The Suns traded away more than they realized

The start of the NBA season is infamously known as “October basketball” by many.

With an 82-game regular season, the stakes feel low, players are getting legs under them, and new additions are still getting acclimated to their new teams. Although they have stakes, the first handful of games almost feel like dress rehearsals with exclusive members in the audience, rather than the packed Friday shows on Broadway that are about to begin, with 75+ games still on the schedule.

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But the games aren’t just about stakes: they’re also a reminder of what teams don’t have anymore.

With the Phoenix Suns on a four-day break between games, I put my NBA League Pass on a team I seldom watch compared to the other 29 teams: the Charlotte Hornets. As Detroit was closing out the surprise darlings from a season ago in a 97-89 win, I could not stop thinking about the Phoenix Suns, not because Charlotte recently acquired the team’s unprotected 2033 first-round pick, but because of who was on the floor for them late in a close game.

Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen.

Both traded from the Suns this past offseason in return for Miles Bridges. The two played pivotal roles for the team last year, helping the Suns make the playoffs. No matter who was in the lineup alongside them, they provided toughness, experience, and continuity, most memorably in a late February game against Luka Dončić, LeBron James, and the Los Angeles Lakers that helped the team get out of a rut with Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks out. Allen led the scoring attack, and O’Neale hit the game-winner.

And while Bridges, with his size and offensive versatility, is an upgrade over Allen and O’Neale on the court, with the Suns reportedly dealing with “growing frustration” in the locker room over the lack of a point guard, while neither plays point guard and both struggled in Charlotte’s loss last night, they were both key members helping resurrect Phoenix from disappointment to a surprise.

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Yes, the team is three games into the season. Yes, the Suns resigned and extended many of their key players from a season ago, all in an attempt to build around Devin…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/suns-traded-away-more-realized-030000614.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-30 03:00:00

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