And Dallas ended up with the top pick in quite the interesting twist.
As much as we’d love to close the book on the 2024–25 Phoenix Suns, one last thread remains untied. The fate of their draft pick.
We’ve recapped the season. We’ve graded every player. But before we move on completely, we have to address what the Suns gave up…and what they got in return.
Phoenix ended the year in rare company: the only team to miss the Play-In, the playoffs, and the NBA Draft Lottery. Why? Because their first-round pick, once theirs by right, now belongs to someone else.
29 teams are either in the Playoffs, the Play-in, or the Draft Lottery
Phoenix is the ONLY team not included in any of it https://t.co/Y8Jju56n4n
— Stevie (@RaptorsShaq) April 9, 2025
That 2025 first-round pick, now in Houston’s hands, was originally part of the blockbuster deal that brought Kevin Durant to Phoenix in February 2022. The Suns sent that pick — along with their 2023 first, a 2028 pick swap, their 2029 first, and the trio of Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, and Jae Crowder — to Brooklyn in pursuit of a championship window.
So, despite finishing with the league’s ninth-worst record, the Suns walk away from the lottery empty-handed. Instead, the Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon in attendance to represent Houston at the draft lottery, sitting right next to Portland’s Toumani Camara.
On Monday night, the NBA Draft Lottery made it official: Houston will pick 10th.
The doomsday scenario has been averted. https://t.co/nfNZXmC9B7
— John Voita, III (@DarthVoita) May 12, 2025
There’s nothing the Suns can do now. The pick is gone. But it’s at least a small comfort that the doomsday scenario didn’t come to pass. The Rockets didn’t jump into the top three. They didn’t leapfrog the league and steal the No. 1 pick. For Suns fans, that would’ve been a cruel twist to a season already defined by frustration.
Instead, the lottery delivered one final plot twist: the Dallas Mavericks, owners of a 1.8% chance and architects of the most polarizing trade in years — the midseason deal that sent Luka Doncic elsewhere — defied the odds and landed the No. 1 overall pick.
The official 2025 NBA Draft lottery order:
1. Mavs
2. Spurs
3. Sixers
4. Hornets
5. Jazz
6. Wizards
7. Pelicans
8. Nets
9. Raptors
10. Rockets (via Suns)
11. Trail Blazers
12. Bulls
13. Hawks (via Kings)
14. Spurs (via Hawks) pic.twitter.com/FkPdrcmNWq— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 12, 2025
The Utah Jazz, who had the best odds of winning the draft lottery, ended up with the 5th overall pick.
Listen to the latest podcast episode of the Suns JAM Session Podcast below. Stay up to date on every episode, subscribe to the pod on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podbean, Castbox.
Please subscribe, rate, and review.