2. Chris Paul
Wait Chris Paul? As in — possibly the greatest point guard to ever play for the franchise Chris Paul? The player who, after watching the Suns go 8-0 in the NBA’s Bubble, joined the team and they went to the NBA Finals the following year in 2021. Paul is rightly a franchise icon for all that he did for this group.
True as that is, that is again missing the point here. Paul arrived to Phoenix as an older player. Still a fantastic one who would be an All-Star in two out of his three seasons there, but also 35-years-old ups arrival. Smaller players tend to age poorly in the league, and yet he even managed to mostly avoid that.
Most 15-assist games over the last 40 seasons:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) August 15, 2023
293 — John Stockton
[huge gap]
180 — Magic Johnson
110 — Steve Nash
107 — Chris Paul
Nobody else has more than 100. pic.twitter.com/D9nW8lLfcO
Defensively he was still better than he had any right being, and his ability to read a game and a situation were second to none. All of that is still true of the player, yet they had no problem moving him on for Beal this summer. A move you do every time. Just because Paul was incredible for the Suns, it doesn’t mean they didn’t sign him past his prime, because they did.
An All-Star every season from 2007-2016, think of how good the “Lob City” Paul from the L.A. Clippers would have been with Booker and Deandre Ayton. Prior to that, the athletic do it all guard who was drafted by the New Orleans Hornets could have helped get the Suns over the top. In 40 playoff games, it was injuries at the wrong times which sadly define his time with the Suns.