The Phoenix Suns' Isaiah Thomas goes to the basket as the Sacramento Kings' Ray McCallum, left, defends at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS)Last year, the Phoenix Suns were the NBA's surprisingly fun team to watch. With a new head coach and a cohesive, speedy team, they were the darling of the Western Conference.
Despite missing the playoffs, the Suns entered the off-season feeling very confident. So much so that there was some very serious discussion of their recruitment of superstars Lebron James and Kevin Love.
With a young nucleus of talented players who meshed well together and one of the league's up-and-coming head coaching talents, this was a team on the rise.
But now, after a trade deadline that felt like a gut punch to many Suns fans, the team has been turned around 180 degrees.
First was the news that Goran Dragic, a local fan favorite and rising star at the point guard position, had lost faith in the front office and wanted out.
Dragic's agent leaked that he would only consider signing a long-term extension with a select number of teams, essentially cutting the franchise's legs out from under it.
With little to no negotiating power and a talented player whose attitude has severely soured, the Suns did the best they could in trading Dragic and his brother to the Miami Heat in exchange for bit parts and two future first-round picks.
That was bad enough, but it would get worse.
Minutes before the deadline, news broke of a massive trade that we're still sifting through days later. Players and picks swapped so fast and so frantically that at one point reports indicated that Isaiah Thomas had been traded to both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics (only the latter rumor was true).
When the dust settled, it was revealed that the Suns had traded talented big man Miles Plumee, rookie point guard Tyler Ennis and a prized first-round pick from Los Angeles in exchange for Brandon Knight. They had also sent Thomas to the Celtics for Marcus Thornton and a future first rounder.
At the end of the day, Phoenix had sent off two talented youngsters, one of the top-six guards in the NBA last year and a likely top-five pick in either this year's draft or next.
The only real asset coming in was Knight and a collection of future first rounders, one of which won't arrive until 2019 or later.
The Dragic deal was necessary, Thomas was a curious signing to begin with and it remained to be seen if either Plumlee or Ennis had a future with the team but losing the Lakers pick, which had arrived in the Steve Nash trade, was the really painful news.
That pick, which is top-seven protected in this year's draft and top-three protected next year, could have garnered a potential franchise cornerstone but instead, the Suns get nothing.
Knight, who is a restricted free agent, will likely look for a max contract this summer which, despite his obvious talent, will be a drastic overpay.
All in all, we see that the Suns did what they had to do with some moves and then proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot with the next. What was once a promising rise through the ranks of the Western conference has now stalled and pending future moves, could reverse itself.
Reach the columnist at icbeck@asu.edu or follow @ICBeck21 on Twitter.
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