A look at the Phoenix Suns past five drafts

How many Phoenix Suns rookies have suited up for the team over the past five seasons?

The number is only three. In fact, the last one drawn up Rookie to play one minute of Phoenix Suns basketball was Jalen Smith in the 2020-2021 season. Shoutout to Ty-Shon Alexander who played 47 minutes as a rookie that season.

Since 2019 (five draft classes), the Suns have only had three rookies actually suit up for them.

Jalen Smith (2020-21)
Cam Johnson (2019-20)
Ty Jerome (2019-20)

— Zona (@AZSportsZone) June 23, 2024

Ish Wainright, Paris Bass and Gabriel Lundberg played sparingly as rookies in the 2021-2022 season, but all went undrafted, so they don’t meet the criteria for the above stat.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane as we prepare for this year’s draft.

2023 — Toumani Camara, pick #52 (trade months later)

The Suns did not have a single rookie on their roster in 2023. After dealing Camara in the Nurkic/Ayton/Allen deal, Phoenix entered the season without a rookie for the second straight year.

Camara averaged 7.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals in 70 games last season, averaging 24.8 minutes per game.

2022 — Nobody

The Suns had no rookies this season. There’s nothing to see (or talk about) here.

Phoenix had no draft picks in this draft as they traded their 2020 first-round pick to Oklahoma City as part of the trade for Chris Paul.

2021 — Nobody

Phoenix traded the 29th pick (Day’Ron Sharpe) and Jevon Carter for Landry Shamet on draft night. Herb Jones was there.

Brooklyn has traded guard Landry Shamet to Phoenix for Jevon Carter and the 29th pick in tonight’s draft, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 29, 2021

The Landry Shamet deal was a hit. I understand what they were trying to do, but it just didn’t work the way they (and many others) envisioned it.

2020 — Jalen Smith, pick No. 10

This one stings. Tyrese Haliburton, Devin Vassell and Tyrese Maxey were all there. Phoenix took action for the second year in a row, this time without result.

It clearly wasn’t the right choice at the time, and everyone knew it. Phoenix later had to transfer Jalen Smith’s contract to Indiana. They acquired Torrey Craig for Smith and had to attach a second-round pick to that deal less than two years later.

2019 — Cameron Johnson, pick #11 + Ty Jerome, pick #24

The infamous draft where the Suns were mocked by the NBA world for reaching for Cam Johnson. Phoenix landed Dario Saric and the 11th pick out of Minnesota to move back five rungs to get their guy. I was a Jarrett Culver believer at the time, and boy was I wrong.

It was one of the best decisions the Suns have made on draft night in a long time.

Phoenix then acquired Aron Baynes and the draft rights to Boston’s Ty Jerome in exchange for a protected 2020 first-round pick via Milwaukee.

The Phoenix landing of Baynes, Saric, Johnson and Jerome that night was seen as a bust at the time, but it ended up being one of the most positive series of offseason moves they’d had in a while.

Leaving the draft with three rotation players while giving up very little was a win.

The 2024 NBA Draft is just a few days away, so we’re hoping the Suns can surprise us. Remember, draft night grades are meaningless.

We hope their design history improves when we look back on this in five years.