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The Phoenix Suns were completely screwed. The franchise’s all-in moves for Kevin Durant at the 2023 trade deadline and Bradley Beal to begin the 2024 offseason had backfired in epic fashion, resulting in just one playoff series win (with Durant only) before a first-round sweep and lottery appearance forced a hard pivot. The Suns had no choice but to trade Durant last summer coming off a 36-win season, and they followed it by waiving-and-stretching Beal, which put $19.4 million of dead money on their books for the next five years. In addition to putting themselves in a cap crunch, the Suns also didn’t have any draft ammunition without control of their first-round pick until 2032.
When I ranked the league’s worst long-term outlooks coming into the season, I put Phoenix at No. 2 and openly wondered why they weren’t interesting in trading Devin Booker.
The Suns could have had a life vest for their future this summer, but they were too delusional to take it. Phoenix’s most prudent move would have been trading Devin Booker, and trying to recoup some of their own first-round picks that they’ve traded away. Instead, Booker signed an extension that will pay him $75 million once it kicks in for the 2028-29 season. It just feels very unlikely they can build a good team around him in the West while not owning any of their first-round picks.
Vegas didn’t believe in the retooled Suns either, putting their over/under at 30.5 wins entering the season.
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Fast forward through the first half of the first year without Durant and Beal, and Phoenix has made me and their other skeptics look very stupid. The Suns are 27-17 and would make the playoffs in the West without needing to go through the play-in if the season ended today. After starting the year at No. 25 in my initial power rankings, Phoenix now cracks the top-10. The Suns are the most pleasant surprise in the league, and they’ve given their fans something to cheer for when everyone else wrote off their next half-decade.
How has Phoenix pulled off the best turnaround of the season? Let’s count the ways.
The Suns nailed their Kevin Durant trade
It felt…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/suns-pulled-off-nba-most-130000482.html
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Publish date : 2026-01-22 13:00:00
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