Phoenix Suns GM Praises Draft Picks as "High-Character Guys"

The Phoenix Suns continued to go big on Day 2 of the 2025 NBA Draft at the Brooklyn Nets ' Barclays Center as they pursue a youth-focused roster rebuild.

On Thursday, June 26, the Suns' war room brokered a flurry of trades in the draft's second round. The team's new general manager Brian Gregory couldn't discuss the reasons for their proposed trades, per NBA rules, since the deals aren't official.

But he described the second round as a tougher gambit to navigate than the first.

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"Day 2's even harder because you have one minute less on the clock," Gregory said. "Again, all morning and afternoon, a meeting and planning and strategically looking at who might go where and when, the second round is much more difficult than the first round."

Phoenix landed Saint Joseph's junior center Rasheer Fleming with the No. 31 overall pick in the second round. That selection came via Minnesota, which had the pick in that spot but agreed to a trade earlier in the day to swap positions with Phoenix, which allowed the Suns to land Fleming.

The Suns also landed Kentucky senior shooting guard Koby Brea with the No. 41 pick via Golden State.

Fleming initially was too awestruck to talk about the biggest moment of his career when he spoke to ESPN's Monica McNutt, after the league's deputy commissioner Mark Tatum called Fleming to the podium to begin the second round.

"I've never done anything like this in my life," Fleming said with a nervous smile. "It's a crazy experience for me, I'm not gonna lie. I don't know what to say."

The 6-foot-8, 232-pound power forward Fleming was Saint Joseph's third-leading scorer (14.7 points per game), top rebounder (8.5), second-best in rim protection (1.5 blocks) and 3-point shooting (39% on 159 attempts).

Similar to the Suns' top first-round pick Khaman Maluach taken at No. 10, many draft experts and college basketball pundits, including ESPN's Jay Bilas, said they thought Fleming wouldn't fall to the second round.

The Suns' war room worked expeditiously to not let him pass them by.

"The measurables obviously are off the chart," Gregory said about Fleming. "When you look at the groundwork that we're laying in terms of some of our recent actions, you're starting to see the profile of really high-character guys who really love to play. That are just guys that want to get better, are going to work to get better and you see that in Rasheer in his year's at Saint Joe's."

He continued to praise Fleming as someone who he believes aligns with his and team owner Mat Ishbia's vision for the Suns' new team identity traits of toughness and grit for next season during his introductory press conference on May 7.

"Great length, great athletic ability, physically tough, plays with that toughness, that grit that is so important to us, shot extremely well from the 3, deflections, shotblocking, all those things that just shows his activity level on the defensive end," Gregory said.

Flemings's known for his extensive 7-foot-5 wingspan, defensive versatility on and off the ball, lob threat as a pick-and-roll man and spacing the floor with his outside shooting touch on pick-and-pops. Fleming's interchangeable between playing down low and along the perimeter, as the Suns lacked length and height in both areas last season. His weaknesses are ball-handling and playmaking.

"Regardless if anything goes wrong, if I'm not making shots or anything, which I doubt, you're gonna get a lot of effort out of me," Fleming said. "Like, I'm gonna continue to play hard."

The 6-foot-6-inch Brea averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and nearly 50/40/90 splits through 36 games and 16 starts last season. Brea's a sharpshooter who led the SEC in 3-point shooting (43.5%) and ranked ninth overall in the nation. He was a two-time Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year at Dayton before he transferred to Kentucky for his fifth and final college season.

"The one thing he is, obviously he's proven during his time and career at Dayton and Kentucky, just how good he is shooting the ball, but every year he's gotten better and added another dimension to the shooting."

Gregory further detailed Brea as an "NBA 3-point shooter" because of his shot selection from spot-ups, his off-ball movement through pindowns, staggered screen actions, as well as the latter off the dribble and NBA-range side-step 3s and step-backs from deep.

Earlier on June 26, the Suns made several deals to move up from their No. 52 and No. 59 second-round picks.

They initially landed the No. 36 pick following a trade with Brooklyn for two future second-round picks in 2026 (via Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics) and 2030 (via Boston).

Then the Suns made two more big trades, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors.

Phoenix acquired the No. 41 pick from Golden State in exchange for the No. 52 and No. 59 picks, and pivoted by trading Brooklyn's No. 36 pick for Minnesota's No. 31, allowing them to pick first in Round 2.

The Suns' first draft day on June 25 saw Phoenix land Duke's one-and-done Maluach at No. 10 from the draft rights they received in the Kevin Durant trade with the Houston Rockets on June 22.

They also traded their No. 29 pick, backup guard Vasa Micic and a 2029 first-round pick to Charlotte for another 7-foot center, Mark Williams.

The Suns' top scorer and former MVP Durant, was dealt to Houston for the 10th pick, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and five future second-round picks.

"We're just bringing in high-quality young men that are excited about coming to Phoenix, excited about playing for the Suns," Gregory said. "They understand how important becoming a part of the community is for us moving forward as we're setting new standards and different things like that. When you just talk to them, you can feel that they're just going to be great parts of our team."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns GM lauds team's draft picks as 'high-character guys'