The Phoenix Suns had Devin Booker, and they had two incredibly talented young wings in Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson.
They decided that wasn’t good enough. They had to go for it. They needed Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant, and to get the assets to do so, they needed to get rid of Bridges and Johnson.
Man, that hasn’t aged well.
Turning Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first-round picks and a swap into Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and a late lotto pick in a middling draft in the span of just 28 months is franchise detonation levels of asset mismanagement.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 22, 2025
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Bridges was eventually traded again, from the Nets to the Knicks, for a whopping five first-round picks.
This wasn’t a sure thing to backfire, but it sure did.
Beal has been awful. And although Durant is still his incredibly efficient self even as he ages, the total package of this Suns team never worked out.
Phoenix is in dire straits now. There’s still a decision to be made as to whether a rebuild is next, or whether they try and let Booker and Jalen Green cook together.
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Beal won’t be able to be traded. His contract is too heavy. He may eventually be cut.
And the Suns will just look longingly across the country to the Big Apple, where Bridges and Johnson are both stars for the Knicks and Nets, respectively.
Sometimes, keeping around the young talents may be the way to go, after all.
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