What do fans make of Phoenix Suns’ trade for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams on draft night

What do fans make of Phoenix Suns’ trade for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams on draft night

it felt like going to a one of those fireworks displays and it’s supposed to last a half hour and it lasted 30 seconds like everything went off at once basically because the Suns were supposed to have the 10th pick and they were supposed to have the 29th pick and you figured they were almost going to bookend the draft to a certain extent obviously 10 is not one but you get the point and all of a sudden as they’re making the 10th pick they basically made their 29th pick too because they traded it and a firstrounder in 2029 which should probably be in the mid to late 20s honestly in 2029 that pick um to Charlotte for Mark Williams and it was it was an interesting experience on the draft show last night because when it happened we’re like “This is crazy this is like cool like look what they just did they addressed this position they don’t have to worry about center anymore.” But as you let it sink in you’re like how much of the excitement was over the Malwatch pick and how much of it was really for the Mark Williams trade so specifically on the Williams trade where do you land on this yeah for for me let me just start with this Luke right here wasn’t it so awesome to actually care about who was being picked in the top 10 yeah it was honestly isn’t that great oh it was so cool to actually see that now once again do you want to pick in the top 10 every year no you don’t want to do that based on earnings you do not ron Wolfley reporting yet at the same time it was awesome to see that where you were you were locked in you knew oh my goodness Malawatch is falling he’s falling i I think value when you start talking about value I think the Phoenix Suns got the most value you could get in this draft by having Kaman Malawatch fall to number yeah I agree and and because of that it was just awesome it was great to actually be locked in and witnessing it as it was happening that was super cool right there to have a top 10 pick and know that the Suns were involved and were going to be relevant were going to be players in the top 10 so that was cool having said that right now I wonder I I wonder if they they never suspected that Malawatch was going to be there at number 10 in all of their mocks never suspected that and then suddenly he was there but had already plowed the road for the possibility of a center and going to get Mark Williams i tried to go back it’s tougher to look at like betting odds once the event has happened i was trying to see what because you can I mean I think you can bet on where each player is going to be picked or like what each pick’s going to be so I was trying to go back and see what the odds were for him to go at 10 or later and I couldn’t find it but I know they were high let’s put it that way so I mean it didn’t I didn’t see in any mock drafts that Malwatch was projected to go there we were Gambo was on the show last night and he said multiple times the Suns did not expect him to be there there’s that that cut from Brian Gregory earlier that was just like “Yeah I we didn’t expect him to be there.” That he had told Matt Hish he’s not going to be there at number 10 so let’s let’s come up with a plan that doesn’t include him i I don’t know for sure but I tend to believe what you’re saying that’s kind of the the the conclusion I came to last night too of they were trying to make the move for Mark Williams figuring they were probably going to draft whoever yeah that wasn’t Malwatch and then he was there and if that’s the case it probably makes Williams a little redundant but I I like that they stuck with the pick anyway and didn’t go well position of need because that’s what got them in trouble not this regime but that’s what got them in trouble with Hallebertton that’s what got a previous regime in trouble with Luca they’re like well how would Luca and Booker ever play together take the best player you know for me it’s so cool because maybe they were they were on to this Mark Williams trade the the possibility that it was going to be there of course and I’m sure they had plowed the road as quickly as it happened especially had already plowed the road for the possibility of hey listen whoever we get at number 10 right there um we’ll go ahead and we still know we need a center we’ll get Mark Williams we have that trade already and then maybe when it when Malawatch was there at number 10 they were like “Oh my goodness this is working perfectly.” Yeah because now all of a sudden you can go ahead and draft this 18-year-old kid 18 i can’t stress that enough 18 years old and maybe we could still go get Mark Williams because then all of a sudden we’ll we’ll Mark Williams will present a little aid comfort and shelter to this kid who’s 18 years old yeah i’m I’m torn on the Williams thing you know the further we get from the trade because on the one hand this is a guy that I don’t think people necessarily think is only 23 years old was just a first round pick 15th overall in the 2022 draft seems to be this thought like yeah Mark