The Phoenix Suns have not been a model of great decision-making over the past two years. Once a promising young team that overachieved to almost make the playoffs, they are now among the worst teams in the league with no end goal in sight.
Suns’ GM Ryan McDonough has one particular mistake in mind, however, when considering his professional regrets. That mistake is trading point guard Isaiah Thomas last season to the Boston Celtics.
The following from Arizona Sports:
“I think in retrospect trading Isaiah Thomas when we did was a mistake,” he said of last season’s trade deadline deal with the Boston Celtics. “I think sometimes in the recruitment process things sound better in July (luring Thomas in free agency) than they do in November.
“He wanted more, he wanted a bigger role and I understand why: He’s a talented player,” McDonough added. “In retrospect, we should have carried him into the summer. If there’s one (decision) that stands out, if I could get a mulligan, that’d be it.”
The Suns attempted to make a triple-headed monster of guards with Thomas, Eric Bledsoe, and Goran Dragic. That did not work, with Dragic and Thomas in particular sounding off about their roles. Phoenix then traded Dragic to the Heat and just when it appeared they had chosen their backcourt, they decided to also trade away Thomas.
That trade also had secondary ramifications as they traded away the Lakers’ 2016 first round pick (top three protected) to get Brandon Knight in a three-team trade. Knight is a good, young player, and it may still be too soon to judge the trade. However, Thomas is currently the better player, having just made his first all-star appearance, and trading away Thomas and the first round pick (in essence) for Knight seems like a terrible move in retrospect.
These hasty decisions are a large part of the reason for the Suns’ struggles. The team has traded away depth in order to free up cap space for star free agents who have not signed and used that same space to sign out-of-prime players to large, multi-year deals. The Thomas trade was merely a catalyst for these other poor moves.
The Suns will have an opportunity to retool this summer, with a high draft pick likely. However, they are about to go through what will most likely be a long and arduous rebuild – one that must be executed perfectly for the Suns to have some success in the near future.
