The Suns Are Stupid
How many times have you heard somebody kill the Lakers for breaking up their 2020 championship roster to pursue Russell Westbrook? I see it weekly, whether in comment sections, on TV, or from friends while I watch Lakers games. I suppose it makes sense—after all, the Lakers get more national attention than any of the 125 other big four American sports teams. But when’s the last time you’ve heard someone criticize the Suns for what they’ve done since reaching the Finals in 2021? Sure, Phoenix has received quiet backlash for their underwhelming play this season, but they deserve to be shredded for their terrible decision-making over the course of the last three years.
July 20th, 2021
Phoenix had won the first two games of the NBA Finals in convincing fashion. It wasn’t until the Greek Freak went God Mode that the Suns finally met their match. The Bucks reeled off four straight wins to capture their first NBA championship in 50 years, sending the Suns home empty-handed. Still, it was an extremely promising year for a young Suns team that hadn’t reached the playoffs in 11 years. Phoenix’s newfound core of Chris Paul, Devin Booker, De’Andre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, and Cam Johnson looked like it could tantalize the league for years to come.
May 15th, 2022
This is the day it all started to go wrong for Phoenix. As a 64-win team, they were huge favorites to reach the conference finals as a game seven against the Mavericks in the conference semis approached. Luka Doncic had other plans. The young Slovenian hit shot after shot, totaling 27 first-half points, including a 29-foot stepback bomb that gave the Mavs a 57-27 lead as he stared into the souls of the defenders with a demonic snarl on his face. His performance remains one of the most murderous playoff performances I’ve ever seen. No Suns player scored more than 12 points in the game as the Suns championship dreams were crushed in a brutal 123-90 loss.
Still, the Suns appeared confident in their core. You don’t go 64-18 by accident; sometimes you just come across a giant slayer like Doncic at the wrong time.
February 9th, 2023
The Suns panicked. They looked at a roster they knew was capable of going the distance and decided it wasn’t good enough. In a blockbuster deal, they traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, and two second-round picks for Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren. In a fantasy world, the Suns had just made themselves favorites by pairing the third greatest scorer of the century with Paul and Booker. In reality, they were building an NBA 2K roster, completely ignoring the current model of championship teams—two superstars with elite depth.
June 26th, 2023
Although the Durant trade was questionable, the Suns still look like contenders. They had managed the fourth seed in Durant’s short introductory season, beat the Clippers soundly in round one, and gave the eventual champion Nuggets their most difficult test in a tough six-game series loss in round two. Yet, the Suns got impatient again. Bradley Beal was on the market—a player with no evidence of being a winning player and with one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Naturally, the Suns decided he’d be the perfect fix. They traded Paul, Landry Shamet, a first-round pick, four first-round pick swaps, and seven second-rounders for Beal and Jordan Goodwin.
Think about this. The Suns had gone from Paul, Booker, Bridges, Johnson, Ayton, who was traded to Portland for Jusuf Nurkic and role players, and Monty Williams, who was fired after Phoenix lost to Denver, to Booker, Beal, Durant, a bunch of nobodies, and Frank Vogel in two years. That’s an obvious net negative to begin with, but here’s the caveat: in retooling the roster, they gave away five first-round picks, five first-round pick swaps, and nine second-round picks. Let that sink in.
Right after the Suns traded Bridges for Durant, he blossomed into a star, incredibly averaging more points per game than Durant in their first years on their new teams. Johnson has become a solid starter himself. The swingman is averaging 19.5 points per game on the Nets this season and is shooting 43.6% from three, which has made him one of the hottest names on the trade market. The Suns are on pace to lose out on the 12th pick in the draft and won’t be selecting in the first round of the 2027, 2028, or 2029 drafts either—seasons in which they will be much worse than this one.
Now, let’s talk about the Beal trade. Paul is an ageless wonder. Only LeBron James has stood up to Father Time better than Paul in recent NBA history. How do I know? He’s helped propel a terrible San Antonio team to a 19-19 record as their primary ball-handler in his first season there at age 40. Thinking that Paul was no longer able to contribute to a contending team at a high volume was an unforgivable misconception by Suns GM James Jones. Thinking that Beal would be the answer (especially at the point guard position) was an even worse one. Beal only averaged 18.2 points in his first year in Phoenix and was a cone on defense all year. He also flamed out in the playoffs, headlined by a nightmarish showing in game four in which he had nine points on 4-for-13 shooting, one rebound, two assists, six turnovers, and six fouls.
This year, Beal has been even worse. He’s down to 17/3/3 averages and has been benched by Mike Budenholzer (Phoenix’s third head coach in three years). Most importantly, he is on far and away the worst contract in the NBA. He’ll make $160 million dollars over the next three years and is one of only two players who have no-trade clauses in their contracts. The other player is LeBron James. Additionally, every pick that the Suns had left after the Durant trade is now possessed by Washington as a result of the Beal trade, making it hands down the worst trade in recent memory.
As for Booker, he has plateaued after looking like the league’s next great superstar in 2021. His points, rebounds, and field goal percentage are all his worst since the 2019-2020 season.
So, why talk about this now? Well, the other day a league source leaked that the Suns “want Jimmy Butler bad.” I’m here to tell you that trading for Butler is the last thing they should do. When’s the last time trading an aging player for a slightly better aging player elevated a 19-19 team to a championship contender? It’s never happened. After trading for Durant and Beal, the Suns would have to be out of their minds to think that trading for Butler is a step in the right direction. Sure, they might get playoff Jimmy every three games (if they even reach the playoffs), but he doesn’t fix the fact that they have the worst centers in the league, no defense, never-ending injuries, stars with overlapping skillsets, an oddly terrible lack of fourth quarter execution.
Here’s the dumbest part. How on earth would the Suns be able to acquire Jimmy? As a second apron team, they would have to trade Beal for him, and spoiler alert, the Heat don’t want Beal. Phoenix would have to find a third team to engage in the potential trade to absorb Beal’s monster contract, so I should revise my previous statement. NOBODY wants Beal.
So, when the Suns say that they “want Jimmy Butler bad,” what they really mean is that they want to get rid of Bradley Beal bad. But no one’s going to take their bait.
Last year, after getting swept by the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, Suns owner Mat Ishbia stated the following: “Ask the other 29 GMs—26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks and everything as is. The house is not on fire. We're in a great position. It's not hard to fix.”
Sure, Mat, I’m sure 26 teams would love your 37-year-old star that is allergic to leadership, your shooting guard whose numbers are falling off, the most distressed asset in the whole NBA, and—oh wait, that’s all you’ve got.
It didn’t have to be this way. The Suns were knocking on the door of winning their first championship in franchise history. Thanks to absolute stupidity from their front office, that door will be closed for a long time.
Thank heavens my Beales (and yours) carry the "e".
How dare you slander the good name of the Phoenix Suns. This article absolutely disgusted me. Calling my beloved hometown NBA franchise "stupid" is practically heresy. Mat Ishbia is a trade deadline wizard and when we kick Nurkic and Beal off our team and bring in Butler you'll be sorry. So disappointed to see my favorite sports publication speak such filth about one of the most prolific basketball franchises in the entire world.