Suns create draft picks out of thin air

The Suns sent four first-round picks plus a 2028 swap to Brooklyn in the Durant trade. For Beal, Washington received six future second-round picks and the rights to swap first-round picks with Phoenix in 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030. In all, that meant Phoenix didn't control any of its own draft picks through 2030.

You read that right. Phoenix traded a 2028 pick swap twice. In addition, Brooklyn already owns swap rights on Philadelphia's 2028 pick. In effect, it means that Washington gets the right to swap its pick with the worst pick from Brooklyn, Philly and Phoenix.

Now Phoenix has replenished its supply of second-rounders with two other deals using the same principle. First, the Suns sent Isaiah Todd, obtained in the Beal trade, to Memphis for a package of picks.

Memphis effectively sacrificed some of its second-round picks for two lottery tickets. The Grizzlies get the second-best of the first-round picks from Phoenix, Brooklyn and their own next year and the same deal with the Phoenix and Washington picks in 2030. That could be worth nothing — Memphis finished ahead of both teams last season — but it's effectively a bet on Phoenix's high-priced, point-guard-free experiment crashing and burning.

It's likely that the Suns will be a contender next season, but in 2030, Beal will be 37 and Durant will be 41 years old. As for the Wizards, they might use the bounty from the Beal trade to rocket back into contention, but history tells us it's unlikely. Washington has been in the draft lottery 19 times, seventh-most of all teams.

To get more second-rounders and make draft projections even more complicated, Phoenix also traded a second first-round pick swap in 2026 to the Orlando Magic in exchange for an underwhelming collection of second-rounders.

One second-rounder next year comes from the defending champions, and the 2028 pick is guaranteed to be 46th or worse. But the value of the second-round picks doesn't really matter to Phoenix.

Effectively, second-round picks often work as ballast in trades. Phoenix couldn't trade any actual first-round picks to the Wizards, so it sent Washington all its second-rounders to balance he lopsided Beal trade. While the rare second-round pick turns into Nikola Jokic, the majority don't catch on, or like Todd, they become trade chips.

The Suns need trade chips of any kind, and by trading pick swaps in years where they already don't control their own picks, the cost for these chips is minimal. If the Suns are bad enough to regret a pick swap in future years, the second pick swap won't really matter.

The Suns mortgaged their future to make a super-team. Now they're refinancing that mortgage.