Williams what is he about 30 he’s been in the league for about you know nine 10 23 but you know he was also the Mark Williams that was traded to the Lakers last year and everybody was freaking out the Lakers got this huge piece and then because of a failed physical he wasn’t going to the Lakers so there’s some risk there i don’t know if they meant to add both of them but they did get two NBA players last night yes that’s not a given with the 29th pick in the draft that you’re going to get an NBA player yeah there is a concern about his health of course and we know that he failed the physical um you know so there is that um at the same time the Phoenix Suns don’t seem to value a lot of that draft capital especially if it’s happening at the end of the first round they don’t value a lot of that and because of that I I still like this deal i do 23 years old and long um going into his fourth season now he’s got one more year left on his contract he’s got one more year on his contract right here so we’ll have to see what they do what kind of decision they make but um I wonder to me I was fascinated with all of a sudden Malawatch is there at number 10 he’s there at number 10 they had to blow their mind that he fell that far to them and yet they still went out and got Mark Williams that had to be part of the plan all along the reaction nationally wasn’t real positive it certainly was to Malwatch it wasn’t so much to Williams here’s Bob Myers they just in the matter of 10 minutes added two centers to their roster that play the same position yeah and look I I like centers i’m not trying to be critical of them centers are the most likely players to be played off the floor we saw Oklahoma City yes a week ago they played big all year and they got to the finals and they couldn’t really Minnesota where Rudy go so you got to be real careful overvaluing some of these guys here’s Bill Simmons on the Bill Simmons podcast with Joe House yesterday phoenix who now has two centers we’ll talk about that no they don’t they have more than two well they have they still have Nick Richards for some reason they decided to acquire the Charlotte Hornets entire front court i mean like in in in less than than six months right charlotte’s just trying to get rid of their centers and Phoenix is like “We’ll take them.” Yeah you know once again you got an 18-year-old kid would you like to have some guy uh provide a little aid comfort and shelter to that 18-year-old kid who’s not 40 um you know to me I looked at it and thought to myself they always were going to do it they were going to go with Mark Williams they were going to make that trade always whether Malawatch was there or not suddenly he fell to him at number 10 it’s even more important you’ve got somebody I think that is actually gonna be able to relate to him and by the way Mark Williams his injury is issue his injury situation you’ve got to take that into account as well yeah uh I I don’t I don’t hate it now again his his uh his games played Mark Williams by year 43 as a rookie 19 in his second year 44 this past season so I mean it has been an issue that’s the biggest issue to me when he plays i think he’s solid and so at least when he plays you feel like he’s solid and you know if if it’s if there’s value in what you’re saying of he can help uh Malwatch develop he can to a certain extent do that even if he’s not playing i mean you wouldn’t trade for a guy if you didn’t think he was going to play i go back and forth on it i don’t hate the idea of just solidifying a position i mean it felt like within the matter of 20 seconds they’re like “We don’t have any centers that we’re counting on now we have two.” And again it’s the 29th pick it’s not like it was the 15th pick thank you thank you for that and yeah you know I also next time we talk about this I want to get into this because I think Jordan his plans for the Phoenix Suns might be all over this jordan the one thing and Kellen brought this up on the show last night and Kell’s going to join us here uh this uh at 12:30 today actually Eddie Johnson’s going to join us at 11:32 too so we’ll get his thoughts but Kellen brought this up on the show last night the one thing he doesn’t like and I I I see the the logic in this it feels like right now they’ve made these two trades the Kevin Durant trade and the and the Mark Williams trade now that basically mean they have to make additional trades you know what I mean like they there’s still other they got to do something with Nick Richards like there’s there’s other moves they have to make but we knew they were going to have to make a lot of moves this summer anyway so thanks for watching Wolf and Luke tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports

The Phoenix Suns traded for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams on draft night, dealing the No. 29 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and a 2029 first-round pick. Wolf & Luke ponder the questions fans have expressed on social media.

Suns trade for Hornets C Mark Williams, dealing No. 29, future 1st-round pick: https://arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-suns/mark-williams-29/3588228/

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