3 worrying early season trends for the Suns

The Phoenix Suns have hit the ground running in 2024-25, and already look like a tough proposition for opponents than last time out. There's still so much basketball to be played between now and the end of the regular season, and yet already there are some observations worth talking about.

One such example being the 3-point shooting of Devin Booker, which has been at an elite level really for the first time in his entire career in what is an admittedly tiny sample size. If he can keep this up all the way to Christmas, then it is surely going to lead to more wins and a better offensive rating for this group.

Not everything has been great out the gate though.

There have been worrying trends that have been on show early, although the positive with all of this is that there is still so much time to get things right. Really some of these aren't even statistical issues or problems with the way the Suns are playing. Rather they just need to be tweaked, or else the team will flame out long before the playoffs begin.

3. Kevin Durant is leading this team in minutes played

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why this is an early season concern for the Suns. Kevin Durant has come out of the gates flying - as he so often has in the past - and currently leads the team in points per game at 28.7. The 36-year-old might be slightly less dominant than at his absolute peak, but the reality is he's still a top five player in the NBA on any given night.

He will have to be the Suns' go-to scorer throughout much of the season - Booker already looks cool with this being the case - but the minutes he is playing surely have to come down a notch. He's averaging a painful to look at 40.7 minutes each night so far, and it will not surprise you to discover that no other player has broken the 40 minute mark.

They're not going to during the regular season either, and Durant's own numbers should come down some as time goes on. This can be partly explained by Bradley Beal missing a game through injury - which meant Durant had to take on even more of the offensive load - but that excuse will only go so far.

Even more worrying is the fact that last season - and under a different head coach in Frank Vogel - Durant again led the Suns in minutes per game at 37.2. Obviously you're going to turn to your star often in order to try and win games, but shouldn't the Suns be looking to let Booker lead, with Durant the second guy who can go off on any given night? This has to change, and soon.

2. The disappearance of Grayson Allen

There's no doubt that Grayson Allen was the Suns' third most important player last season. Beal is definitely better - although he was limited to only 53 games played and never truly looked like himself - while center Jusuf Nurkic filled a role that nobody else on the roster could.

Yet it was Allen who had career highs in points, rebounds and assists, and led the entire league in 3-point shooting at 46.1 percent, effectively replacing Beal for much of the season. Even more improbably, he succeeded in that role. This was rightly rewarded with a new contract prior to the playoffs beginning. Yet it has been all downhill from there.

So far this season Allen has only featured once - and while that is down to a personal issue that has seen him miss game time - the bench doesn't look like it is missing him all that much either. He might have packed on a ton of muscle over the summer, but it is Royce O'Neale who has taken the sixth man mantle from him early in the campaign.

Point guard Tyus Jones has been great since joining, and it was Allen who made way in order to insert him in the starting five. Yet rather than create a nice bench unit alongside O'Neale and rookie Ryan Dunn, we've seen Allen for just over 21 minutes so far. Even worse, he hasn't been missed either as the Suns have leaned into 3-point shooting and beaten some good teams without him.

1. The scoring disparity

The Suns boast three stars who are all capable of putting up 30 points per game easily each night. Beal has done that twice in his career, while Durant is a four-time scoring champion in this league. With Booker having put up over 27 on two occasions in the last three seasons before this one as well, this is an organization that should be blowing opponents away with their scoring.

It is why they went and got head coach Mike Budenholzer, and also why the 3-point attempts are climbing higher with each passing game. Yet despite all of this, the drop-off from Durant's scoring output to everybody else's is extremely worrying and is not sustainable if the Suns want to make a serious run this season.

Neither Beal nor Booker are currently averaging over 20 points each night - and although there's reasons the Suns can point to for both - this still has to change quickly. Beal's case is easier to defend, he sat one game and is actually averaging more points so far this season (19.5) then he did in his debut campaign in The Valley (18.2).

Booker's 19.7 points on the other hand are the lowest mark since his rookie campaign - and given he's averaged 24.3 per night in nine full regular seasons with the franchise - that is an unacceptable drop-off by his standards. The only other two Suns in double figures right now are Jones and Nurkic (both 11 per night), which simply will not be good enough to contend.