The 2024-25 season is going to go down as one that the Phoenix Suns and their fans are going to want to forget, and it doesn't look like anything is going to change that between now and the end of the season. They continue to flip further below .500 - and if not for potentially gifting the Houston Rockets a lottery pick - should probably want to skip the playoffs entirely anyway.
Not because they don't want to win - they're as all in as you can possible be - but because it would likely go even worse than last season when they were swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Getting hammered twice on such a big days in successive seasons can have a negative long-term impact on an organization.
It is not hard to see why this happened to the Suns this season.
If you haven't checked it out already - and really you're missing out if you didn't - Fansided recently dropped a list of their top 99 players in the NBA. As is always the case with these things, there are many talking points for every team listed. The Suns as it happens should actually feel happy with seeing both Kevin Durant (7th) and Devin Booker (14th) crack the top 15.
Yet their top two players have never been the issue in Phoenix - in terms of on court productivity at least - rather it was the roster around them that was always going to decide how far they could go. Bradley Beal did also crack the list, but that's the first part of the issue as he sits in the 90th spot.
That's a fair reflection of where Beal is at right now in his career - and with him coming off the bench a lot more frequently - it's not even really a problem either. What is an issue however is both the no-trade clause and the massive contract he has that make him unmoveable. Not only that - with the Suns being in the second apron - it is a lot harder to make deals and get better as well.
If their supposed third best player - which Beal is supposed to be and sometimes is - comes in 90th, you might be able to get away with that given the talent of Durant and Booker. When he's in this spot and is only going in one direction - not to mention being injury-prone and 31-years-old - well that's a less optimistic development.
Really though the worst part about this list for the organization - and which perfectly sums up why this campaign has gone off the rails - is the fact they don't have a single other player appear on the list. They shouldn't either, this isn't a surprising development. But rather it speaks to the lack of depth in Phoenix, and why they can't compete each night.
Tyus Jones starting again https://t.co/iq9d92nTk4 pic.twitter.com/4TVmViBRAd
— Suns Are Better (@SunsAreBetter) February 28, 2025
Guys like Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and even Tyus Jones are good players - but when you look around the rest of the league - they shouldn't have as much responsibility to great each night like they do in The Valley. Obviously Allen can go off from deep, while Jones is an excellent floor general. But there's a reason they're not truly elite players, and its because they can't perform consistently.
The Suns have also expected too much from their rookies in Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro this season, and it shouldn't hamper them as much when they're either going through a rough patch or can't play because of injury. Having two of the top 14 players in the league is great and all - but this is a team game - and if you can't back them up, you're going to be irrelevant come the playoffs.