Examining the aftermath of nixed Kyrie Irving, Paul George deal

Phoenix Suns – Losers

This one is going to sting the Phoenix Suns for years and years to come. At the time, the Suns had just finished the 2016-17 NBA season with a 24-58 record, the worst mark in the Western Conference. Eric Bledsoe and Devin Booker were the team’s backcourt, and although they played well together, it was evident that this team was not headed toward contention anytime soon.

With Kyrie Irving, a considerable upgrade over Bledsoe, on the table at the time, the Suns had a golden opportunity right in front of them. However, that sacred No. 4 overall pick halted any hopes of it happening.

Booker and Irving could have formed one of the league’s best backcourts in Phoenix, and although many could now speculate that the two’s ego might have clashed, their other pathway did not turn out much better.

In the end, the team traded Eric Bledsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks for Greg Monroe, a protected first-round pick and a protected second-round pick, both in 2018. As for the prized Josh Jackson whom they selected with the No. 4 pick, the team traded him to the Memphis Grizzlies in a deal centered around him and Kyle Korver, who the team soon waived this past offseason.

Backing off of this trade backfired immensely for the Phoenix Suns because they could have had a top-tier point guard, a position of need for several years now, and they let it slip for several players who are no longer on their active roster.

In the team’s defense, Irving only spent two seasons with the Boston Celtics before having left in free agency, but he and Booker could have made some noise in the Western Conference had it gone down. Instead, the team appears to be a few years away from contending still, having continuously added to their lengthy postseason drought in recent years.