There are a lot of red flags flying around the Phoenix Suns right now. They have lost 6-of-7. If the postseason started today, as the No. 11 seed, the Suns would not even make the play-in, despite having the highest payroll in the NBA.
However this is the most concerning red flag: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal have played just 197 minutes together this season (due to injuries) and have a -4.3 net rating in those minutes. All three started against the Grizzlies on New Year’s Eve and Memphis came out of the gate with an 11-2 run to open the game and never lost that lead. This game was Booker’s first one back after missing five games, and Bradley Beal never played after the first quarter due to a hip contusion.
After the game, Booker admitted the “frustration level’s high” with the team, as Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports reported.
Devin Booker on the Suns’ frustration level: “Frustration level’s high. We’re all competitors in here, and we realize these games are gonna cost us in the end of the season….We wanna gain some ground, get up out of the play-in position and just win every possible game.” pic.twitter.com/pkbUHu4WLV
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) January 1, 2025
Coach Mike Budenholzer admitted these are challenging times for a team that came into the season with sky-high expectations.
I asked Mike Budenholzer about the Suns’ frustration level: “We have guys that have won at a high level, that have high expectations…We gotta find ways to get better, so these are not easy times. But our guys will find a way through it, and we’ll find a way through it together” pic.twitter.com/FY6Pdr9Wyh
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) January 1, 2025
Kevin Durant, for his part, says he needs to be the change he wants to see in 2025.
Kevin Durant on where the Suns need to improve: “I feel like I can do so much out there, I just feel like I gotta be better. And I feel like every player in the locker room got that same mentality. So we all look in the mirror, we’ll be a better team” pic.twitter.com/Cg6zfhNOj5
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) January 1, 2025
What needs to change in Phoenix is not hard to spot: The Suns have a bottom-10 defense (21st in the league using NBA.com stats, but that falls to 24th if you remove garbage time as is done at Cleaning the Glass). This is why there are rumors of Phoenix looking to possibly trade center Jusuf Nurkic, looking for a center who is more of a defensive anchor in the paint. That, however, is only going to take them so far, the perimeter defenders need to step up (and Royce O’Neale being out for at least 10 days with a sprained ankle does not help on that end).
Health will matter for this roster, too. This is not a deep team with much of a margin for error. It’s just very concerning that even when the big three have been healthy, the Suns continue to struggle.
