The Phoenix Suns can only look on as the NBA Playoffs hit their stride in the second round, and fans can take some solace in the fact that this team would only have been humbled in the postseason had they gotten there. Instead they were able to sneak off into the summer without getting blasted on national television, although not having their lottery pick in this year's draft hurts.
If you think that is a negative and defeatist way to view this season, you would be right. But when you only win 36 games and finish fourth from bottom in defensive efficiency, what else do you expect? The offseason will be about trying to build around Devin Booker again, although new General Manager Brian Gregory isn't inspiring confidence in his opening act on the job.
Not trading for Jimmy Butler was a blessing in disguise.
One of the crossroad moments for the franchise this season came at the trade deadline, when the Suns pushed hard to acquire Jimmy Butler. He was going through a messy split from the Miami Heat, and all the rumors suggested he wanted to head to The Valley over any other destination. The willingness of owner Mat Ishbia to spend money the most likely reason why.
This would have involved Kevin Durant heading somewhere first - most likely and ironically given how this played out the Golden State Warriors - but we know that never happened. Durant not interested in a reunion there, and the Suns doing right by the star by not sending him some place he did not want to go. The Warriors ended up with Butler and excelled, or so we all thought.
That isn't looking like the case anymore with Stephen Curry out with a hamstring injury, and Butler failing to make the tough shots necessary in his absence in their second round series versus the Minnesota Timberwolves. To put it bluntly, the "Playoff Jimmy" experience the Warriors were looking forward to has failed to really show up to this point.
It is also fair to point out that Butler going to San Francisco did save the Warriors' season, and he rightly deserves credit for that. But if the Suns had moved Durant out for Butler, it is pretty obvious his presence alone wasn't going to propel them to the NBA Finals. As it is he's part of a more balanced roster with the Warriors, and that is still not the case.
We can't even say the Suns would have gotten lots of stuff back for Durant - and then added Butler on top of that - because they are in the second apron. It would have been essentially Durant for Butler - and when that didn't equal a championship or close to it - some of the same questions they're facing into right now would have reared their ugly heads.
The key difference being, the Suns wouldn't have had Durant to try and trade themselves out of this mess. As we've already broken down, these playoffs have exposed just how badly most teams need a closer to win tight and slow games. At 36-years-old Durant is that guy, whereas Butler is unable to take over and close a game down the stretch in the same way.
He certainly changes the character of a group for the better - and you could argue Durant can have the opposite impact - but right now that's feeling more like a regular season problem that is solved. It is almost ironic that Durant's trade value is going up while he sits on the sidelines, while Butler's may be trending downwards after a pedestrian enough postseason to this point.
The big domino here remains Giannis Antetokounmpo, and what would happen if he is traded this summer. If that were the case, Durant becomes the plan B that about 10 franchises pivot to. If Giannis goes nowhere, those same teams then turn their attention to adding a superstar at the tail end of his prime that we all know would have lit up these playoffs. A blessing the Suns never got Butler then.