5 Phoenix Suns who peaked in 2023-24

The 2023-24 season will forever go down as one which the Phoenix Suns will be in a rush to forget. A campaign that promised so much, instead obliterated by the Minnesota Timberwolves at the first postseason hurdle.

Prior to that there was an inability of new recruit Bradley Beal to stay healthy, while Eric Gordon was one of the more vocal players who at one point was unhappy with their role on the team. Throw in a failed point guard experiment between Beal and Devin Booker, and it is no surprise that head coach Frank Vogel ended up losing his job.

Yet the bad feeling has chased the organization into this offseason, because five of their important players hit their peak during 2023-24.

New head coach Mike Budenholzer will hope this is not the case - and really it is his job to sift through this mess and create a competitive group - with owner Mat Ishbia demanding a winner, and soon. With the level of free agent candidates available to the franchise middling at best as well, right now the idea of dreaming about new players who can help is altogether different from the reality.

That is not to say that each of the players who are going to appear here can't help the Suns. Far from it, but rather none of them will ever reach the peaks we associate with them ever again, whether that happened in The Valley or elsewhere. Buckle up, this is a sobering list...

5. Jusuf Nurkic

Starting off with the obvious, and there is no way you can make the case that the Suns didn't just get the best version of center Jusuf Nurkic in 2023-24. He stayed healthy to the tune of 76 games played (all starts), and he gave this team 11 points and rebounds each night.

He also did so in the selfless manner that was advertized by Nurkic at media day. He willingly battled in the paint with giants, while offensively he acted as the piece who helped get the ball from where it was, to where it was supposed to be going. His soft hands and nice passing was on display most nights, and his consistency helped the Suns to win 49 regular season games.

Yet the playoffs was when all of the negative aspects of Nurkic's game was exposed. He was too slow when caught on switched by the Timberwolves to contest anything, while inside Rudy Gobert proved too much for him. It's not that it is Nurkic's fault that the Suns got swept - but rather - the fact they had to rely on him so much and didn't have a Plan B was what hurt the most.

As long as Nurkic remains in The Valley, it is hard to see him putting up more than 11/11 - or even less likely again - missing just six games across a gruelling regular season. The version was saw was as good as it is going to get, and it is on the front office to use this while also getting help for when Nurkic's limited talents are exposed.