With a new ownership group, Phoenix decided to shake things up and traded for Kevin Durant in the second half of last season. With a Suns uniform, Durant got injured and only played 8 games during the regular season. The good news is that Phoenix won all those 8 games and their numbers with Durant and Booker sharing the court were outstanding: +18.4 net rating in just 364 possessions.
It was a bit weird to see Phoenix abdicating from their last two regular season games where they could have given more minutes to their starters who hadn’t played that much together, but I guess they didn’t want to risk anything but they could have been important reps for the team.
In the playoffs, Phoenix dismantled the Clippers in the first round and were tied at 2 games each in their second round series against Denver but lost the following two games. Chris Paul missed those games due to injury and even though they had two elite offensive players on the court, the Suns only scored 102 and 10 points on those two losses.
2023/24 OUTLOOK:
Phoenix made some significant changes this offseason. Head coach Monty Williams is gone and the Suns hired Frank Vogel to replace him. The Suns decided to be aggressive once again and they traded for Bradley Beal, getting rid of Chris Paul in the process. Finally, it was evident that the team did not count with former #1 draft pick DeAndre Ayton for the future of the franchise and they also got rid of him in a trade later in the offseason.
The Suns will now be led by a Big Three formed by Durant, Beal and Booker. They will possibly form the most potent triple on offense in the league, but I doubt they will be able to complement each other successfully. On the other hand, Jusuf Nurkic is now their Center and he is coming from a subpar season in Portland. After suffering a major injury a couple of seasons ago, Nurkic has been declining ever since and Phoenix will be asking him to cover plenty of ground…
Phoenix’s depth or lack of it is going to be a big problem for them in the regular season. They tried to fill the roster with the Ayton trade but I’m not sure that Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson can really help a contending team that much. However, as long as their Big Three is available, the Suns will always have a chance this season.
