The Phoenix Suns are not interested in a rebuild and watching a bunch of future draft picks develop.
The irony is the only way the Suns will successfully reload and retool in rapid fashion is … by hitting on draft picks.
The Suns have two picks in the 2025 NBA Draft, one via the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round and the Denver’s Nuggets’ second-rounder. The Cleveland pick, currently slotted 30th, will either land there or 29th. Denver’s will be slotted somewhere in the low-to-mid 50s. Perhaps a Kevin Durant trade brings more for 2025.
There is the obvious dream scenario of lucking out by snatching one of the best players in the draft class that late. The more realistic goal is drafting a pair of rotation players, which Phoenix attempted to do with Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro last June, with a TBD on both of those guys’ impacts.
It’s been done very recently.
Memphis has been starting Jaylen Wells all year. He’s a future First Team All-Rookie nod who went 39th last June. The Grizzlies also snagged your new most hated or most loved agitator Cam Spencer 53rd. It’s not this incredible example of a draft that will reshape a franchise’s trajectory — but is an immediate place to point toward how a team in a similar position can come away with two quality options who can help win right away.
The NCAA Tournament kicks off on Tuesday and offers the signature lens for getting a look at prospects who front offices have been evaluating all year. Those front offices now can do so with big-time stakes in a way that will at times admittedly impact draft stocks.
As we approach late June, we’ll cover the entire landscape, including the international class that has a handful of intriguing options and collegiate players who have already bowed out. For now, if you want to join the Suns in getting your scouting cap on, here is the cluster of guys we assume Phoenix will be watching closely for two ranges: the mid-to-late first round and mid-to-late second round. It’s not every single prospect around there that will be playing in the tourney but it’s pretty darn close.
We’ll break ’em up into three groups: wings, bigs and guards, using three big boards from national outlets to deliver you a half-decent gauge of where guys sit before a lot of these rankings.
“Best player available” is a great draft strategy to misalign your roster, especially in basketball, but it should apply to Phoenix this June.
Alright, let’s get into it.
Wings
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Flawed prospects will be covered throughout since we’re talking about the 20s and the 50s. The Suns in the first round specifically will have to hope those flaws get front offices nervous enough that someone falls into their laps.
Arizona freshman Carter Bryant (ESPN: 19, The Athletic: 19, Bleacher Report: 19) has taken less than five shots a night and is averaging 6.4 points per game. His offensive contributions wane in a minimal role and his minutes fluctuate from low teens to high 20s. That might lead to some advice for him to go back to school for another year. He should not follow that advice.
Bryant is a true four-position defender, using elite agility at 6-foot-8 with long arms to absolutely envelop ball-handlers. Using block and steal percentages to better articulate his impact there as a 18.7 MPG guy, his numbers among first-rounders on the wing match Dunn, Tari Eason, Jalen Johnson, Matisse Thybulle and Zion Williamson over the last 10 years, per Stathead. He’s attentive off the ball and has really shown the proper headspace all season as someone with a craving for defense.
Offensively, the jumper is in a decent spot. He’s shooting 36.6% on 3s and the mix of confidence and mechanics have been there. While he has just 35 assists and 36 turnovers, that again has come down to role and he’s made some tremendous passes. Getting the handle going to score at the basket is the next step for him.
Illinois freshman Will Riley (ESPN: 22, The Athletic: 49, Bleacher Report: 32) is listed at 180 pounds. Cap. He’s going to have to get much stronger to not become an automatic target defensively. His efficiency as a microwave scorer has been questionable, sitting at 42.9% from the field and 32.1% on triples.
The kid, however, has the sauce. Riley is a 6-foot-8 three-level scorer right now. He’s absolutely fearless attacking the rim and already draws fouls well, slashing through contact like a fifth-year senior. The difficult shots he consistently makes are impressive, including a litany of jumpers. And perhaps most impressively, he’s sporting a 2.08 assist-to-turnover ratio, a rarity for these types of prospects.
A lottery-level talent playing for Brad Underwood in Champaign was enticing because of the principles Underwood employs for how hard you’ve got to play and Riley fits the bill. He’s grabbed over an offensive rebound a game and competes defensively, where his springy leaping ability and quickness give him more of a chance, even as a wiry athlete.
