The Exchange
NBA.com's draft tracker and Phoenix's official release agree on the package. Philadelphia selected Mikal Bridges at No. 10 and traded his rights to Phoenix for the rights to No. 16 pick Zhaire Smith plus Miami's unprotected 2021 first-round selection, an asset Phoenix had acquired earlier in the Goran Dragic trade. The 2021 pick was especially notable because it carried no protection. It later landed at No. 18 and ultimately became Tre Mann after moving through additional transactions, but Philadelphia had already used the asset in a different trade long before draft night 2021.
Phoenix Return
Bridges became one of the NBA's most durable two-way wings. He played all 82 games as a rookie, all 73 in the shortened 2019-20 season, all 72 in 2020-21, all 82 in 2021-22 and all 56 Suns games before the 2023 deadline. That is 365 regular-season games and 298 starts without missing a Suns game. He grew from a low-usage defender into a 13-to-17-point scorer, started all 22 playoff games during Phoenix's 2021 run to the NBA Finals and earned All-Defensive First Team in 2022 while finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Phoenix then retained significant exit value. In February 2023, Bridges was one of the central players sent to Brooklyn in the Kevin Durant trade. Durant's entire acquisition cannot be credited to Bridges because Phoenix also sent Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and a large draft package, but Bridges' inclusion shows that the 2018 asset remained premium currency after four and a half productive Suns seasons.
Philadelphia Return
Smith's career never developed. He suffered a foot fracture before his rookie season and then a severe food-allergy complication during recovery. He eventually appeared in six games as a rookie and seven more in 2019-20, finishing his Philadelphia tenure with only 13 NBA games and two starts. The 2021 Miami first was the meaningful portion of the return. In February 2019, Philadelphia included that unprotected pick in the multi-asset package that acquired Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott from the Clippers. The Sixers also sent Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, their own protected 2020 first and two second-round picks, so the Harris return cannot be assigned entirely to the Miami selection. Still, the pick demonstrably carried enough market value to function as a major component of a win-now trade.
Final Verdict
Phoenix wins clearly because Bridges delivered 365 consecutive regular-season appearances, elite defense, a Finals run and premium downstream trade value. That supports an A+ grade. Philadelphia's player outcome was poor, but grading the Sixers as a D ignores the unprotected Miami first and the leverage it supplied in the Harris deal. A B- better reflects a return consisting of one failed prospect plus one genuinely valuable first-round asset that Philadelphia converted into veteran help. Final verdict: Phoenix Suns Win.