The Suns Traded For Three Second Round Picks From Memphis By Agreeing To More Pick Swaps

When the Phoenix Suns traded for Bradley Beal, they sent the Wizards every second round pick they legally could in a trade — all six of them — to make that happen. The problem is, that severely limits what the Suns can do moving forward, as second round picks are often valuable tools to make smaller deals, as well as opportunities to try and find some depth via the Draft.

On Thursday, Phoenix addressed its sudden deficit of picks by making a rare mid-July picks trade, sending Isaiah Todd (who was included in the Beal trade from Washington) to Memphis along with a pair of pick swaps to get three future seconds in return.

The funniest part of the trade is that it’s now the second time the Suns have agreed to swap these same first round picks, meaning Memphis will get the second opportunity to swap with Phoenix in those years after Washington makes its decision.

For the Wizards, the 2030 pick is the potentially valuable one, as the likelihood of them having a better record (and thus worse pick) than the Suns in 2024 is probably less than 1 percent. That said, the Grizzlies have been near the top of the West standings each of the last two seasons and even with Phoenix’s budding superteam, it’s possible Memphis will have an opportunity to move up a pick or two with that swap. That also means the 2030 swap is less likely to yield a great pick, as they’d need Washington and Phoenix to both be in the lottery for that to happen. Still, it’s an interesting use of their draft assets to give them a chance to move up in two first rounds in the future, while the Suns add at least a few assets to what they can use moving forward.