The Phoenix Suns’ Emirates NBA Cup quarter-final hammering at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder was a chastising experience, but it has not dampened the mood in The Valley.

What else did you expect going up against a now 24-1 outfit without Devin Booker and Jalen Green? Their ace in the hole in Collin Gillespie was also given a rude awakening by the Thunders’ defense.

Suns need to sit this trade deadline out.

But what has also become apparent despite suffering the worst loss in franchise history (we were as surprised as you on that one) is that the franchise needs to stay the course with the roster they have.

They simply play too hard and make too much sense as a cohesive unit under head coach Jordan Ott to mess up what they’ve got going on, and could still actually make the playoffs.

We have already made the case for trading Grayson Allen ahead of the deadline, because the time to cash in on his talents is now. Getting ejected in that Thunder loss didn’t help matters either.

Shai’s reaction to Chet getting pushed 😭

Grayson Allen was ejected after the play. pic.twitter.com/bpvZNAYYSd

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 11, 2025

But with Giannis Antetokounmpo holding everything up at the moment, there likely isn’t going to be a scenario that presents itself for the Suns to get better in the coming weeks.

Coach Ott has relied heavily on his veterans to win games, and he should continue to do so as the Suns’ don’t have much by the way of draft picks for the rest of this decade.

Jonathan Kuminga has interested Phoenix for a while now, and his time with the Golden State Warriors is over. But he also can’t be traded until January 15th.

The Chicago Bulls may have entered the race to secure his services, and they have more players who could interest the Warriors given the Suns’ reported package for Kuminga during the offseason was deemed not good enough.

With Kuminga likely headed elsewhere and a too good to be true deal for Allen unlikely to happen, there is no point making a move simply for the sake of it.

The Suns have even managed to fix their point guard rotation, making even a small move to bring Chris Paul back an avenue they also should not explore.

About the only small trade that should go down is moving on from Nick Richards, and we have found a perfect landing spot for him. He’s not part of coach Ott’s main rotation anyway, and even a second round pick for his services would seem worth it.

Beyond that however, let’s see what a fully version of this roster looks like, because the cobbled together lineups coach Ott has used so far this season have led to some success. Stay the course.