Suns Earn Mediocre Grade for 2025 Offseason

The Phoenix Suns have had one of their more eventful offseasons in franchise history so far this summer to create almost an entirely new roster, as well as hiring a new coach and general manager.

Phoenix notably traded away Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets last month in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the drafts rights to Khaman Maluach (No. 10 pick), Rasheer Fleming (No. 31 pick), Koby Brea (No. 41 pick) and a 2026 second-round pick.

It also bought out Bradley Beal, choosing to waive and stretch $97 million from his contract over the next five years and signaling the end of a very disappointing past two seasons in the Valley with Beal and Durant alongside Devin Booker, who signed a massive two-year, $145 million extension this month that ties him to the Suns until 2030.

In terms of bringing in players outside of the Durant trade, the Suns traded for Mark Williams to bolster their center position even more by only giving up two non-favorable first-round picks and Vasa Micic. They also re-signed Collin Gillespie, signed EuroLeague Finals MVP Nigel Hayes-Davis and picked up two guards in Jordan Goodwin and Jared Butler, who will compete for the third-string point guard spot in training camp.

All of these moves came after Brian Gregory was promoted internally to general manager, and Jordan Ott landed his first head coaching job after being an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers this past season.

The notable holdovers from last season's team are Booker, Ryan Dunn, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale, Gillespie, Nick Richards and Oso Ighodaro.

The Suns completely reshaped their identity with all of these moves to become younger and more of a defensive-minded team around Booker.

ESPN's Kevin Pelton gave the Suns a C+ grade for their offseason, writing:

"Like Milwaukee, Phoenix put a massive amount of dead salary on its books with a buyout for the final two years of Bradley Beal's contract. After dealing Kevin Durant, the Suns can't realistically contend. Even making the playoffs will be a stretch in the West. But they have flipped their roster in a younger direction with three 2025 draft picks -- having started the summer with none -- and 23-year-old center Mark Williams, acquired via trade."

There's no doubt the Suns have a good job of doing what they could with limited assets, especially in terms of draft capital, to get younger around Booker and build for the future.

It's remains questionable how long it will take for them to once again become a contender, but things historically can change very fast in the NBA.