Ranking Suns' Top Trade Targets After 2026 NBA Playoff Loss

The Phoenix Suns spent the 2025-26 NBA season obliterating any and all expectations placed on this team.

Now what?

Normally, that's the type of effort that sets up a team to skyrocket its trajectory and keep moving along the evolutionary chain to championship contention. But that's really only true if you're talking about a young, ascending team. Maybe the Suns are on the upswing, but they certainly aren't young—and the biological clock attached to 29-year-old centerpiece Devin Booker will start audibly ticking soon.

Again, though, Phoenix breaks from the norm here. Because while you'd want to suggest an aggressive offseason of co-star chasing, the Suns don't have the trade chips to chase the league's elites. Even cobbling together enough assets to catch a falling star could be a challenge.

With all of that said, status quo can't cut it. Remember, the Suns shattered all expectations while topping out at pretty good. And NBA teams don't want to be pretty good in perpetuity.

The task for Phoenix, then, is extracting value around the margins or at least positioning itself to do so sooner than later.

3. Draft picks

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With the Suns only recently abandoning the championship-or-bust plans they once tied to the Booker-Kevin Durant-Bradley Beal core, their collection of young talent is light and fairly forgettable.

That said, they've had a few hits. Ryan Dunn is a plucky defender. Oso Ighodaro brings a versatile skill set. Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming intrigued in different ways as rookies.

It's hard to overstate the importance of having young, cost-controlled contributors under this collective bargaining agreement. Plus, the Suns could always use more trade chips to throw around should the right co-star for Booker ever surface.

Aggressively pursuing draft picks is probably too strong, but if picks could be had for a veteran role player or two, that's something the Suns have to explore.

2. Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks

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Since the Suns don't have a ton of developmental projects on their hands, they should be poking around in hopes that other teams might be ready to discard their own.

Would it be shocking for the Hawks to dangle Zaccharie Risacher only two summers after making him the No. 1 pick? Not necessarily. His name has bounced around the rumor mill before, he lost his starting spot midway through his sophomore season and he was even left on the bench once down the stretch.

He seems like a clear change-of-scenery candidate. While his ceiling doesn't stretch nearly as high as that of the typical No. 1 pick, he still possesses an interesting blend of tools and talent. Plus, he just celebrated his 21st birthday, so it's too early to say with any certainty what his future could hold.

Maybe the Suns don't have whatever the Hawks might want in a Risacher trade, but this is the kind of distressed asset they should be angling to get. Their best bet for stretching the budget is extracting value from places where other teams don't believe there is any.

1. Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies

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There might be an audible groan coming from Suns fans right now. That's fair. Ja Morant's trade value and public perception might be at an all-time low.

Isn't this when stocks analysts recommend a buy, though? Especially if they're advising someone with limited funds.

Look, maybe Morant is a lost cause, but that's not the guarantee some would lead you to believe. He is 26 years old. He hasn't been fully healthy in a while. His star has clearly faded, but this idea that it can't ever re-ignite feels like glass-empty pessimism.

Those who didn't check out on his campaign caught some really interesting moments right before an elbow injury prematurely ended his season. He had double-digit assists in four of his final six outings. He had 61 points on 63.2 percent shooting in the other two.

Hope isn't lost—it's just a lot harder to see than it used to be. But if the Suns want to squeeze an established star into their limited budget, this is an actual way to make that happen. If he could be had for financial flexibility and maybe a low-end draft asset or two, Phoenix should at least monitor that. Booker badly needs someone to help shoulder the scoring load and table-setting tasks, and Morant has previously been a standout in both roles.