The Phoenix Suns' run to the NBA Finals in 2021 was supposed to mark their lasting place as top-tier title contenders around a foundational core.

Instead, the reigning Western Conference champs were embarrassed a year later in a historic Game 7 loss to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks during the second round of the playoffs. The Suns made the drastic decision to trade for Kevin Durant last season, sapping them of quality depth and accelerating their win-now timeline, but suffered an eerily similar second-round fate while bowing out to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

After adding Bradley Beal last month, pushing all-in for that elusive Larry O'Brien Trophy, general manager James Jones believes Phoenix's past postseason failures have set the stage for much greater success to come.

“Versatility and balance and more importantly, experience,” Jones told Duane Rankin of Arizona Republic when asked what makes the Suns a championship contender. “It takes a unique combination of skill, and knowhow to navigate a regular season and a postseason. You have to have success and failures in the postseason to understand what it actually takes to, ultimately, to be successful and win a championship. I think we have a nice balance of experience from a coaching perspective and from a roster perspective and we have a few guys that are pushing for those things that haven’t really seen it. That unknown for them drives their focus and more importantly, I think when you’re trying to establish yourself like our guys are, our mid-prime veterans are, winning a championship goes a long way.”

Devin Booker, Durant and Beal comprise basketball's most talented Big Three. The Suns answered major questions about their supporting cast by dominating the minimum market early in free agency, adding quality role players like Eric Gordon, Keita Bates-Diop and Yuta Watanabe, among others.

There's no doubting Phoenix has the good to win the title in 2023-24. But games aren't played on paper, especially in the postseason, and the Suns must develop the connectivity and cohesion required of all championship teams—which could be especially tough to come by given their season-to-season turnover not just on the roster, but also the coaching staff.

We'll start to find out come mid-October if Phoenix can live up to Jones' optimism.