Suns Offseason, Miles Bridges Trade Still Being Slammed

Not everybody was a fan of the Phoenix Suns' offseason.

The Suns mostly stuck to their guns in terms of roster-building, opting to sign their own priority free agents and keeping continuity in focus of the big picture.

However, the acquistion of Miles Bridges continues to dominate headlines around Phoenix, and in terms of offseason grades, the Suns are still being slammed.

What Yahoo! Said

Yahoo!'s Ben Rohrbach on why he gave the Suns a "D" grade:

"The Suns had a surprisingly successful 2025-26 campaign, securing the No. 8 seed in the West's playoffs, where they were swept by the Thunder. They did so with Dillon Brooks (who they retained on a fair three-year, $73 million extension) and Jalen Green as their second- and third-most potent scorers behind All-Star Devin Booker. It felt like an easy season from which they could build momentum.

"So, what was their big swing? Trading Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and their 2033 first-round draft pick to the Charlotte Hornets for … Miles Bridges, who missed the 2022-23 season upon pleading no contest to a felony domestic violence charge. He went to Michigan State, as did Suns owner Mat Ishbia, and that seems to be a factor in the decision, which just feels weird. Bridges has yet to contribute to a playoff team.

"It is possible to like Luke Kennard as a replacement for Allen, to think Bridges is an upgrade from O'Neale and to believe in Koa Peat as a high-energy prospect, and to also not like Phoenix's offseason. The Suns traded a valuable asset — their far-out unprotected pick — for Bridges, who holds an expiring $22.8 million contract. Bizarre."

Dissecting The Grade

In theory, the Suns did have a nice opportunity to take a step forward after making the playoffs last season. However, it would have been awfully tough for the Suns to make any substantial moves given their lack of cap space, draft capital and pending free agents.

It's not as if the Suns had every resource available before just squandering it.

Phoenix mostly handled in-house business first before making their two biggest moves of the offseason in trading up for Peat in the 2026 draft and acquiring Bridges. The Suns very clearly wanted to improve their play in the post, and from that angle, they did improve.

It's very fair to criticize the move for Bridges, both on and off the court. It didn't feel like he improved their biggest weakness (size/length) in the starting lineup. Phoenix's three-point shooting is also set to take a drop back next season as a result of losing both Allen and O'Neale. Kennard was one of the league's best three-point shooters last season, though the volume isn't there for him to fill the multiple pairs of shoes missing.

Overall, the "D" grade feels pretty harsh here. It feels possible to not be completely in love with what the Suns did this offseason while also acknowledging they were somewhat limited in their abilities to improve, at least outside of the margins.

It didn't feel like the Suns got substantially worse over the last few months, which would have been deserving of the grade.

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