Phoenix Suns crush fans’ hopes at trade deadline by doing nothing

Today was one of the most anticipated days of the season, the trade deadline, and the Phoenix Suns inexcusably let it go with absolutely no action whatsoever.

The Phoenix Suns let the 2020 NBA trade deadline come and pass without any roster moves because of course they did. In fact, the only real buzz came in the form of a lackluster trade for Luke Kennard that fell through because the Pistons and Suns could not agree on the level of protection of the Suns’ first-round draft pick that would have been included in the deal.

There was also a small blip about the team fielding offers for Kelly Oubre, but I’m not convinced there was any real traction there.

Phoenix Suns fans held out hope up until 1:00 p.m. Arizona time when the trade deadline elapsed, but…nothing. No major acquisition. No minor tweak. Nothing.

On top of that, John Gambadaro reports the Suns are not expected to show any interest in players released due to trades, such as Trey Burke and Tim Frazier because why would they? Those players are better than the carousel of backup guards the team cycles through now, but, you know, Jevon Carter eats rocks and stuff.

Essentially, the only big splash the Phoenix Suns made on the day of the trade deadline was a bomb dropping into the hearts of a fan base begging for an aggressive move towards winning, or at least step into that direction in the form of a bench player that could provide some semblance of help to Devin Booker.

Devin Booker can’t be happy about this

Ah, yes, Devin Booker. His name came up quite a bit today, but not in the way Suns fans would hope. That is because the biggest trade of the day puts two of the three Goodfellas on the same team with D’Angelo Russell moving to Minnesota to team up with Karl-Anthony Towns.

Ugh.

Ever since the SLAM Magazine article this summer where the three friends theorized about playing together one day, Suns fans have envisioned it happening in Phoenix. Today’s trade pretty much puts a nail in the coffin of that pipe dream.

To rub it in, the official Minnesota Timberwolves account tweeted out a very clever D-Loading video, bragging about the trade.

Salty or not, that’s clever.

Dang. The Wolves even have better social media managers than the Phoenix Suns.

Even worse, it rightfully makes you wonder if Devin Booker will eventually demand a trade to frozen tundra of Minneapolis to join forces with this draft class brothers. It likely won’t happen immediately, but depending on how successfully the duo becomes, why would a snubbed All-Star want to waste his prime with a perennial loser?

The only remedy to that is for the Phoenix Suns to win themselves, and I hate to break it to all those who had a ton of faith in this team, the current roster is not going to cut it.

It’s improved, sure. The team’s #1 draft pick was suspended for 25 games, yeah. They have been bitten hard by the injury bug, most certainly. But if the Suns are hoping Frank Kaminsky is going to come back and be the team’s saving grace, then well, I’m not sure what to tell them.

But why didn’t the Suns make a move?

The Athletic interviewed (subscription required)  Phoenix Suns general manager, James Jones, after the deadline passed and questioned him on why he didn’t make any roster moves. The rationale featured in this piece’s title?

"“I didn’t want to disrupt the continuity.”"

My only response to that is to look around and touch something that looks tangible to make sure I’m not dead or in another dimension or in some kind of dystopian dream world.

What kind of continuity does he want to maintain on a team that is 20-31 spiraling in the wrong direction? Does he not want to mess with the team’s downward trajectory? Does he want to see if he can break the losing streak of last year’s team?

What is this continuity he speaks of and where does it manifest? It isn’t into wins, at least not lately? I mean, I guess the mosh pit is cool, so maybe it’s that, in which case it totally makes sense.

Insert heavy eye-roll here.

So, what comes next?

The team has a ton of expiring contracts of players they will likely not re-sign, most notably that of Tyler Johnson and his $19.25 million. They will have the space to sign a big-time player this summer, but the 2020 free-agent class isn’t all that star-studded.

A lot of money to spend with zero to limited All-Star caliber players to spend it on will likely result in overpaying for mediocrity. Call me bitter and pessimistic, but today has significantly diminished my faith in this front office, which, truth be told, was already pretty low.

I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. I keep telling myself that no move is better than a bad move, which is most certainly true.

I want to repeat the mantra, “Sometimes the best move is no move at all,” but if I’m being honest with myself, I simply don’t believe it is true in this case.

Other teams are trying, and the Suns aren’t

The Suns need to get Devin Booker help–real help–immediately, and they voluntarily chose not to do it when an opportunity arose. Then, when asked to explain why they didn’t, the justification was that they didn’t want to mess up the team’s continuity.

That, in combination with the fact there were not real Suns-involved rumors save for the luke-warm interest in Luke Kennard, makes me wonder how much James Jones and company even tried.

I’ll tell you who did try:

The Miami Heat, who weren’t expected to be that good this year but now may compete for the title.

The Memphis Grizzlies, who have now all but locked up the final Western Conference playoff spot.

And the Minnesota Timberwolves, who made a bold move to acquire the All-Star friend of their franchise player in order to make him happy and join two pieces of what they hope to be their own big-3.

There will be folks to try to stay calm and try to speak some level-headedness into the Suns fan base, and I applaud them for it. They probably have some decent advice everyone should heed.

I choose my glass to be half-empty today, though. This lack of action is not a coy move to avoid rocking the boat. It’s a craven decision to not douse, or even sprinkle water on a dumpster fire that only continues to grow.