What Suns trading coveted 2031 first-round draft pick for 3 first-rounders means

For those wondering whether the Phoenix Suns would use their coveted 2031 first-round draft pick in a deal leading up to the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline, Tuesday provided an answer — albeit in a more surprising manner than one might have expected.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Suns are sending that 2031 first-rounder — the only first-round selection the team had left to offer in trades for the next seven years — to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks.

Phoenix will receive the less valuable first-rounder between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves in 2025, the least valuable first between the Cavs, Wolves and Jazz in 2027, and the least valuable first between the Cavs, Wolves and Jazz in 2029.

The question is, what does this mean for the Suns and their potential trade plans?

Suns free up trade flexibility with additional, lesser assets

Contrary to popular belief, the Suns did value their 2031 first-rounder. Turning that potentially valuable first into three less-valuable first-rounders makes it more feasible to pull off a Jimmy Butler trade without selling off their entire cache of first-round selections for the foreseeable future.

It didn’t take long for NBA insider Marc Stein and Miami Heat reporter Ira Winderman to connect the dots, reporting that this move is the latest in a series of dominoes leading to a potential Jimmy Butler trade.

There are still obstacles, of course. The Suns have to find a destination for Bradley Beal that A) wants him and B) he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause for. Looping in three, four or five additional teams comes with its own set of challenges.

But if you’re looking for a main takeaway from Tuesday’s swapping of picks with Utah, it’s this: The Suns front office doesn’t agree it’s time to blow this team up, and what’s more, they believe trading for Jimmy Butler puts them closer to their goal of contending for a championship.

To that point, earlier on Tuesday, we went through a few multiple-team Jimmy Butler trades, explaining why it will most likely require three, four, five or even more teams being looped in to get the job done. This, of course, came off the heels of some three-team scenarios we raised just a few weeks earlier.

But most of them always felt flawed, because the Suns only had one first-round pick to satisfy other teams’ trade demands, and that selection was almost too valuable to give up in that type of player-based trade.

That 2031 pick is obviously gone anyway thanks to this latest deal, but now, the Suns have more first-rounders to offer in order to appease potential trade partners compared to just one remaining pick six years down the road. These incoming picks are obviously less valuable; that 2025 pick could very well wind up as the 29th or 30th overall pick in this year’s draft, for example, since the less valuable pick between Cleveland and Minnesota would belong to the Cavs, who currently own the NBA’s best record.

However, tripling their number of first-round picks gives the Suns additional flexibility in trade negotiations, especially since it unlocks their ability to trade picks over the next six drafts and sidestep the Ted Stepien Rule, which prohibits NBA teams from trading first-round selections in back-to-back years:

Whether they actually wind up using any of these first-rounders or deal them away in a Jimmy Butler trade (or another move down the line), it’s clear the Suns are continuing to find ways to be aggressive, recoup assets and make this team as competitive as possible.

Is Jimmy Butler the answer? That’s another valid question, and it some point, it will be fascinating to see if this front office finally runs out of moves and is unable to continue wheeling and dealing as they tweak around their two superstars.

But one thing is certain: Mat Ishbia, James Jones and Josh Bartelstein aren’t backing down from trying to build around Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

There may come a time where they’re forced to blow it up and rethink their approach, but it’s clear that for the Suns front office, that day isn’t here yet. And at this rate, it feels like that once unlikely Jimmy Butler trade is next on the horizon.