{"id":800280,"date":"2026-07-31T10:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/800280\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T10:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:24:19","slug":"rival-report-bridges-changed-the-story-of-the-suns-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/800280\/","title":{"rendered":"Rival report: Bridges changed the story of the Suns\u2019 offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s get back to the Warriors\u2019 divisional rivals out in the big blue Pacific, continuing with the Suns. I previously broke down their draft day strategy<\/a> and now we\u2019re talking what happened after free agency. Phoenix is the team that ended the Warriors\u2019 season last spring, in a play-in elimination game that still stings a little to write about. Before Golden State worries about the teams that got flashier over the summer, it\u2019s worth checking on the one that already has a recent win over them.<\/p>\n

The Suns had a quiet, disciplined offseason right up until they didn\u2019t. GM Brian Gregory re-signed Collin Gillespie, Jordan Goodwin, and Mark Williams, added shooter Luke Kennard in free agency, and traded up in the first round to grab Arizona forward Koa Peat. Smart value contracts, a rotation kept mostly intact, a promising rookie added on the cheap. On paper, that\u2019s a near-perfect summer for a team trying to build without a real cap advantage.<\/p>\n

Then they traded an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, along with Royce O\u2019Neale, for Miles Bridges.<\/p>\n

That single move is doing all the heavy lifting in how this offseason gets remembered. Everything else Phoenix did was the responsible version of team-building. Bridges is the swing for the fences.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, the Suns are moving forward with Bridges. The 28-year-old veteran has never made an All-Star team in his NBA career, but many Suns fans were (rightfully) more critical of Bridges\u2019 off-court indiscretions. His history of domestic violence, chronicled by longtime NBA reporter David Aldridge<\/a>, would make anyone with a conscience cringe.\u201c<\/p>\n

Despite his past, the Suns\u2019 front office gave up a lot to acquire Bridges even entering a contract year. For most of the summer, Phoenix behaved like a team willing to win around the margins. If Bridges plays like the difference-maker the Suns believe he can be, nobody will remember the quiet work that came first. If he doesn\u2019t, that unprotected 2033 pick becomes the only move anyone talks about. Either way, this is still the core of the roster that ended Golden State\u2019s season in the play-in last spring. The Warriors won\u2019t have to wait long to find out whether Phoenix\u2019s biggest gamble made that team any better.<\/p>\n

Out of curiosity, I wondered when was the last time the Phoenix Suns won a title. A quick Google search told me they had been to the NBA Finals three times and had never won it all. If I was a betting man, I\u2019d wager the house that this ignominious streak shall absolutely continue in the next year. Still, the Warriors are gonna see this team alot this year during the regular season and will have to figure these guys out if they want to make headway in the West.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s get back to the Warriors\u2019 divisional rivals out in the big blue Pacific, continuing with the Suns.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,64551,6,2065,472,4045,604],"class_list":["post-800280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix-suns","tag-basketball","tag-golden-state-warriors-discussion","tag-nba","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-phoenixsuns","tag-suns"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117014106162689045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800280","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=800280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}