There is no doubt that the first year of the Phoenix Suns' "Big 3" experiment didn't go as planned. The addition of Bradley Beal to Devin Booker and Kevin Durant not enough to avoid being swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening round of the postseason.
Winning 49 games during the regular season was nice - even if it often didn't feel like this group would ultimately bank that many victories - but head coach Frank Vogel still paid for it with his job. The Suns will now enter 2024-25 with the highest salary sheet in the entire league, which currently stands at a massive $223 million.
Owner Mat Ishbia has now come out and given a definitive timeline on just how long the Suns are going to continue as currently constructed.
Speaking on the always excellent "Burns & Gambo" show, Ishbia got honest on just how long the team can continue spending the massive amounts that they currently are (tax bill for next season is over $200 million, again the highest mark in the league) to try and win a championship.
That second apron they're currently operating in as a result of having their three stars alone making over $150 million alone next season is designed to deter organizations from hanging around there for too long, and Ishbia has seemingly gotten the message as he revealed;
"Last year didn’t even count. So, the next two years we are going to be in the second apron and we are going to be very expensive. Luxury tax is going to be high this year, it’s going to be high again next year. And we’re going to compete and we’re going to see how we do. And then the third year we have to try to get out of it."Suns' owner Mat Ishbia
Ishbia knows well why he has to get out of that second apron as in the next few years their first round picks are going to be frozen or moved to the back of the first round of the draft. A disastrous outcome for when the time comes and they have to bridge the gap between the Booker era and whatever comes next.
But if you read between the lines, this suggests that the "Big 3" era as we know it has to end then as well. Paying this trio a ton of money beyond that would mean remaining in the second apron, and Ishbia seems pretty adamant about getting out of there. Paying those tax bills alone is hard enough to comprehend, never mind a solid roster.
Two years from now - assuming another contract isn't signed in the meantime - Durant will be an unrestricted free agent. He'll also be 38-years-old. He might be gone before then too, traded to another franchise, although as a result of being in the second apron already that would likely mean getting a player back on similar money for potentially longer which would keep them in this spot.
Beal will be entering the final year of his own deal that summer - he has a player option on his contract - and at over $57 million you can be pretty confident he'll pick that up. He might have a no-trade clause, but Beal could be open to waiving it if it meant being sent somewhere that will sign him to another long-term contract. Something the Suns already don't look like doing.
Booker of course is going nowhere, and no matter what it is likely he will still be in The Valley. But one - if not both - of Durant and Beal are sure to be gone, otherwise Ishbia wouldn't have spoken with such certainty about getting under the second apron. Maybe Durant has retired by then, another wrinkle to consider.
So strap in because we now know for sure this thing has another two years to run as it is, before changes are made in Phoenix. Winning a championship is the only goal, and so far the franchise is off to a rocky start.