Either Bryant or Riley being there at the end of the first round — because of those red flags — would be a nice outcome for the Suns. Riley is the one to watch specifically in the tourney, as a heater from him could secure top-20 footing.
Arkansas junior Adou Thiero (ESPN: 27, The Athletic: 34, Bleacher Report: 45) might not even play in the tournament due to a knee injury but has to be mentioned in case he does. He has a case as the most versatile defensive player in the class, and on top of that, brings an admirable level of intensity and physicality every second he’s on the floor. The offensive game isn’t a complete zero, as Thiero shows some functionality with the ball, but it’s for sure going to hold him back at the start of his NBA career. With that in mind, when we talk about the traits the Suns should be prioritizing, he’s the best potential match at the end of the first round.
The back-half of the second round is a difficult spot to find wings. Then again, Phoenix picked Toumani Camara 52nd two years ago. Camara’s defensive versatility was his signature trait as a prospect, so in sticking with that strategy of trying to identity an elite attribute late, here are a pair of sharpshooters.
Duke freshman Isaiah Evans (ESPN: 42, The Athletic: 41, Bleacher Report: 27) should stay in school another year if he wants to go in the first round, but sometimes kids get antsy. He’s almost exclusively been a shooter (43.9% on 4.5 3s a night) in a situational role (14.7 MPG) and has some pop on the ball he hasn’t been given the opportunity to show.
Kentucky senior Koby Brea (ESPN: 63, The Athletic: 89, Bleacher Report: NR) is at 43.5% on 4.9 3s per game over his collegiate career and can be a real weapon offensively when he plays with confidence.
And two more quick shouts for a pair of teammates that could make a deep run in Texas Tech sophomore JT Toppin (ESPN: 59, The Athletic: 71, Bleacher Report: 44) and junior Darrion Williams (ESPN: 44, The Athletic: 60, Bleacher Report: NR).
Guards
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One of the prospects who has made himself the most money over the last few months and is poised to make a whole lot more if he can become a March darling is Colorado State’s Nique Clifford (ESPN: 39, The Athletic: 35, Bleacher Report: 18). A sparsely used player over three years for Colorado, he transferred last year and improved big time before jumping into a whole other stratosphere this season as a fifth-year senior.
Across a current 10-game winning streak when he led the Rams to a Mountain West Tournament win to go dancing and give himself more exposure, Clifford averaged 22.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists with shooting splits of 57/56/80.
He has exploded into an absolute bucket, growing with some of the decision-making that comes along with the No. 1 role while bringing his supplementary attributes as a rebounder and defender too. Think a smaller version of what happened to Mikal Bridges when he arrived in Brooklyn.
Clifford’s draft range is impossible to gauge right now because mid-major breakouts (like Jalen Williams out of Santa Clara) tend to rise late. But Clifford’s also old (23 years old) and most front offices operate under archaic thinking that someone in their early-to-mid 20s improves slower with a lower ceiling than someone younger. He’s played multiple roles in college and that’s going to help him adapt quicker and get better quicker. Clifford will definitely be in the top-10 of our big board for the Suns’ first-round pick.
San Diego State sophomore Miles Byrd (ESPN: 38, The Athletic: 24, Bleacher Report: 29) has a whacky statistical profile. He’s producing two steals and a block per night while shooting only 38.4% from the field thanks to 30.8% on 5.9 3s per game. Then add on some promising playmaking and active rebounding too. Seems all over the place, but if you put in his season averages (12.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.1 BPG, 2.1 SPG) among guards/forwards that were drafted in the last 25 years and you get Sindarius Thornwell, Delon Wright, R.J. Hunter and Dwyane Wade, per Stathead.
Yeah, that’s a weird mix. There’s the question of if a reduced role in the NBA will make him better at those many, many things he does. It’s an OK bet.
Marquette senior Kam Jones (ESPN: 46, The Athletic: 28, Bleacher Report: 20) is a winner. He’s been a slashing scorer unafraid to take 3s at high volume for three years running, with an uptick in his playmaking to 5.9 assists per game since the departure of Tyler Kolek. Jones is in a weird space as an older tweener guard but if his shooting and passing proves legit, he’s a high-level competitor in all other areas.
