4. Kevin Durant
Flipping from one side of the spectrum to the other, and Kevin Durant is one of the 25 or so grestest players to ever do it. He put up almost as many points in 2023-24 as he did in two of the four occasions he won the scoring title (27.1 per night), while defensively he was as good as he has ever been.
Which is precisely the problem, and why Durant ends up on this list. At 35-years-old, the Suns got the absolute best out of the player last season. He was the closer, carried the team when Devin Booker was out and even managed to chip in more defensively than anybody thought possible.
Playing some backup five minutes - and doing so willingly - while also getting the Suns out of some tough jams offensively was exactly why owner Ishbia wanted him so badly. But you're kidding yourself if you think that it is ever going to get any better than what Durant produced in his first full season in Arizona.
Could it be much the same next season? Absolutely, and really if anybody is going to prove this writer wrong on this list, it is Durant. But the playoffs were a stark reminder that Father Time is undefeated, as the younger Anthony Edwards continued to go at Durant while sweeping him out of the playoffs. We'd never seen that before either, and sadly that is more likely to happen again than Durant improve.