The Phoenix Suns have made a trade—though not the one many were anticipating. Jimmy Butler remains with the Miami Heat for now, despite the Suns’ ongoing efforts to bring him to Phoenix. However, the Suns have still managed to pull off a notable deal, acquiring Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards along with a 2025 second-round pick from the Denver Nuggets. In exchange, they sent Josh Okogie and three second-round picks: two from the Nuggets (2026 and 2031) and one of their own (2031).
Is this the blockbuster move fans were hoping for in the lead-up to the trade deadline? Not quite. But it is an intriguing deal that addresses a key need for the Suns, with plenty of time left before the deadline to make further moves. Let’s break down this trade and evaluate it for both teams, while considering the possibility that Phoenix could be positioning itself for a larger move down the line.
Phoenix Suns: B+
A year ago on trade deadline day, the Dallas Mavericks sat at the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. By June, they were in the NBA Finals. The catalyst for their remarkable turnaround was a pair of key trades that may have provided valuable lessons for the Suns—and possibly the entire league. Dallas acquired standout wing P.J. Washington from the Charlotte Hornets, then pulled off a deal for center Daniel Gafford from the Washington Wizards. Both Washington and Gafford were role players on teams focused on rebuilding. But in Dallas, they blossomed into key contributors, playing crucial roles in the Mavericks’ Finals run.
In acquiring Nick Richards, the Suns are likely hoping to replicate the success of the Gafford trade. By taking an athletic center from a struggling team, placing him on a stronger squad, and giving him the chance to thrive, Phoenix is banking on a similar transformation. They can be fairly confident in this approach, considering how Washington broke out once he left Charlotte. With the NBA becoming more cost- and asset-conscious, acquiring a starting center at market price was simply not feasible for a Suns team facing financial limitations. Instead, they opted to try and develop their own, hoping Richards will be the next example of a player flourishing in a new environment.
Richards brings most of the traits the Suns are looking for. He can finish lobs, and unlike Jusuf Nurkic, he’s mobile enough defensively. Mike Budenholzer has turned less athletic players into elite rim protectors, so there’s hope that Richards can make an impact in that area as well. Most importantly, Richards is inexpensive. Phoenix managed to acquire him without touching their final tradable first-round pick (2031), and financially, the Suns save around $20 million in luxury taxes with this move, per Yossi Gozlan. They’ll also have Richards for a non-guaranteed $5 million next season—an excellent value for a gamble, especially since Richards has already shown he can be a solid backup.
However, that doesn’t mean Richards will have the same impact for Phoenix that Daniel Gafford did for Dallas. Gafford was two years younger when traded, and there was a strong statistical case for him being underrated as a Wizard. His per-36-minute numbers were stellar, but his tendency to foul limited his playing time. Advanced metrics were high on Gafford, with his .191 Win Shares per 48 minutes surpassing even Hakeem Olajuwon’s career average of .177. Gafford was an undervalued asset, and his defensive improvement in Dallas made a significant difference. Plus, he had the advantage of playing alongside Luka Dončić, one of the league’s best passers, who could set him up for easy lobs.
Richards doesn’t have quite the same “invisible star” factors working in his favor. His per-36 numbers, particularly offensively, aren’t as promising. While Phoenix is a much better offensive team than Charlotte, they don’t have a player like Dončić to create those easy lob opportunities. The Suns are likely to work the ball into him in the paint, but Phoenix takes fewer shots in the restricted area than any other team, so it remains to be seen how Richards will fit into their system. This trade, in many ways, is a more modest version of the Gafford deal—the concept is similar, but it may not have the same level of upside.
That said, this is still a win for the Suns. Finding those hidden gems isn’t easy, and while they might not have landed a better center, they simply didn’t have the assets to do so. The Suns are holding on to their 2031 first-round pick for a possible Jimmy Butler deal, and nothing else in their trade pool, aside from Ryan Dunn (who might be needed in a Butler deal), was likely to land them a proven starter. Phoenix needed a starting-caliber center, and they needed one now. Nurkic has fallen out of the rotation, and Mason Plumlee would likely be in the same situation if Phoenix weren’t so desperate. Rookie Oso Ighodaro has looked solid but is mostly promising by comparison.
Taking a chance on Richards was the right move, and the timing is favorable. The Suns aren’t locked into this decision yet, as they still have three weeks before the deadline to evaluate Richards and decide their next steps. Ideally, they land Butler, but if that doesn’t happen, the Suns can look to trade Nurkic’s contract and the 2031 pick for a wing. If Richards doesn’t pan out, they can take another swing at a center. If the season continues to slide, they can sit tight, keeping their 2031 pick intact. For the price of Josh Okogie and a few second-round picks, the Suns now have valuable flexibility. Even if they don’t fill their biggest need or improve their bench, the cost was so low that this trade was well worth making. Kudos to Phoenix for not only taking a shot but doing so early enough to make additional moves depending on how things unfold.
Charlotte Hornets: C
The Hornets have been rotating three young centers this season: Nick Richards, Mark Williams, and Moussa Diabate. Now that Williams is healthy again, it made sense for Charlotte to split the minutes between just two of them. Williams, the long-term starter, is a more athletic player than Richards and has true All-Defensive potential as a rim protector. Unless he faced another injury setback, Williams’ spot in the rotation was secure.
The trade, however, was driven by the emergence of Diabate, a 2022 second-round pick who spent his first two seasons with the Clippers and joined Charlotte on a two-way deal. While Diabate isn’t an elite shot blocker, most statistical models rate him as one of the top per-minute defensive reserves in the league. Opponents are shooting just 58.8% against him at the rim, according to NBA.com tracking data. While that number doesn’t seem particularly eye-catching in isolation, it’s important to note that Diabate’s defense is making a significant impact on a team that isn’t known for defensive prowess. When Diabate is on the floor, Charlotte allows only 103.1 points per 100 possessions—an elite figure. When he sits, that number jumps to 116.3 points per 100 possessions. These numbers essentially highlight the difference between Diabate’s defensive abilities and Richards’ struggles. Diabate has been ranked as a top-25 defender in the NBA this season by estimated plus-minus. Given that, it was clear Charlotte needed to prioritize giving Diabate more playing time.
This left them in a tough spot with Richards. They couldn’t pull him from the rotation entirely, as doing so would severely hurt his trade value. Therefore, a deal had to happen quickly. Interestingly, today was the first day Josh Okogie was eligible to be traded, so it seems Charlotte took advantage of that timing.
That said, one might wonder if waiting just a little longer would have yielded a better return. Could they have secured a better offer for Richards closer to the deadline or in the coming weeks? It’s possible. In fact, keeping Richards—even if he wasn’t part of their long-term plans—might have made sense. With Williams’ injury history over the past two seasons, Richards’ non-guaranteed $5 million salary for next season was a relatively low-risk asset. Why not keep all three centers, especially given the possibility of injuries? If a better offer for Richards had come along, sure, trade him. But as it stands, two second-round picks are unlikely to be game-changers, and Richards could have been useful to the Hornets either on the court or as a trade asset down the line.
In the end, the logic behind the trade is understandable. Charlotte needed clarity at the center position, which is valuable. But the execution of this deal feels like it could have been improved. The move didn’t quite maximize their options, and while it was driven by a desire for clarity, it wasn’t enough to justify making a less-than-ideal trade.
