Cleveland Cavaliers: Ranking the NBA’s best young cores

7. Phoenix Suns

Potential All-Stars: Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton

It feels like the Phoenix Suns have been trying to rebuild their franchise for an entire decade now. Years and years of misfiring on lottery picks have led to the Suns being one of the worst teams in the league each season.

Slowly but surely, the Suns have been building a team that can at least be competitive.

Starting with their main building block, Devin Booker. Though he is entering his fifth NBA season, Booker is still one of the youngest players on the roster. At 22 years old, Booker is already on pace to be one of the best scorers in league history.

He has averaged 20 or more points per game in three of his first four seasons, making him one of only 70 players to ever accomplish this.

For most of his young career, Booker has been a lone wolf. Last season, the Suns finally managed to give him a prospect worth teaming up in Deandre Ayton. The gigantic 7’1″ center averaged 16.3 points and10.3 rebounds a game last season on his way to earning All-Rookie First Team honors.

The Suns have officially gone all in on their two rising stars, trading away nearly all of their other young assets for more complimentary players. Names such as Dario Saric and Kelly Oubre Jr. make up the roster with the sharpshooting rookie from North Carolina, Cam Johnson, rounding out the lineup.

They might not be where they want to be yet, but the Suns are moving in the right direction.

Cavaliers takeaways:

The Pheonix Suns have shown that they aren’t afraid to blow up a rebuild and trade for assets that complement other players on their roster. If things go wrong for the Cavaliers this season, they should be willing to make some trades as well.