1 player Suns must trade after surprise season ends with Thunder sweep

Before the 2025-26 season began, if one were to tell the Phoenix Suns contingent that they were going to make it to the 2026 NBA playoffs after winning a total of 45 games in the regular season, they would take it in a heartbeat. This was supposed to be a transition year of sorts for the Suns after they traded Kevin Durant away and bought Bradley Beal’s contract out. However, the team had other ideas, and overall, they had a successful season.

Sure, it ended in a sweep in the first round at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the reigning champion. However, the Suns are building something sustainable in the Valley, with head coach Jordan Ott building a system built on pace, space, and defensive disruptiveness that sure looks like it can amount to something in the future.

However, the Suns’ immediate future isn’t exactly looking very bright. They still owe their first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 to the Houston Rockets, the Washington Wizards have swap rights over their 2030 first-round selection, and the Utah Jazz outright own their pick in 2031.

Suffice to say, the Suns need to keep winning games for the next few seasons, and they are at least set up to do that. But does the front office believe enough in their potential to keep in step with the other contending teams in the West that they try and be aggressive on the trade market?

Here is a preliminary assessment of the Suns roster and which players they should or shouldn’t trade following their first-round exit vs. the Thunder.

Suns must protect their core

Safe from trade: Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, Collin Gillespie, Khaman Maluach, Oso Ighodaro, Ryan Dunn, Rasheer Fleming

The Suns just had too many pleasant surprises this past season that it will be a hard sell for the team towards the fanbase to give up on the team’s core after their feel-good 2025-26 campaign.

Devin Booker is surely going to hear his name get thrown around in fake trades, especially involving teams that fell short in this year’s playoffs — including the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons need what Booker brings to the table, and that is extra offense alongside an already established primary ballhandler.

Booker would be the perfect fit alongside Cade Cunningham as someone who can soak up some ballhandling reps all while providing an additional scoring punch. Cunningham carried quite the heavy burden in the playoffs, and Booker would help them in a big way.

However, there’s no reason for the Suns to just trade away the face of the franchise just like that. Booker has at least three more years remaining on his contract, and with Phoenix still owing a few of their future firsts, they will need the floor of production that Booker provides to ensure that they at least remain semi-competitive for the next few years.

As for Dillon Brooks, he has established himself as an essential player for this Suns roster. He’s proven himself as a culture-setting player wherever he goes, and Suns owner Mat Ishbia has gone as far as to say that there is no way they will be trading Brooks away. And one would think that whatever the team’s top brass says, goes.

As for the other Suns players, there is no reason for them to give up on any of their young players.

Khaman Maluach was the 10th overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft and there was a reason why the Suns were very high on him. He’ll only be 20 years old heading into next season, and perhaps he could prove himself as the team’s long-term answer at center as soon as the 2026-27 campaign begins.

Oso Ighodaro, Ryan Dunn, and Rasheer Fleming will be making a combined $7.2 million next season, which is a pittance for three rotation pieces.

Collin Gillespie will be a free agent, but he is certainly worth keeping after shooting over 40 percent from deep on 7.2 attempts per game, and he did average 13/4/5 next season. Moreover, he is the only natural point guard on the roster, and he was a true success story for the Suns’ development team.

Phoenix has to at least think about dangling these mid-sized contracts

Up in the air: Jalen Green, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Jordan Goodwin

It should just be due diligence for the Suns to put out feelers for some of their players who are making nine figures next season. This is not an endorsement at all of the urgency for the Suns to trade away these players.

Jalen Green is going to be making $36.2 million next season, and Phoenix still has to be thinking about acquiring someone who can be a better long-term fit alongside Booker in the backcourt, Gillespie’s emergence as a quality player notwithstanding. Booker can be a primary ballhandler on a winning team, but he was at his best alongside a more natural playmaker, and Green might be too similar too him in terms of play style.

Even then, Green was so much better for the Suns towards the end of the season, and he’s only 24 years of age.

Both Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale are players that every winning team would want; Allen provides ballhandling and shooting in a pinch, while O’Neale is exactly the kind of three-and-D wing who fits in any sort of lineup. Both have two years left on their contract, and the Suns might want to at least think about trading them if it meant bringing in an upgrade in a consolidation type of trade.

Jordan Goodwin is an impending free agent, but he was an important role player for the Suns this past season. He is a legitimate candidate for a multi-year contract, and he could eventually end up being a salary-matching trade piece for Phoenix.

Is Mark Williams the center of the future?

Trade candidate: Mark Williams

The Suns acquired Mark Williams on draft night in 2025, and it was clear why they did this trade. Williams is a perennial double-double threat, and he’s a quality starting center who can hold down the fort as Maluach comes into his own.

Williams, however, is up for a new contract. Of course, the Suns will have to keep him, if only to protect him as an asset. But do not be surprised if the 24-year-old ends up being a staple in trade rumors, especially when he remains an injury risk and the team has a replacement waiting in the wings anyway.

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