This season has been nothing in need of a catastrophe for Phoenix. After going 49-33 final 12 months, it was swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves within the first spherical and has but to regain its footing.
It fired first-year head coach Frank Vogel and changed him with the extra offensively minded Mike Budenholzer. Nevertheless, not even Coach Bud might make Phoenix’s supposed “Large Three” of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal work collectively.
This is not a typical NBA season from hell; this season was a traditionally catastrophic one for Phoenix. With over $366 million in payroll and luxury-tax penalties, this 12 months’s Suns group is the costliest in NBA historical past to overlook the playoffs. And, so as to add insult to harm, Phoenix’s first-round decide this 12 months goes to the Houston Rockets (52-28) on account of the Suns’ commerce for Durant.
There is not only one fast repair for the Suns, as Booker is aware of.
“There’s not one factor or one particular person or one participant or one coach that is the issue,” Booker told ESPN. “While you’ve had a season this unhealthy, it is a bunch of issues. I believe essentially the most irritating half is being that shut just a few years in the past, and now being again to the place we’re.”
The place do the Suns go from right here? How does a group that was two video games away from an NBA championship solely 4 years in the past return to successful basketball?
The probably transfer is drastic roster adjustments. Phoenix cannot enhance by means of the draft, so it must enhance by means of trades and free company. As a result of Beal has a no-trade clause and an enormous contract ($110 million due over the following two years), the Suns have to think about buying and selling Durant.
There have been rumors of Durant being shopped on the trade deadline, however now with the Suns out of the postseason, it seems to be like these rumors will change into a actuality this summer time.
Durant, who turns 37 in September, is the one bargaining chip the Suns have. A couple of groups the Suns might ship Durant to are the Rockets and the Timberwolves, each of whom Phoenix talked to on the commerce deadline.
The Rockets desperately want an isolation scorer who can create for themselves and others, particularly in late-game eventualities. Durant might be an ideal match across the younger, scrappy and athletic group coached by Ime Udoka, who coached Durant whereas KD was with the Brooklyn Nets.
Minnesota is one other intriguing possibility. Uniting Anthony Edwards together with his “favorite player” would definitely make for one of the crucial prolific offensive duos within the league, however the Wolves haven’t got many belongings to maneuver after the Rudy Gobert commerce.
Phoenix is caught at a franchise crossroads. It is a powerful place for the group, which thought going all-in on the Beal-Booker-Durant trio would lead it to extended playoff success. However buying and selling Durant may be the one transfer that might maintain off a full-scale rebuild and maintain the Suns aggressive for the remainder of Booker’s prime.
