Brian Gregory was a controversial hire. Mat Ishbia promoted yet another Michigan State Spartan to a position of power in an offseason where that became a trend, as new head coach Jordan Ott was a former video coordinator at MSU under Tom Izzo.
These days, most Suns fans have very little to critique about the coaching hire. Everyone who watched the last dregs of the Monty Williams era, the Vogel season, and the Budenholzer season is elated by the progress this team has shown under Jordan Ott, and I see many fans routinely discuss their contentment with the coach online.
One person who doesn’t seem to get his flowers as often is Brian Gregory. GMs tend to be judged over the course of many drafts and offseasons. The fruits of their labor can take years to be tasted. Coaches give us the here and now. We can see the difference a coach makes a minimum of 82 times per year.
Jordan Ott also had a proven track record as an assistant around the league. The only things we really knew about Gregory were his connection to the Spartans and his fondness for the word “alignment.”
That said, we do have a sample size. 44 games are behind us. 53.7% of the season has come and gone and we are closer to the playoffs than we are to opening night. So, how has Brian Gregory’s first offseason aged?
The Kevin Durant Trade: Grade: B+
The big one. The first item on the agenda. What was Brian Gregory going to do with KD. The Kevin Durant trade ended up being the largest trade in NBA history, comprising 7 teams.
The Suns traded Kevin Durant for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, picks 10, 31, and 41 in the 2025 NBA draft, and two future second-round picks. At the time, I would have graded this a C- or maybe even a D. The best player the Suns received back played the same position as Devin Booker. After that, all the Suns got was a role player, one good pick, and a handful of second-rounders. When do late picks ever work out, anyway?
As it turns out, I was a fool. Dillon Brooks has had a career season, even though he has begun to regress back to his mean a bit on the current road trip. His mean, however, is a good defensive wing who can space the floor and average 15 per game for his career.
Jalen Green has played just two full games on the season. In one of those two games, he looked like an explosive athlete who was going to be a dynamic backcourt partner to complement Booker. He scored an efficient 29 points and looked good doing it. In his return to the court in Philadelphia, he struggled with his efficiency a bit, but was showing some playmaking ability to make up for it. Most importantly, he looked healthy. While the Jalen Green sample size is not enormous, it does give us hope moving forward. Jalen Green still could have a “second star” in his future.
Meanwhile, the young player I desperately wanted from the Rockets, 22-year-old power forward Jabari Smith Jr., is playing…okay. He is averaging 15 points and 7 rebounds and is generally just a good basketball player. He would have probably played well under Coach Ott, but with the flashes Green has shown for the Suns, I think fans are expecting to be happy with the package they received.
The draft compensation received for Kevin Durant was about as good as Phoenix could have hoped for. We no longer live in the same NBA that was trading the farm for Rudy Gobert. A top ten pick and some future second-rounders in return for an aging star was a reasonable amount of draft compensation.
The most important thing the Suns received in return for Kevin Durant is the privilege of not having him in their locker room. At just the halfway point of the season, the vibes are already poor in Houston.
While Durant was in Phoenix, I thought that watching him play on the court for your favorite team must be the peak of basketball fandom. Unfortunately, watching everyone else on your favorite team be miserable playing with him was the curse that came with the boon.
This was a good trade for the Suns. Good is probably the right word, though, not great. But who knows if a great trade was ever going to be available? At the time of the trade, Durant’s value was at an all-time low for his career. Gregory did what he could with what he had and should be very happy with the results this trade has generated.
The Mark Williams Trade: Grade: A+
On draft night, the Phoenix Suns traded the 29th pick, Liam McNeeley, Vasilije Micić, and a 2029 first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Mark Williams and a 2029 second-round pick.
At first glance, that first-round pick in 2029 might seem like a steep price given the Suns’ current lack of draft capital, but I invite you to look a little deeper with me. The pick that the Suns traded was the least favorable draft pick among the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Utah Jazz. At least two of those teams are likely to be playoff teams in 2029. What the Suns really traded away with that 2029 pick was a player likely to be in the back 5-10 selections of the draft.
In return for that package, Phoenix received a young starter at what was, at the time, their weakest position. Williams is 24 years old, averages 12 points and 8 rebounds, and is five games away from a career high. He is the perfect high-motor big man to hold down the position for the next half-decade or more while the Suns’ center prospect develops, and they got him for a much lower price than they should have been able to. I give this trade an A+ for the sheer value returned for what was given up.
