Suns show their work in behind-the-scenes of trade-heavy NBA Draft

It’s pretty standard for pro sports executives to promise that the players they have just drafted were the ones they had wanted most. They swear!

Assuming the Phoenix Suns’ edited behind-the-scenes video of the 2024 NBA Draft is truly chronological, they provide the receipts that they got the two guys they had targeted, rookies Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro.

2024 NBA Draft: Inside the War Room

🎥 Go behind the scenes of the Suns draft pic.twitter.com/Hihgu1CXbB

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) August 26, 2024

The video picks up in Phoenix’s war room as the Suns are trading the No. 22 overall pick for the 28th selection and future seconds. They want Dunn, a Virginia wing who can juice the roster’s athleticism and defensive abilities.

And they get greedy by trading down with hopes of still landing him. They moved down six spots, accepting the Denver Nuggets’ pick in the first round, the 56th overall pick, plus 2026 and 2031 second-rounders in the trade.

Phoenix selected Dunn near the end of the first round. Their war room was led by owner Mat Ishbia, CEO Josh Barstelstein and vice president of basketball operations and general manager James Jones.

“We can go Dunn and we can go into tomorrow and see what happens and maybe (picks) 36, 37 Oso is still there we can grab him and grab our second guy,” says Ishbia, off camera. “Those are our two favorites, Dunn and Oso.”

The Suns attacked it just like that.

“We were basically on the phone with every team every two to three minutes as the picks were rolling off,” Jones said after the draft.

In a standalone deal before landing Ighodaro, the Suns grabbed the No. 51 pick for a 2028 second-rounder, then packaged it with the 56th pick to send to the New York Knicks, who helped Phoenix move all the way up to 40th.

That’s where they took Ighodaro out of Marquette.

“We did not think he would get to 56,” Bartelstein said.

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