Starting in Devin Booker’s rookie season, the Suns decided to begin playing the dangerous tanking game.
If all went to plan from the beginning for former general manager Ryan McDonough, Phoenix would have a duo of Booker and Ben Simmons in their backcourt. Instead, following a 23-59 record, which included firing Jeff Hornacek mid-season and not officially interviewing anyone else before hiring interim head coach Earl Watson, they stayed at No. 4 overall selecting unknown European big man Dragan Bender.
Then, in the spring of 2017, the Suns started to really capture the art of tanking as they were winning too much too fast.