The Charlotte Hornets are trading starting center Mark Williams to the Phoenix Suns for Liam McNeeley (the No. 29 overall pick in Wednesday’s NBA Draft) and a 2029 first-round pick, which will be the least-favorable of picks from the Suns, Cavaliers and Timberwolves (top-five protected), according to ESPN. The Hornets will also get Vasilije Micić back from the Suns after trading him to Phoenix during the season. The Suns picked up his team option to include him in the deal.
The deal marks the second time Williams has been traded in the calendar year of 2025. In February, he was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers in a deadline blockbuster, but after he failed his physical, the Lakers elected to rescind the deal out of fear of his long-term health.
The Suns, however, appear to be more willing to take the risk given his talent. Last season, he averaged 15.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in Charlotte despite playing only 26.6 minutes per game. While his defense is still a work in progress, he has the tools to succeed on that end of the floor so long as he can stay healthy. That is the biggest question mark for him. In three NBA seasons, he has played in just 106 of a possible 246 games.
However, as the Suns also landed Duke’s Khaman Maluach at No. 10 overall, they have seemingly landed two possible centers of the future in one night while securing a bit of insurance against further Williams injuries. Center has been a gaping hole for the Suns ever since they traded Deandre Ayton to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023, so now, they’ve taken a major step toward solving the position long-term.
The Hornets, meanwhile, had seemingly decided that they were not going to keep Williams long-term. He becomes eligible for a rookie extension this offseason, and now, it will be on Phoenix to pay him. That raises questions about Charlotte’s long-term center plan. Two-way big man Moussa Diabaté was surprisingly effective last season, but after trading Nick Richards to Phoenix last winter, there is not an obvious starter in the building. Perhaps the Hornets will add one during the draft, as they now control the No. 29 overall pick and got another future pick in this deal. So let’s grade this trade:
Phoenix Suns: B+
- Suns acquire: Mark Williams
Alright, let’s get the obvious questions out of the way. “Sam, how could the Suns trade more first-round picks?” Well, these picks are the products of a trade they made with Utah at the deadline. They sent the Jazz their ultra-valuable unprotected 2031 first-round pick. In exchange, they got three first-round picks that were far less valuable. At the time, we gave them a bad grade because, well, you really shouldn’t trade quality for quantity when it comes to picks. But that move is in the past. We’re not judging Phoenix on it anymore.
No matter how they got those picks, they were bad. One, literally, is No. 29 overall this year, the second-worst slot a first-round pick can land. The other is the worst of three picks, and two of the teams involved in that transaction are good now with young stars to carry them forward. These are weak first-round picks. All they got for the third pick in that deal was the ability to dump Jusuf Nurkić.
They had to dump Nurkić because, like so many other things in Phoenix lately, he was bad for the Suns. That created a gaping hole at center, and filling it was one of Phoenix’s major priorities this offseason. However, as they were far above the luxury tax and had no more valuable picks of their own to trade, they had no path to taking a safe bet at that position. Their other options were to find a cheap, low-upside veteran or take someone late in the first round. Neither was all that appealing. So instead, they took a risk.
Yes, Williams is a major medical gamble. But just think about what the Lakers were willing to give up for him before they failed his physical: Dalton Knecht, who had just been the No. 17 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, their unprotected pick in 2031, which has a chance to be fairly valuable just because of the lack of protections and the inherent randomness of the NBA, and unprotected swap rights in the first round in 2030. That’s the price you’d pay for a high-level starter. The Suns are getting him for pennies on the dollar competitively.
Offensively, Williams is already highly developed and reasonably versatile. He’ll be a great pick-and-roll partner for Devin Booker and Jalen Green, a capable lob threat who can also create his own looks with the ball in his hands. He’s a stellar offensive rebounder as well, pretty important for a Suns team that ranked 26th in offensive rebounding a season ago. The upside here is considerable. He has flashed serious potential on defense, but there are major questions on that end of the floor.
And that’s what makes the rest of Phoenix’s night so interesting. Remember, they also got the No. 10 pick in the Kevin Durant trade, and surprisingly, Duke center Khaman Maluach fell to them. While Maluach is not especially well-rounded, he projects as a very valuable defensive big man because of his size and rim-protection. In other words, the Suns found a big man who should complement Williams stylistically, but also one that can help limit his minutes and keep him on the floor. In that context, the trade looks even better. The Suns didn’t pay much of value here. If Williams can’t stay healthy, they still have Maluach. If he can? They may have a nice center tandem for the next several years.
On Sunday, the whole league snickered about the poor return the Suns got for Durant. Maybe they didn’t get fair value for a former MVP, but their roster makes more sense today than it did yesterday. They’ve added two exciting young players at their position of greatest need, and while there’s still plenty more work to do, they’ve rebounded nicely from the disastrous end to last season.
Charlotte Hornets: C+
- Hornets acquire: Liam McNeeley, 2029 first-round pick, Vasilije Micić
Look… this isn’t exactly Charlotte’s fault. In February, they got a great return back from Williams. They had clearly decided he wasn’t their center of the future. They didn’t want to give him a rookie extension this offseason. So they tried to flip him at the perfect time, got a haul back, and felt good about their decision.
But the moment the Lakers failed his physical, his value immediately cratered. Now, every team in the NBA knew two things: first, that Williams had potentially debilitating medical red flags, and second, that the Hornets didn’t want to keep him. Nobody was going to make an especially strong offer in that context. They could trade him now for less than his talent suggests that he’s worth, or they could let him start the season with them and hope that he didn’t get hurt again. If he had, they might not have even been able to get this much.
So it was a bad situation all-around. There was little the Hornets could have done about it. All things considered, they did about as well under those circumstances as they realistically could have. They may be two bad first-round picks, but they’re first-round picks nonetheless.