Every team in the league would trade picks 25 and 29 for a 24-year-old starter, and that is essentially what Brian Gregory did.
The Draft: Grade: C+
The thing about judging a draft during a rookie year is that, inevitably, very little of what we say about these guys now will actually be correct in the future. Cooper Flagg might win rookie of the year, but he also could be Michael Carter-Williams in disguise. While I think that is unlikely, I make that point to highlight how rookie seasons really shouldn’t be used to write off a player forever. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s determine if we should write off these players forever.
With their selections, the Phoenix Suns chose Khaman Maluach with the 10th pick, Rasheer Fleming with the 31st pick, and Koby Brea with the 41st pick. All three of these guys were raw, and only one of them had an NBA-ready skill that they could exhibit (Koby Brea’s shooting).
Koby Brea has played a total of eight minutes in the NBA so far. He is averaging 20.1 points in over 36 minutes in the G-League for the Valley Suns. Unfortunately, he is shooting just 31.3% from three. Brea is a player who got drafted because of his jump shot, and if he is going to make it in the NBA, he needs to be an above-average three-point shooter.
On the other hand, Rasheer Fleming has shown flashes. Fleming has averaged 7 minutes per game across the 24 games he has played. He has gotten into NBA games and looked like an NBA player. He is a long way away from being a high-level NBA player, but when you watch Fleming play you see a guy who is likely going to be in the Suns rotation in the next couple of years. Rasheer Fleming, Ryan Dunn, and Oso Ighodaro represent hits on late draft picks that most teams struggle to get. The ability to evaluate guys late in the first round and deep into the second round will continue to be critical for this team as all of their draft picks will be in this range for the foreseeable future
Maluach has been the player everyone has had their eye on. He has played just 4.7 minutes per game across 18 games this season. He is also 19 years old and likely still growing into his 7 feet 1 inches and 250 lbs. One bright spot is that he has dominated in the G-League. In his eight games for the Valley Suns, he is averaging 15.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 3 blocks. There are enough flashes with the teenage center that it probably isn’t time to hit the panic button, yet. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from the basketball reference pages of the guys drafted around him.
Three to four years from now, when Maluach and Fleming are rotation players, I think we are upgrading Brian Gregory’s first draft to a B+.
The Other Guys: Grade: A
This is where the Suns’ front office has truly shone. In addition to the Fleming draft pick, Gregory claimed Jordan Goodwin off of waivers and signed Isaiah Livers to a two-way contract. As a bonus point, Gregory also signed Jamaree Bouyea to a two-way contract, though the season had already started.
Following the Goodwin signing, Gregory then had to make a second decision. There was a tough preseason battle between Goodwin and Jared Butler for a spot on the roster. Ultimately, Gregory made the right choice. Goodwin is averaging 9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in just 21 minutes off the bench. He has been a spark plug on defense and a perfect fit for this team’s new identity.
Isaiah Livers is averaging 10 minutes across just 23 games, mostly filling in for whatever role has been needed of him, especially at the power forward position. While he isn’t on his way to a regular rotation spot, he has been a good signing for what could have been reasonably expected of him.
The Suns have begun to gain a reputation for finding these guys. While Brian Gregory may not have been the general manager at the time, starting point guard Collin Gillespie was also a recent diamond in the rough that the Suns found, just waiting to be signed by anyone who would take him.
Final Offseason Grade: B+
Brian Gregory and the Suns front office team did what I thought was going to be impossible. They turned the dumpster fire 2024-2025 Phoenix Suns into a real playoff team. They found their guys, they aligned their vision, and they proved they can do more than spout buzzwords.
The only thing holding back the score for this offseason is the draft. For the second year running, the Phoenix Suns have walked away from the draft with at least one and maybe two pieces that are likely to turn into long-term rotation players. However, this was also very likely the last time the Suns are going to have a top ten draft pick in the Devin Booker era. If they want to open up the contention window again, Maluach has to turn into something great.
We will see what happens. For now, I am excited to see what the Brian Gregory era has in store for the future.
What about you, Suns fans? How would you grade BG’s first offseason?
