The Phoenix Suns could be a viable destination for LeBron James

This is the Summer of LeBron. He will once again announce where he will take his talents. Do not let the rest of the NBA talk you down: the Phoenix Suns have a shot at signing him.

The Phoenix Suns are done tanking and are finally looking to not only build, but build to win.

They have a star in Devin Booker. They have a budding star in Josh Jackson. They have the first overall pick which is likely to land them a franchise center in DeAndre Ayton.

They also have cap space available to them to land a star in free agency or trade, plus the ability to create enough cap space to land a second, all without touching the aforementioned core.

Phoenix is a free agency destination as well. The weather is incredible, many stars from all over the world of sports spend their offseason’s here, many plan on moving here upon retiring, and none complain when they visit.

State taxes are low. The media isn’t biting at star player’s ankles whenever they fail. Fans are passive aggressive.

There is a night life. There are attractions aplenty. The city is a fourty-five minute flight to Vegas. Less than a ninety minute flight to Los Angeles.

Do you want to get sun? You can, twelve months a year.

Do you want to get away into seclusion where no one will bother you? There is more space for that in Arizona than there is land currently occupied by civilization.

All-in-all, Phoenix has everything that a player like LeBron James could want, should he really lay out all of his options on the table and attempt to nit-pick the pros and cons.

Oh yeah, and the Phoenix Suns employ one of LeBron James’ best friends: James Jones.

That all being said, the Phoenix Suns don’t have everything  LeBron might be looking for.

The roster is young. For as successful as Devin Booker already is in the NBA, he only recently turned 21. How about Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, and DeAndre Ayton? None of them can yet buy alcohol in the United States.

There is also an argument to be made that having a roster split of star players who are in two separate age brackets (split up by more than four years total), can be detrimental to the cohesion of the locker room. Former Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin (who also worked for the Suns) has said that that very reason was at least partly responsible for the split of the Cavaliers when Kyrie Irving (who is seven years younger than James) demanded out.

The Suns also play in the same Conference and Division  as the Golden State Warriors – LeBron’s greatest foe.

Not only would James face Stephen Curry and company four times during the regular season, but in order to even get to the NBA Finals, he’d have to face them in a seven game series, meaning that if his team falls to them, his streak of eight consecutive (as of 2018) Finals appearances is dead.

All that being said, the Phoenix Suns have a legitimate argument to be made for LeBron James signing with Phoenix as a free agent this offseason.

This is a breakdown of the top options, and where the Suns could fit within that group.

*Note – I will not be discussing the Golden State Warriors or the Los Angeles Clippers. I refuse to believe that the Warriors are a viable option and that the league would even allow such a move to happen. I am sure that owners would use some sort of a competitive balance clause to prevent it, at least. I will also not touch on the Los Angeles Clippers because I do not see any chance that they will have the overall core talent to compete with the Warriors, even if they happened to sign Paul George as well as LeBron, while re-signing DeAndre Jordan, and adding depth on any level.