The Phoenix Suns’ NBA playoffs journey is about to begin. The team made it to the NBA Finals in 2021 and the Western Conference semifinals in 2022. With the addition of Kevin Durant at the NBA trade deadline, will there be another Suns NBA Finals run this season? The road won't be easy for KD, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton, but here are three reasons Phoenix will not just make but win the 2023 NBA Finals.
3. The right trade deadline deal has produced NBA Finals runs before
There are always multiple trades made at and around the NBA trade deadline each season, and most of them don’t result in a championship or even an NBA Finals appearance. However, when a team makes the right trade, it can put them over the top.
Three mid-season blockbusters have resulted in championships in league history, and one ended in an NBA Finals run with consecutive titles coming the following two seasons.
The three title-winning trades were Mark Aguirre going from the Dallas Mavericks to the Detroit Pistons in 1989, Clyde Drexler moving from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Houston Rockets in 1995, and Rasheed Wallace also leaving the Trail Blazers for the Atlanta Hawks (for one game) and then onto the Pistons in 2004.
Pau Gasol went from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008, and his new team made a run in the NBA playoffs but lost in the Finals to the Boston Celtics. Gasol and Kobe Bryant did win the next two Larry O’Brien Trophies, though.
All these players were multi-time All-Stars, and they gave their new teams exactly what they needed to win a chip. Kevin Durant can absolutely be that player in the Suns' NBA playoffs run this season.
The Suns' biggest issue in the last few seasons is that neither Chris Paul nor Devin Booker is among the best closers in the game. Durant is, and when the NBA playoff games get tight, having Durant on your side is a huge advantage.
2. The West is the weakest it’s been in years
Since the end of the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls dynasty, the Western Conference has dominated the NBA. The West side of the bracket has produced 16 of the 24 NBA champions since 1999.
In 2023, though, the West is as weak as it has been in over two decades.
The teams at the top of the standings, the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Sacramento Kings are all relatively young and inexperienced. Denver got to the Western Conference Finals in 2020, but that’s as far as any of them has gone. Sacramento hasn’t even been to the NBA playoffs since 2006.
Recent powers like LeBron James and the Lakers, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are all having down seasons, and the Mavs might not even make the play-in tournament.
Right now, the power in the NBA is concentrated in the East with the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers.
All this means the Suns' NBA Finals path should be easier than many other teams, and if they do make it to the end, they’ll face an Eastern Conference side that had to battle through at least one, and probably two, tough series.
1. The Suns have the highest concentration of great players in the NBA
NBA basketball is a star-driven game. The team with the most stars and the best stars walk away with the championship more often than in any other sport.
And no team in the NBA in 2023 has more stars than the Suns.
With the addition of Kevin Durant, the Suns now have four top 50 (and maybe even top 40) players in the league, with KD, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton. And Durant and Booker are arguably both in the top 10.
With apologies to Jaylen Brown, Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, and James Harden, no other team in the 2023 NBA playoffs has two top-10 players, and there definitely aren’t four players as good as the Suns' top four.
This doesn’t mean the Suns' NBA playoffs journey will be a runaway success. As talented as the Suns’ Big Four are, all of them have struggled with health at times in their careers, and staying fit for four rounds will be no easy task. This is especially true for KD and Paul, who are 34 and about to be 38 (on May 6), respectively.
Durant and Booker are the keys here, though. If these two can play at a high level throughout the 2023 NBA playoffs, a Suns NBA Finals victory could be on tap.
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