Phoenix Suns: 5 predictions for the 2018-19 NBA season

4. Suns overpay in a trade for a point guard

McDonough desperately needed to trade for a point guard and couldn’t get it done, which may have played a role in his firing. There’s more at work here than just that, but in any case, Sarver confirmed to Arizona Sports that the 1-spot is the team’s biggest concern before its regular season opener next week.

That makes the odds of the Suns drastically overpaying for a serviceable starting point guard extremely high, especially with Jones trying to impress for the full-time gig. If the Suns just have a “yes man” in charge, their young talent and future draft picks could very well be on the table, and they could be risking it all for an overrated, overpriced, short-term rental.

Sarver is an impatient and impetuous owner who, a year ago, talked about embracing the youth movement. A year later, McDonough and the final two years on his contract are gone, and Sarver has abandoned that measured approach to rebuilding.

Getting back to more competitive basketball is obviously the goal for the Suns, and that was the case before McDonough got the axe. The problem is, with an owner like Sarver being so involved, chaos and dysfunction will continue to reign. There’s no organizational stability and even with McDonough at the helm for five years, there wasn’t any during his tenure either.

Because of all this, because the Suns are going on nine years without a playoff appearance, because they really do need a point guard, and because the rapid rise of James Jones may have just supplied Sarver with a puppet GM, you can expect the Suns to drastically overpay for whatever quick fix they can get their hands on.