We've reached the business end of the Phoenix Suns' top players of 2024, which is just as well as the calendar has now officially turned to 2025. Looking back on the last 12 months - and with the future far from guaranteed here - and it is hard not to feel disappointed.
There's a reason a growing number of fans would rather this "Big 3" experiment was put out of its misery, although the reality of actually going through with that could be a lot more grim than most realize. If you cast your mind back to the early Devin Booker years and even prior to that, there wasn't a lot to cheer about in The Valley.
It could have been so much worse in 2024 too if not for Grayson Allen.
Allen's case for taking such a high spot is a fascinating one, because there's no doubt he's been outplayed by the number seven player on this list all season long. But that would be forgetting all about what Allen achieved in his first season in The Valley, and it is a long and impressive list.
For starters he filled in admirably for the injured Bradley Beal, to the point he was the team's third best player who started all bar one of the 75 games he played in. He quickly outperformed the sixth man role that was envisioned for him, and the organization would have been lost without his unexpected output.
In doing so Allen registered career highs in points, rebounds and assists, before then going on to lead the entire league in 3-point shooting at 46.1 percent. The Suns needed a role player who could step up in big moments but also be comfortable standing in the corner to knock down open shots, all while adding in a splash of defensive play. Allen did all of that and more.
Perhaps there can be no better indicator of the success he was in Phoenix than the fact that - in a trade that included Deandre Ayton and Jusuf Nurkic - Allen ended up being the best player in that deal. The Suns would love to ditch Nurkic now if they could, while the same has become true of Ayton for the Portland Trail Blazers.
This was capped off by a four-year, $70 million contract extension prior to the playoffs beginning - and while an ankle injury meant he only appeared twice in that series sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves - if anything that only increased Allen's value more. He alone couldn't have saved that series, and yet he was badly missed in the games he did not play.
He packed on a ton of muscle this offseason and willingly gave up his starting spot to Tyus Jones. The kind of selfless actions that a team full of stars that is trying to win it all really needs in order to mesh properly. It is just unfortunate that Allen's former head coach in Mike Budenholzer took over from Frank Vogel, and like their time in Milwaukee doesn't always know what to do with him.
That and some injury/concussion issues knocked cause him to miss some time - but at 37.6 percent from deep so far this season - there is still a lot to like here. If Jones and rookie Ryan Dunn are the kind of additions this roster needed to continue growing this season, then Allen was the predecessor who landed in The Valley at the perfect time. He is more than deserving of this spot.