NBA Playoffs: Phoenix Suns Hardly Got Options to Improve Heading Offseason Despite Big Impact of Kevin Durant

The Suns were stunned, ruffled, and quiet. Phoenix’s coaches and players appeared to be just short of dead beneath the hopeful exuberance of an inconvenient T-shirt toss, as gameday personnel threw free apparel into the Footprint Center lower bowl that was already half-empty.

The Suns’ season was over after Game 6 against the top-seeded Nuggets on Thursday, a loss that ultimately ended 125-100. Phoenix ended the timeout with blank faces and little sign of a huddle, in contrast to Denver, which was deep in a boisterous fourth-quarter timeout.

The whole home team bench, from head coach Monty Williams down to injured center Deandre Ayton, just sat there motionlessly. Kevin Durant has a black cloth covering his face.

Simply standing on the court with their hands nailed to their hips was a lineup of reserves.

It was awful. It gave off a horrible vibe. It was awful,” said Durant, who managed just 8 points on 2-of-11 shooting in the opening period. They attacked us by striking us in the mouth, and we were unable to recover.

Even though the all-world scorer didn’t come until February, the emotion was all too familiar from the disappointing end of the previous season. a shocking home loss to Dallas in Game 7, despite Phoenix having a 30-point deficit at one time.

The Suns faced a deficit as great as 32 during this year’s playoff exit, which is the third- and fourth-largest deficits in NBA history for a team that is facing elimination — and in consecutive seasons.
The biggest deficits in NBA history when facing elimination.

“The team from last year was more of a body and ball movement team. This year, we focused more on pick-and-roll and iso, according to Williams.

It combines two distinct scenarios. In order to determine what kinds of player combinations we have that fit a particular style of play, we therefore need to look at that. However, 20 minutes after a loss, it’s difficult to analyze those kinds of things.

Reactions and reflections will come with time. Unlike last year, this season’s Suns won’t play all of their home games in Phoenix.

The team’s front office will soon have to make decisions after spending outrageous amounts to acquire Durant at the trade deadline, working with an aggressive new owner in Mat Ishbia, and with only four players on the roster whose contracts are fully guaranteed for the 2023–24 season.

Durant, who concluded Game 6 with 23 points, remarked that it was difficult to predict what the future will bring for his team at the moment.

Although the absence of Ayton and Chris Paul due to rib injuries and groin strains, respectively, provides significant context, one recurring theme from Durant and Williams’ postgame interviews was the Suns’ avoidance of any explanation that might be construed as an excuse.

Not after Phoenix pledged to mortgage the bright futures of Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, along with four first-round picks between 2023 and 2029, in order to acquire Durant. Not with a new CBA that takes effect at the start of the NBA’s following calendar year and is filled with clauses meant to prevent teams with pricey, star-studded lineups, like the Suns, from finding ways to advance.

Only $15.8 million of Paul’s $30.8 million salary is guaranteed for the upcoming season, and Phoenix’s choices for dealing the potential Hall of Fame point guard will be hotly debated throughout the league.

According to league sources who spoke to Yahoo Sports, the Suns already gave the impression they were looking for a long-term Paul replacement before they executed that blockbuster trade for Durant. They have also been linked by league personnel to ball-handlers like Terry Rozier and Fred VanVleet.

Then there is Ayton’s future. He was chosen first overall by the team in the 2018 NBA Draft and signed an offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers in restricted free agency last offseason before Phoenix matched it with a four-year, $133 million deal.

Could the Valley have been the venue for Ayton’s final game? Myles Turner, the starting center for Indiana, was re-signed to a two-year, $60 million agreement in January, but the NBA’s best cap experts believe that his decreasing compensation structure is one of the league’s more tradeable contracts.

Another team that is frequently rumored as being interested in Ayton’s talents is the aforementioned Mavericks. The Suns might be able to split Ayton’s expensive contract into two players who can give this unit the depth it sorely needs against Denver if another team wants him.

The fact is that Phoenix has limited resources to develop this team in the hopes that it will challenge for the championship in 2024, with the exception of transferring Ayton or Paul. Ishmail Wainright’s team option and Cameron Payne’s non-guaranteed salary put Phoenix’s payroll for the upcoming season at about $165 million.

The Suns are hanging around $7 million shy of the new second tax apron after adding in six minimum-contract salary slots, a method that isn’t exactly ideal for significant impact players.

From there, the only player accessible is a taxpayer at the mid-level. When Devin Booker’s contract jumps from $36 million to a supermax anticipated slot beyond $50 million in average yearly value and climbing in 2024–25, the math becomes even more illogical.

One rival team’s consultant told Yahoo Sports, “I think they’ll have to leverage veteran minimums and hope they can get something good in return for Ayton.”

The issue of personnel is the next. One of the most popular contenders in the league for the position of head coach is associate head coach Kevin Young.

He interviewed for Houston’s bench search this offseason, was a finalist for the bench position with the Utah Jazz last year, and is currently a candidate for Nick Nurse’s replacement in Toronto.

Those in the coaching echelons of the league claim that Young will eventually be elevated to a bench position somewhere, whether this summer or one that will come shortly.
The original five-year deal Williams signed in 2019 will expire in 2023–24, after which an expensive contract extension he signed last summer will take effect for 2024–25 and beyond.

Despite this feeling of security, insiders claim Williams’ name has continued to gather traction among league personnel, including a number of individuals who were there at Game 6, when they are talking about potential contenders for the Bucks’ head coaching position.

Numerous seasoned coaches who are now employed by opposing teams are anticipated to be sought after by Milwaukee. Tyronn Lue, the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, is reportedly another opponent’s playmaker that the Bucks are keeping an eye on.

Williams told reporters that it was difficult for her to even see beyond today. “I’ll go in there and speak to the coaches, and as we move forward, we’ll re-evaluate.”

The pair of Booker and Durant seems to be the constant, with the former scorching opposition defenses throughout these playoffs up until the final six minutes of the Suns’ season.

Due to Booker’s exceptional playmaking and superior scoring abilities, Durant turned his attention to Brooklyn. There aren’t many opponents who wouldn’t want a base built with these two All-NBA players committed for the upcoming three seasons.

Durant expressed trust in the circumstance he asked to join in February despite feeling an immense sense of disappointment.

“I am, yes. I am. I had a fantastic time living in Phoenix, playing for Coach Monty, and playing for the staff. I also had a great time playing with and getting to know these guys,”

Durant added.

“Therefore, just do more reps. More repetitions of that, ongoing relationship-building, and developing mutual understanding on many levels as both basketball players and as individuals. And I believe that will happen. We’ll just have to wait and see, you know? Losing is undoubtedly annoying, disheartening, and embarrassing, but it’s also about how you can get back up, keep trying, and come up with methods to improve. The mantra is actually that,”

remarked Kevin Durant.

Just how many opportunities for improvement there are to be found is amazing.

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