This was not the storybook ending for the 2024 Phoenix Suns, a franchise that put all of its chips on the table and took the gamble of a lifetime.
In year two of the Kevin Durant and Devin Booker partnership, the Suns experienced a roller-coaster of emotions with the most ups and downs I’ve ever seen in an NBA season.
What appeared to be a favorable first-round matchup crumbled into a plea for mercy. Anthony Edwards, the villain ready to announce himself as the next sheriff in town, had the Suns dead to rights in their own building.
Edwards scored 76 combined points on 68.8% true shooting in the final two games of the series, sweeping Phoenix and his childhood idol.
While the Suns’ Game 4 defeat didn’t come in embarrassing fashion, showing the appropriate amount of pride and poise you’d expect when trailing in a series, a first round sweep is unacceptable and falls two months short of this group’s expectations.
The Suns’ inherent flaws were on full display Sunday. They failed to generate enough 3-pointers despite repeatedly admitting their shot selection wasn’t ideal. They ran out of frontcourt options after removing Drew Eubanks from the rotation, highlighting their lack of quality depth at center. And their point-of-attack defense often got exposed by Edwards, a 22-year-old that played brilliantly from start to finish.
Defensively, the Suns had zero answers for Edwards. The coaching staff left no stone unturned. When Phoenix doubled him on ball-screens, he carved them up and became an elite playmaker. When they switched and tried to keep him in front, Edwards utilized his speed and unparalleled athleticism to create his own buckets (or thunderous dunks).
After being eliminated, the Suns’ star players refrained from making excuses. They knew the execution wasn’t there. Booker, Beal, and Durant all took accountability by saying they needed to be better — individually and with their team-wide communication.
Beal acknowledged during his exit interview that improvement can be made in multiple areas, but reinforced that Phoenix had enough to compete with the best.
“We’ve been dealt some bad hands throughout the year, but that’s every team,” Beal said. “We can’t just chalk it up to one specific area. Our defensive effort and abilities on that end could’ve been better. It’s not just one thing. And that’s what’s tough. But at the end of the day, the talent is there. I think the will power is there. It just didn’t fall in our favor.”
Following the loss, Booker repeatedly mentioned “the details” and Phoenix’s tendency to overlook the little things as the primary reason they were swept.
It will be a few days until we know for sure whether head coach Frank Vogel and GM James Jones are retaining their positions.
Regardless of who’s in charge for next season, Phoenix might be in the toughest position of anyone in the league. While the word “disaster” is too strong because this is still a super talented playoff team at the end of the day … it’s clear the juice might not have been worth the squeeze when they assembled this unit.
Time might have passed the Suns by.
In the Western Conference, a ruthless battlefield with at least 10 teams believing they can be a top-six seed next year, Phoenix doesn’t have much upside. They are probably closer to the Lakers and Warriors, teams leaning on their veteran stars that have already peaked. Meanwhile, the top of the conference is here to stay with Denver, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota all having their cores intact, some youth on their side, and room for internal improvement.
It’s not something they want to hear and certainly isn’t the outlook any fanbase would be satisfied with, but reality can be cruel.
The Suns made a talent swing last June, hoping Bradley Beal would inject their team with even more of a scoring punch. In theory, their offense would be so powerful that it could be scheme-proof and make up for any weaknesses on the defensive end.
With the proper Big Three, that ideology might work. Even in today’s era. Offensive firepower is now more critical than ever.
The problem, however, is that Phoenix’s star trio never quite figured it out. The offense looked too clunky at times. The spacing and outside shooting weren’t at the league-leading marks they needed to be.
Simply put, the Suns might have landed on the wrong Big Three.
What happens now?
Well, that strictly depends on what the Suns are comfortable with. If everything outside of a championship is considered a massive failure, it would be wise to take a long-term approach, sell your assets, and start from scratch.
But if that’s not a viable option because of how barren their draft capital is, then Phoenix must (quietly) be content with keeping this core and fighting to be a 50-53 win team next season — with full understanding that flaws will still exist and other teams will likely have the upper hand.
Phoenix is locked into at least $194 million next year alone, and that’s just seven players. The salaries highlighted in green are player options:
If Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie, Damion Lee, and Drew Eubanks all opt in, the team is essentially set.
Then, it comes down to the tough question for Phoenix: Can they get anything back by electing to trade a star?
Beal is still owned $161 million for the next three seasons, including his player option for the 2026-27 campaign. The no-trade clause Washington granted him also carried over to Phoenix, meaning he would need to waive it before the Suns could include him in any deal.
There’s also the dilemma of Beal’s trade value plummeting, whether it’s due to the injury-prone reputation or the fact he’s frankly overpaid based on production. Even if he was open to a trade, the value Phoenix would get in return might not be enough to justify it.
After all, the Suns are firmly in ‘win now’ mode. They can’t make drastic roster changes just to do it. Any move from this point forward has to be made with the intention to improve their title chances … or to slam the reset button and trade all of the stars.
