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As the 2024-2025 NBA season comes to an end, the Phoenix Suns are out of playoff contention in a year that can only be described as disappointing at best and disastrous at worst. In a league that strives for balance, with salary cap rules designed to prevent the formation of super-teams, the Suns went all in to create a super-team that never really made basketball sense.
With their playoff hopes gone, the team's chances of a rebuild are also limited. They lack full control over their draft picks, as several pick swaps through 2031 are in place, making it unlikely they’ll acquire favorable picks to quickly bring in rebuilding talent. The future of the Phoenix Suns feels uncertain, which is surprising considering they reached the NBA Finals in 2021 and came just one Luka Doncic Game 7 masterpiece away from competing against the Warriors in the 2022 Western Conference Finals.
Only one person can be blamed for the dismantling of a promising contender that could've easily made noise in a stratified Western Conference: Mat Ishbia. Some NBA team owners are often criticized for not doing enough to build rosters capable of competing for a championship. Many are reluctant to spend money on talent or make bold moves to shake up their teams. Ishbia, on the other hand, is the opposite—representing the other extreme of this ownership approach but arguably in a worse way.
Mat Ishbia assumed majority ownership of the Suns after the previous owner, Robert Sarver, was compelled to divest his shares in the team due to an investigation uncovering allegations of fostering a toxic workplace environment, as well as instances of racism and misogyny. Ishbia was quick to make his mark on the organization, announcing his presence with a shocking trade deadline acquisition of then-Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant in the 2022-2023 season.
Durant seemed to be a perfect piece to a championship-contending roster like the Suns in the 2022-2023 season. Booker had already grown into one of the premier stars in the league, and Chris Paul was still on the team and would certainly be able to maximize the scoring abilities of both Booker and Durant with his uncanny basketball IQ and passing abilities.
The 2023 team showed its strength by defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in five games and giving the eventual NBA Champion Denver Nuggets one of their toughest challenges on the road to the finals, ultimately falling in six games. Durant and Booker demonstrated impressive chemistry, making NBA playoff history as the first teammates to each record 35 points, five rebounds, and five assists in back-to-back playoff games (Games 3 and 4) to keep their team in the series.
The path forward should've been clear: build on the foundation of success with two All-NBA level talents in Booker and Durant and sign role players in the offseason that can increase your window to contend. Ishbia, clearly showing a penchant to make headlines and go for the gusto, traded Chris Paul to the Wizards to acquire Bradley Beal. In another deal in the 2023 offseason, Deandre Ayton was traded to the Trailblazers in the three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Trading Deandre Ayton not a great move for Suns
Even in 2023, the trade didn't make sense. Sure, Bradley Beal played well in the 2022-2023 season, as he averaged 23.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in the 50 games that he played that season. However, acquiring Beal didn't make much sense based on how the roster was constructed. You already had two of the top scorers in the NBA on your roster. Why did you need another high-volume scorer who was already showing signs of being injury-prone the year before? Also, why would you trade Chris Paul, a player who appeared perfect to play alongside your fearsome duo and averaged 8.9 assists in the 2022-2023 season?
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The move didn’t seem logical from a basketball perspective, but we tend to give great players the benefit of the doubt. With their ability to score from almost anywhere on the court, surely they’d figure out how to make the partnership work, right? Not quite. Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant didn't even share the court together until December 2023. When they eventually did take the court, it was clear that they were an odd fit. Even with them finishing the season with a 49-33 record and narrowly avoiding the Play-In tournament, it was clear that this wasn't a roster that could win a championship.
It didn't take long for that to be seen, as the Minnesota Timberwolves swept them out of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. There clearly were flaws with the roster as presently constructed. The Phoenix Suns brass, with clear heavy influence from Ishbia, could course correct in the offseason and look to salvage their second full season with Booker and Durant. But it appears that Mat Ishbia didn't see the problem with his team and boldly asserted in May 2024 that the team's problems were fixable and that his team was the envy of the league.
“Oh, it's extremely fixable. I mean, let's, let's just be real, although this isn't a cool narrative and the national media really won't want to play it out there, but like, ask the other 29 GMs, 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our whole, and our draft picks and everything as is, like, The house is not on fire. We're in great position. It's not hard to fix.”
His tone was shocking. Was he watching the same Phoenix Suns games as the rest of the NBA community? Did he truly see how the Timberwolves dominated his Suns in a sweep that’s likely to be remembered more for Anthony Edwards’s D-Generation X-inspired celebration than for any real competitiveness in the series?
During Ishbia's season-and-a-half tenure as owner of the Suns, it was clear they were unlikely to rank among the top teams in the West. At best, they seemed destined for a middle-of-the-pack finish, or at worst, a fringe Play-In team. However, the reality turned out to be even worse than expected.
Beal missed a significant number of games once again, while Kevin Durant dealt with his own injuries. Meanwhile, the Suns' front office engaged in trade discussions behind Durant’s back, blindsiding him with the possibility of a reunion with the Golden State Warriors. Beal had full control over his future. While trading him seemed like the best move for the Suns' short-term success, his no-trade clause made the situation more complex.
The issues facing the Suns were certainly solvable, but Ishbia wasn’t focused on addressing them. Instead, he chose to stack the deck, disrupting the growth of a team that went from a lottery pick in 2018 to NBA Finals contender in 2021. This off-season, the Suns have an opportunity to start over. Let’s hope Mat Ishbia and his front office can get things right—for the fans of the Phoenix Suns and everyone who loves competitive NBA basketball.
