Burdened by the financial ramifications of superteam-building attempts over the last several years, the Phoenix Suns can more easily win the offseasons ahead by developing talent in-house.
Because building the superteam meant losing draft capital, it’s even more difficult to get young players in-house at all.
The Suns enter the 2026 NBA Draft with only the 47th overall pick to use, and Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor projects them to draft Florida big man Rueben Chinyelu with that pick. But O’Connor led that mock selection with this tidbit:
League sources say the Suns will explore trading into the first round in June’s draft. For now, this is their first selection. Finding a big could make sense with Mark Williams entering free agency — especially if that big can play alongside Khaman Maluach. Chinyelu could be a fit. He picked up basketball as a teenager in Nigeria, worked his way up through the NBA Academy Africa pipeline in Senegal, spent a freshman year at Washington State, then transferred to Florida and became the muscle behind a national title team. As a junior, he swept every major defensive player of the year award. The role he projects for is crystal clear: rebound, anchor the paint, finish lobs and set the tone.
How easily Phoenix could find a path into the first round is the biggest question here.
The Suns’ best bet would likely involve a player trade.
Mark Williams’ restricted free agency could lead to a sign-and-trade, while Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale are atop the list of Suns who could be coveted rotation additions for playoff teams. How exactly any of those players land Phoenix a first-round pick isn’t very clear-cut.
If it’s a picks-for-picks deal — or a series of moves to cull together a package — Phoenix has shown the ability to get where it wants to go in the selection process over the past two drafts.
The Suns traded out of the 22nd slot for more picks to land Ryan Dunn at 28th in 2024. With a late second-round pick from that deal and more, they moved back up in the second round to draft Oso Ighodaro 40th.
Last season, the Suns packaged a trio of picks to lead off the second round by selecting forward Rasheer Fleming at 31st, then used the 52nd and 59th to move up and draft Koby Brea at 41st overall.
Why would the Suns want to move into the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft?
This is a strong draft at the top, well through the top 10 picks. And it has some depth to it as well, especially if you peek at prospects with NBA-ready skills.
To that point, O’Connor’s mock has center Jayden Quaintance, a center who played at Arizona State and Kentucky, as the No. 24 pick.
Widely viewed as a lottery pick heading into the 2025-26 season, a rash of serious knee injuries hovers over his stock. Quaintance showed an NBA-level defensive ability at ASU two years ago and despite lending zero spacing, he can provide dunking and ball-moving on offense.
Further down O’Connor’s mock is Allen Graves (25th), a freshman who put up elite shooting splits, strong defense and passing chops on the wing — but he did so off the bench for a mid-major Santa Clara team.
Meleek Thomas (26th) starred as a freshman gunner for a very good Arkansas squad alongside likely top-10 pick Darius Acuff Jr., but he’s a shooting specialist in an undersized point guard’s body.
High-major contributors further down the order of the mock draft include UConn center Tarris Reed (27th), Arizona forward Koa Peat (32nd), Kansas big Flory Bidunga (33rd) and UConn wing Alex Karaban (37th), all of whom come with their own concerns.
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