The NBA Draft? The Suns say no thanks

Phoenix already owed Brooklyn four first-round picks from the Kevin Durant trade, including this year’s pick. Now they’ve traded six years of second-round picks to Washington for Bradley Beal, along the right to swap first-rounders in 2024 and 2026.

We have a feeling that the tanking Wizards will not be exercising that pick swap next year.

It’s part of a recent trend in Phoenix to focus outside of the draft for players. Since James Jones took over in 2018, he’s consistently gotten rid of Phoenix’s draft picks. He traded down from No. 6 in the 2019 draft, and then traded Josh Jackson, the No. 4 from 2017, a week later.

Jones parted with No. 24 pick Ty Jerome and the team’s 2022 first-rounder in the Chris Paul trade, dealt lottery pick Marquese Chriss in 2018 and let 2013 lottery pick Alex Len walk. In the Durant deal, former lottery picks Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson headed to Brooklyn.

And in order to add depth around their Big 3 of Beal, Durant and Devin Booker, they may trade their highest pick of all — former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton.

So while the Suns spent a lot of draft capital to put together their super team, they probably weren’t interested in those draft picks anyway. The future is now for Phoenix and the draft is irrelevant.