Considering they are still in the early stages of Mat Ishbia’s ownership and the importance of a strong culture is permeating throughout the organization, there’s no scenario where Devin Booker is in trade talks. Given his age, he would have the most value of anyone on the roster. But that’s not something you do to a nine-year veteran that has stuck with you, through thick and thin, while taking pride in being the franchise cornerstone.
So, does that leave Phoenix to field offers for Durant?
Here’s the simple answer: Only if Booker is presented the scenarios and signs off.
Durant will turn 36 before the start of next season. There have already been natural signs of decline, particularly his north-to-south ability and the amount of separation he creates on drives.
But at the end of the day, he’s still Kevin Durant. He just had an All-NBA Second Team caliber season. It would be a hard sell to get Booker on board with moving that level of talent. Add in the fact he and Durant are super close friends, and it’s practically a non-starter.
Also, if you’re Ishbia, there’s little-to-no chance you’re giving up on the mega trade you jumpstarted from day one.
With all three stars returning, there’s only room for one option: Give it another try.
The only logical route for Phoenix is running it back next year with a few tweaks to the rotation. There just isn’t another path that makes sense, given how badly they are hamstrung by the NBA’s second-apron rules.
As a reminder, the restrictions will be severe:
- Teams over the second apron can’t aggregate salaries together for trades. For instance, they can’t combine two $15 million salaries to bring in a star-level player making $30 million.
- They can’t take back more salary in a deal than sent out.
- The mid-level exception will not be available to use.
- Only minimum-salary players and draft selections can be signed.
Because of the heavy restrictions, the Suns are forced into an uncomfortable position. Unless they want to explore trade scenarios for Durant and Nurkic, the focus will have to be building continuity with this unit and hoping that makes a tangible difference in year two.
Retaining the 31-year-old Royce O’Neale will be imperative for their chances to compete next year. He became a pivotal part of their defensive schemes and still has enough left in the tank to be a viable option guarding perimeter players. Without him, they’d have to scrap for minimum-salary options around the league … and those rarely pan out as positive-impact defenders.
Despite being over the second apron, they can still re-sign their own free agents. It appears O’Neale wants to test his value in the open market, though, so the Suns won’t have much leverage here if another team is desperate enough for his skill-set and veteran voice.
What about bringing in another guard?
There’s a massive group of critics and fans that still believe the Suns needed a “traditional point guard” to place alongside this core. That often becomes the lazy analysis any time Phoenix fails to execute in the fourth quarter.
Would having Mike Conley, Tyus Jones, or Chris Paul for this season help them stay organized in those moments?
Absolutely.
Is that kind of player feasible for the Suns?
Not a chance.
And that seems to be the disconnect between what people think Phoenix can do with this roster versus what is actually on the table of options.
When they trade for Beal, that locked them into this experiment of handing him and Booker the offensive keys. Because unless there’s a player on the open market willing to take significantly less money and sign for the veteran minimum, no point guard will be cheap. And the Suns literally can’t afford anything outside of cheap.
Even if it’s true and Phoenix needs another ball-handler, it would have to obtained through a trade including one of their primary stars or shooting threats. No minimum-earning player is walking through the door and making a material difference.
Management was on board with giving the Booker and Beal more playmaking responsibility and surrounding them with sharpshooters.
From Grayson Allen’s perspective, that still might be the right lineup construction. He referred to this dilemma when asked if the Suns need to search for a lead point guard.
“I don’t know,” Allen said. “The guys we have with Book, Brad, and KD, we want the ball in their hands. Those three are going to be out there for majority of the game. We want the ball in their hands and them being scorers. Adding a point guard, I don’t know if that helps or just takes the ball out of their hands more. I believe in the group we had this year. I think we had enough, we just didn’t quite put it all together.”
Allen will be returning to the Suns next season, kicking off his four-year, $70 million contract. There’s hope he can take an even bigger step forward since he’s in the prime of his career. His absence played a huge role in the team not generating enough threes in the final two games of the series.
At the end of the day, the Suns won’t have many cards left to play.
With the context of their roster and available assets, continuity has to be the direction.
Perhaps the Suns can find solace in the fact they played at a 53-win pace after Beal healed from his back and ankle injuries. A few tweaks here, some lucky minimum signings there, and they could be in a homecourt position next year in the West.
It will still be a tough road, however. And things will need to break right. But I don’t believe this team is in position to blow it up. They have to do right by Devin Booker.
If he wants to stay in the Phoenix market and overcome these obstacles, you ride it out.
“I want to win it,” Booker said. “I don’t want to just get back (to the Finals). But it’s a tough league. At the end of all of this, there’s going to be one winner. Everybody that doesn’t win is going to go into somewhat of a panic mode and feel like they have to make changes, do this or do that. But, over time, experience is the best teacher. So the more we can spend time together and feel this hurt together, go through it together, the better off you are in the future.”
Sometimes, patience is the only way forward.