Jones is also having an unbelievably productive season and that should matter. Plug in his averages (19.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 5.9 APG, 1.4 SPG) and the NBA draft picks to do that in college the last decade are Ja Morant and Markelle Fultz, who went second and first overall, respectively, per Stathead. Pretty good company!
For long-time readers of draft content, you’ll know of our game show singalong that goes, “Is this great college point guard going to work out in the NBA?!” Sometimes you take Jalen Brunson or Isaiah Thomas. Sometimes you take Frank Mason III or Carsen Edwards. It is fair to lump Jones into the next group of our new contestants.
Houston junior Milos Uzan (ESPN: 82, The Athletic: 45, Bleacher Report: NR), Florida senior Walter Clayton Jr. (ESPN: 68, The Athletic: 47, Bleacher Report: 30) and Duke junior Tyrese Proctor (ESPN: 43, The Athletic: 37, Bleacher Report: NR) all bring some version of those same intangibles while being leaders on three of the best teams in the country.
Uzan’s size and tempo as a ball-handler are appealing, Clayton can shoot the crap out of the ball and is very quick, while Proctor is more off the ball to do all the glue guy stuff.
At least one of them will be in the Final Four and it’ll probably be more than that, so keep an eye out for ’em in the marquee games. All four of these names have a chance to jump to the end of the first round. Uzan has most notably gained some steam over the last handful of weeks.
Bigs
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This is far and away the deepest position in the back-half of the first round.
I have no idea if Michigan junior Danny Wolf (ESPN: 17, The Athletic: 25, Bleacher Report: 31) can hang athletically at the next level but a team is going to take a chance on his skill set because Wolf is a legit point-center with the way he sees the floor and handles the ball. He’s got true size as a seven footer and has been meh enough shooting it (33.6% on 3s in college) to earn enough hype as one of the biggest risers of the season.
The simplest prospect here in this range is Florida sophomore Alex Condon (ESPN: 28, The Athletic: 50, Bleacher Report: 36). The Australian is an active and mobile big that uses his range effectively on both ends of the floor, diving to the rim as a screening hub for the Gators’ sensational guards while switching and covering tons of space defensively.
What scouts have to figure out is how well Condon’s measurables (6-foot-11, unknown wingspan) and athleticism grade on the NBA scale. Someone like Pelicans rookie Yves Missi was a no-doubter last year, while we’re still figuring out how the advantages and disadvantages work with Grizzlies rookie Zach Edey.
To that point, Georgia freshman Asa Newell (ESPN: 20, The Athletic: 13, Bleacher Report: 12) might be stuck between the 4 and the 5 as a tweener not only because of his physical profile but because of his skill set too. He attacks closeouts and shoots 3s, a nice start. He’s also not explosive with his first step (which comes up on defense too) and checks in at 29.9% from deep. That’s important because he’s a bit small for a full-time center, even though his activity around the rim on the glass and as a finisher is great.
If someone develops Newell and the jumper becomes legit, there’s a steal in this range, which is why you see two big boards with him at the tail end of the lottery and why he’s probably not going to make it to the Suns. Think Kel’el Ware last year.
Lastly, three of the best centers in the tourney would be reaches in the 20s but good value in the 50s.
Creighton senior Ryan Kalkbrenner (ESPN: 30, The Athletic: 39, Bleacher Report: 46) has won four straight Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards and has improved every year. If the 7-foot-1 big can impress in shooting workouts with the 3-pointer, his stock will go up.
The National Player of the Year will probably be Auburn senior Johni Broome (ESPN: 41, The Athletic: 28, Bleacher Report: 33) who has bullied opponents all year in an overmatched sense that is very much man against boys. His skill with the ball might trump tweener concerns but he might be punching too above his weight class in regards to NBA athleticism.
And while Houston sophomore Joseph Tugler (ESPN: 50, The Athletic: 36, Bleacher Report: NR) averages only 5.6 points and 5.7 rebounds a night, he anchors the nation’s best defense and might be good enough on that end and as a play finisher offensively to hold up as a one-dimensional undersized NBA big.