After two consecutive early playoff exits and two coach firings, the Phoenix Suns expect immediate results. Despite overlapping injuries last season among their three stars, the Suns expect Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal to be healthy for the 2024-25 campaign.
Despite Frank Vogel’s championship pedigree and defensive credentials making little difference in his only year as Phoenix’s head coach, the Suns expect new coach Mike Budenholzer’s championship résumé and offensive expertise to keep the team’s title hopes alive.
Despite having a top-heavy roster that lacks defensive punch, the Suns believe they upgraded enough on the margins to improve their point guard depth. Is that enough for the Suns to compete for an NBA title four years after challenging Budenholzer’s Milwaukee Bucks in the Finals?
The Suns think so, but they are banking on a few investments to yield hefty returns. They believe Durant, Booker and Beal will have more time together to establish chemistry. They project that Budenholzer can manage both his stars and role players with similar success to what he accomplished in Milwaukee – an NBA title and five consecutive playoff appearances. And they sense they will have enough depth to complement their Big Three with point guard help (Tyus Jones, Monte Morris), wing support (Royce O’Neale) and some frontcourt pieces (Jusuf Nurkić, Mason Plumlee).
Durant enters his 17th NBA season showing more signs of sustained excellence than red flags about durability. Durant averaged 27.1 points while shooting 52.3 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from 3-point range along with 6.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game last season, numbers that are similar to his career averages. The Suns should not worry about whether that can continue. Even though Durant lacks the same explosiveness he boasted before tearing his right Achilles tendon in the 2019 NBA Finals, he has compensated well enough with his superior length, footwork and shooting stroke to remain a scoring threat at the rim, in the post and from deep.
The only problem? We’ve learned in the past two seasons that Durant’s on-court excellence does not guarantee team success. That’s mostly because the Suns don’t have enough defensive depth around Durant. Nurkić has helped Durant and the Suns tremendously with his screen-setting and passing. He’s content scoring just off putbacks or other easy baskets when teammates face double-teams. But Nurkić remains a defensive liability. It’s easy to say Durant can help offset that. He has great length and can defend at an elite level when he tries.
At this stage of Durant’s career, however, the Suns need to preserve him for his scoring efficiency. That’s why it was important that the Suns parted ways with a subpar backup center (Drew Eubanks) in favor of a more physical big who excels as both a team and individual defender (Plumlee). Also, O’Neale has become a decent wing option on both ends of the floor. This does not mean the Suns will become an elite defensive team. They may not be as disastrous, though.
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