The Phoenix Suns’ decision to bring in Miles Bridges drew plenty of criticism right away, and the reaction to the Charlotte Hornets’ side of the deal has only made that look worse.
Charlotte walked away with two veteran wings in Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, both proven 3-point shooters, plus the Suns’ unprotected first-round pick in 2033. That pick is a long way off, and nobody can say with any certainty where Phoenix will be seven years from now. For now, though, that uncertainty works in the Hornets’ favor.
The bigger picture in Charlotte is pretty clear: the front office is turning pieces it didn’t see as part of the long-term plan into draft capital and useful veterans. Allen, O’Neale and Naz Reid - who came over from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the blockbuster LaMelo Ball trade - give the Hornets shooting and experience as they build around Brandon Miller and Rookie of the Year contender Kon Knueppel.
That approach has won over plenty of evaluators. While speaking with CBS Sports colleague Sam Quinn, CBS Sports Director of Basketball Scouting Adam Finkelstein praised Charlotte for maximizing its return in deals involving both Ball and Bridges.
He said that rehabbing Ball’s image and moving him when his value was high put the Hornets in a much better spot than the Boston Celtics, who got relative cents on the dollar for Jaylen Brown, and the Atlanta Hawks, who were essentially forced to deal Trae Young with his value at its lowest.
Charlotte acquired more draft capital today.
I love what they’ve done this offseason.
Here’s what @SamQuinnCBS and I said about the Hornets last night on @CBSSportsHQ. pic.twitter.com/MZLFJkfsMf
- Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) July 3, 2026
“I think the other thing they’ve done, they’ve cleaned up their locker room,” Finkelstein said. “They are getting rid of the bad influences, whether that be Miles Bridges and his issues off the floor, whether that be LaMelo Ball and his unwillingness to defend. They are bringing in professionals.”
That’s the part Suns fans should be watching closely. Phoenix spent much of the 2025-26 season trying to rebuild its identity after the Mike Budenholzer and Kevin Durant era left the team with a cloud over it and a 10-games-under-.500 finish that kept it out of the playoffs.
The move that sent Durant to the other side of the equation for Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and the pick that became Khaman Maluach helped change the tone in Phoenix. Brooks in particular helped reshape the culture, the Suns made the playoffs, and even though Oklahoma City swept them, there were still positives in a season that was battered by injuries.
Now the Suns’ biggest offseason swing has been met with skepticism, while Charlotte is being praised for adding draft capital and, in Finkelstein’s words, “professionals.”
Phoenix does have Bridges on an expiring contract, but the roster looks a lot like it did a year ago. Without a long-term extension, the 28-year-old would be little more than a one-year rental, and he has never made an All-Star team.
His off-court legal issues are part of the concern, and if Finkelstein’s comments about “bad influences” are taken to include what players bring into a locker room, that could undercut the positive atmosphere Phoenix had started to create.
There’s even a case that the Suns shouldn’t re-sign Bridges at all, which would make the trade look even harder to justify if he isn’t part of the long-term core.
If that happens, Phoenix will have given up more meaningful draft capital for a short-term fix, while Charlotte gets the benefit of picks and a cleaner asset base that has drawn widespread praise. For Suns fans, the early verdict isn’t encouraging.
In Other News...
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The Suns spent the early part of the summer making sure two of their most useful pieces were not going anywhere, re-signing Collin Gillespie and Mark Williams on multi-year deals that lock in backcourt steadiness and frontcourt size. Gillespies rise was one of the quieter success stories on the roster, a breakout season that gave Phoenix a reliable shooting presence and a new franchise benchmark from beyond the arc, while Williams gave the team the kind of interior production it has long needed when he was on the floor.
For a front office that has been under pressure to get value and continuity right, both contracts look like the sort of business fans have been asking for. Analyst Steph Noh viewed each deal as favorable relative to the impact the Suns can reasonably expect, which matters for a team trying to build around players who can actually fit together. The bigger question now is how much more of the roster Phoenix can stabilize after checking off two important boxes. [Read more 🡒]
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Ighodaro has the cleaner case right now because of his versatility and the way he can fill different roles, while Dunn is facing a tougher climb as the competition tightens around him. If either player gets squeezed out of the rotation, the pressure only grows from there, because the Suns are already in a position where every developmental decision has to be weighed against immediate help and the possibility of moving pieces before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]