After making one of the biggest trades of the NBA offseason so far, shipping Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for a package headlined by Jalen Green, the Phoenix Suns turned heads once more by adding not one but two centers within minutes of each other during the 2025 NBA Draft: Mark Williams and Duke's Khaman Maluach.

While Maluach coming off the board at pick No. 10 wasn't too surprising, as that was the range he was mocked in, the idea to also trade for Williams from the Charlotte Hornets rubbed ESPN's Stephen A. Smith the wrong way, to the point where he went absolutely off on the ABC broadcast while taking int he news.

“Good Lord! Respectfully, what on earth are the Phoenix Suns doing, giving up a first-round pick in 2029 for Mark Williams? This is the same dude that the Lakers were looking to acquire and supposedly failed a physical,” Smith declared.

“Now, I don't know. Listen, we don't know all the details about that. But here's the bottom line: If you're the Phoenix Suns, one of the reasons you made the deal to move Kevin Durant was to acquire assets. You're trying to hold on to them. Why would you give it away for Mark Williams four years from now? Why?”

Former Golden State Warriors executive Bob Myers took a more measured approach to the trade, putting it in the context of the NBA playoffs in 2025.

“Unless we don't have all the information. But assuming we do, they just, in a matter of ten minutes, added two centers to their roster that play the same position. And look, I like centers. I'm not trying to be critical of them. Centers are the most likely players to be played off the floor,” Myer noted.

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“We saw Oklahoma City a week ago. They played big all year, and they got to the finals, and they couldn't really do it. So you've got to be real careful overvaluing some of these guys. They just added two of them in the last ten minutes.”

Who is right, Myer or Smith? Well, while only time will tell, Stephen A. didn't want to give his coworker the final word on the subject, letting it be known that he is not a fan of the trade, no matter how you spin it.

“And you don't give up a first-round pick if you're Phoenix,” Smith declared. “No! No!”