July 10th, 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns are gearing up to play in game 6 of their heavily contested NBA finals matchup. Phoenix would go on to lose this game, and lose the finals as well, but despite the heartbreaking loss things were still looking up for the franchise. They had an elite coach in Monty Williams, an established star in Devin Booker, and just a well-built team from top to bottom that should have been contending for at least another couple seasons. The present day Phoenix Suns sit at a record of 35-40, which is good for 11th in the western conference, and they are nowhere near the level of a contending team, and are barely at the level of a playoff team.
In the next season, Phoenix was still a formidable team, one of the western conferences best rosters, and in great position to return to the NBA finals. But in spectacular fashion, they lost in 7 games to the Dallas Mavericks. This was the beginning of the end for the Suns promising future. After this upset playoff defeat, Phoenix began to come apart at the seams and the dysfunction began to become apparent. They let go of Monty Williams, and decided to go into 2023 with a new coach in Frank Vogel and try to win with the same core.
When Suns owner Matt Ishbia purchased the team in 2023, it was clear early on that he was interested in getting as much talent on the team as possible. During the early stages of his ownership tenure, Phoenix completed a trade for Kevin Durant, in an effort to immediately improve Phoenix’s title odds. While this trade was well intentioned, it ultimately wound up being one of the things that would go on to handicap the team in the future. Even with the great Kevin Durant added to the team, Phoenix still fell short of reaching the finals, falling to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs.
With the pressure being put on for this team to compete with the best, they decided to revamp the roster and ship out Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul, two players who were instrumental in their finals run, and they also parted ways with Frank Vogel. With a new core of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, Phoenix fancied themselves as contenders, ready to score at will and propel themselves to basketball greatness on the strength of their offense.
Safe to say things have not worked out with this core, as the Suns are currently in the doldrums of the NBA. For what it’s worth, Phoenix ranked 10th in offense last season, and they are ranked in the same spot this season as well. The issue is, their defense is ranked at 26th this season, after being at 13 last season. Such a precipitous fall on that end of the floor has been one of the many issues that has plagued Phoenix this season. Although their offense is ranked at 10, having to rely on such tough shot creation as the bulk of your offense, especially in tightly-contested games is difficult. Booker and Durant have played in 69 and 62 games out of 75 this season, a more than respectable amount, and in their minutes together, the team essentially breaks even when it pertains to net rating. With a -0.10 net rating in their minutes together, Booker and Durant have had to carry an enormous load that was supposed to have been eased by the presence of Beal, but Beal has not been his former self. The former All-Star has averaged 17.3 points per game on 60 percent true shooting, which is solid, but he was expected to provide more of a scoring punch in Phoenix. Another issue has been his health, as he has only played in 48 games this season.
Phoenix also lacks any semblance of defense this season, they are often out of sorts as a unit, have struggled mightily to find a reliable rim protector, and are virtually non-existent at the point-of-attack. For a large chunk of the season they started Jusuf Nurkic at center, and he was one of the worst, if not the worst starter in the NBA, just a myriad of roster issues culminated in the mess of a team that Phoenix is today.
Unsurprisingly, Phoenix attempted to change course earlier this season and tried to trade Beal, and Durant in very public trade talks. Both players’ trade talks fell short as Beal has a no trade clause, and Durant simply voiced his displeasure with his potential trade location. Now on top of the season being a failure, Phoenix is headed for a messy offseason where they will no doubt have to move toward a rebuild officially.
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