In February, the Phoenix Suns went all in, sending Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, 4 unprotected first round picks, and a pick swap to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren. New owner Mat Ishbia wanted to make a huge splash as his first move as the owner and getting Durant was just that. The idea was to add Durant to the already assembled big 3 of Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton, a trio that had already played in the NBA Finals. It was thought that those 4 would be so good that the rest of the team did not matter. When they ran into the Denver Nuggets in round 2, that turned out not to be the case and Denver took out the Suns in 6 games, leaving Phoenix with lots of offseason questions.
For the 2nd consecutive season, the Suns trailed by 30 at halftime at home in an elimination game. This time it resulted in the firing of Monty Williams. Williams, who had been the coach for the past 4 seasons and the coach of the year last season, had led the Suns to the most wins in the NBA since the start of the 2020-21 season. Of course that is also when the Suns traded for Chris Paul so many have said he was the person who led the turnaround in Phoenix but I believe both deserve a lot of credit for Phoenix’s turnaround. I was surprised by the firing, Williams had done mostly an excellent job with the Suns but Ishbia wanted his guy. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the finalists for the job are the recently fired Nick Nurse and Doc Rivers, along with Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez and Suns assistant Kevin Young. Of course, Rivers would be the funniest outcome because of the relationship he and Chris Paul had back with the Clippers in the lob city days. However, I am not sure who it will be, Jordi Fernandez and Kevin Young would be the most interesting as they have never head coaches before so some new life could be the way to go. The roster has concerns as well that need to be addressed.
Deandre Ayton needs to be traded as the relationship between the organization and the player has become unfixable. The Dallas Mavericks will probably be a team that kicks the tires on Ayton but I would not trade the 10th pick in the draft to get it done. Is a package of Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, and JaVale McGee enough to get it done? If not, what else can the Mavericks add? Are they willing to part with Jaden Hardy, I wouldn’t be. Are 2nd round picks enough? There are other teams that would get involved as well, the Pacers signed Ayton to an offer sheet last season, would they re-enter conversations? I would rather have Myles Turner but Ayton is a more skilled player so maybe the Pacers would do it. Ayton’s market won’t be as robust as one would think it will be, how he played in the playoffs and how this situation has been handled overall, has tanked his market a bit. For example, let’s take the Magic who have Wendell Carter Jr. Carter Jr. is owed $35.85 million over the next 3 seasons, Ayton is owed $32.4 next season alone, why would Orlando want to not only swap those players but probably need to add something more as well? The Hornets may want Ayton to join LaMelo Ball and the 2nd pick in the draft. Would either side entertain a Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier for Ayton, Landry Shamet, and Cameron Payne trade? This trade comes down to how committed to Mark Williams are the Hornets, because if they are, I think they can trade Rozier and/or Hayward for something else to compliment the 2 building blocks they’ll have. An Ayton trade is likely and it will dictate how the rest of the Suns offseason will go. However, Phoenix needs to deepen their roster for next season.
Another way for the Suns to deepen their roster is to trade Chris Paul but that seems unlikely to me because I do not think Durant or Booker would react too kindly to that. As a result, I expect Paul to be back. There are other ways for the Suns to upgrade their roster as well. They can buy an extra 2nd round pick to go along with the 2nd they already have and use their taxpayer mid-level expectation to sign a player for about $6 million. Other than that they need to hit on their minimum contracts, similarly to how they did with Josh Okogie and Jock Landale last season. The ways to improve are limited outside of an Ayton trade but they need to hit on the edges to win the championship.
The Suns flamed out in the 2nd round getting embarrassed at home in an elimination game yet again. Thus, new owner Mat Ishbia felt changes needed to be made and that started with the firing of Monty Williams. They need a new coach and I expect they’ll need a new center too when they trade Deandre Ayton this summer. Other than that it is about hoping you hit on minimum players and 2nd round picks to build out this roster. However, with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker intact, I expect Phoenix to be in the hunt to win the Western Conference again next season.
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