{"id":597946,"date":"2026-02-12T02:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/597946\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T02:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:15:24","slug":"suns-2026-nba-trade-deadline-grade-after-1-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/597946\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns 2026 NBA trade deadline grade after 1 deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns pulled off one trade<\/a> during the NBA trade deadline<\/a>, but it was one they needed. General manager Brian Gregory was poised to get the team under the luxury tax, yet finding someone who fits what they are building.<\/p>\n

For a team lacking in frontcourt size, they ended up getting a nice return. They sent away Nick Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis in exchange for Amir Coffey and Cole Anthony.<\/p>\n

While the latter might not suit up due to Phoenix’s loaded guard depth, Coffey brings something nice. He’s a versatile defender with an elevated offensive game.<\/p>\n

The world saw glimpses of how he can be utilized off the ball when he was with the Los Angeles Clippers.<\/p>\n

Coffey brings size and adds to the rotation. He might not get minutes that someone like Jordan Goodwin receives, but that’s not to say he won’t be a valuable part of the team.<\/p>\n

He’s a professional, has been in the league for seven seasons, and understands his role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an NBA player. Amir has been around the league. He\u2019s seen a bunch of different things,\u201d Suns head coach Jordan Ott said before the team’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe kind of knows our style of play, even though we haven\u2019t played those guys in Milwaukee. It\u2019s more defensive, just coverages, terminology-based.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amir Coffey was the Suns’ win at the trade deadline\"Milwaukee\u00a9 Michael McLoone-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

A good chunk of what they needed was ducking the luxury tax. After the Suns had struggles in the second-tax apron last season, that hasn’t been the case in the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Trading away Richards and Hayes-Davis allowed them to go beneath the luxury tax<\/a>. Granted, team majority owner Mat Ishbia likely wouldn’t mind paying for it, but it gives them more flexibility moving forward.<\/p>\n

Also, the previous two Phoenix bigs fizzled out of the rotation for the last month. They didn’t necessarily fit Ott’s system of pace, space, and versatility.<\/p>\n

Coffey, on the other hand, has everything that the Suns are looking for<\/a>. Size, shooting, athleticism, and most importantly, defense.<\/p>\n

With the fifth-best defense in terms of points allowed per game and the ninth-best defensive rating, that’s their identity: defense into offense.<\/p>\n

The Suns did exactly what they were supposed to do<\/p>\n

It wasn’t an eventful trade deadline, but one that needed to happen. Trading Richards was a thought throughout the season, especially considering how the Suns’ center rotation stacks up.<\/p>\n

They prioritize defense, length, and versatility. Richards doesn’t add much of that, even with being a solid post-threat and arguably the best rebounder out of the depth at the position.<\/p>\n

For Hayes-Davis, his success overseas didn’t quite translate over. His high-post game required the offense to stall for a while. In an offense that prioritizes ball movement and spacing, it wasn’t a good fit.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the two players maintained a good attitude and kept injecting life into the team, instead of removing any momentum from it.<\/p>\n

Now, both players will have a chance to have increased roles with their respective teams. Meanwhile, Coffey goes from one losing team to one on the rise.<\/p>\n

It seems that Gregory had a vision for the deadline and executed it to the ideal imagination.<\/p>\n

Suns trade deadline grade: B<\/p>\n

Again, this wasn’t a groundbreaking trade deadline, but one that fine-tunes the cap sheet and any roster flexibility for the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Suns pulled off one trade during the NBA trade deadline, but it was one they needed.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,10369,6,2828,2065,472,4045,2144,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-597946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-mini-editorials","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-trade-deadline","12":"tag-phoenix","13":"tag-phoenix-suns","14":"tag-phoenixsuns","15":"tag-reporting","16":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}