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Yes, overpaying or not is debatable but Bridges was a key part of the deal, without him the Nets wouldn't even have started the negotiations.
I don't think that the Suns traded for Nurkic. Instead they did get rid of Ayton and Nurkic (together with Allen) seemed a servicable return. Injury prone or not, the Suns probably did not have the luxury of entertaining multiple offers for Ayton, they took what they could.
Again, I wouldn't have traded Mikal Bridges, certainly not in this scenario. I would have gone another direction either at the February 2023 trade deadline or waited until the summer.
I never understood the philosophy the Suns had to make that trade. The Nets had all the leverage.
As for Ayton trade, the Suns really didn't improve their team. He would have minimally been an expiring contract next season.