse long-term situation than Phoenix."

The Suns will attempt to recoup their losses and try to make light of the future without Durant and Beal beginning next season, as they were able to get a lot younger this offseason even with the lingering effects of Durant and Beal's tenure in the Valley.