Between their team salary and luxury-tax bill, the Phoenix Suns are paying more than $366 million for their roster this season. That's the second-highest total in NBA history, trailing only the 2023-24 Golden State Warriors.
This year's Suns are one of only six teams ever to rack up a total payroll and tax bill north of $300 million. They're in danger of becoming the first one to miss the postseason entirely.
After Sunday's blowout loss to the Houston Rockets, the Suns are now one game behind the Sacramento Kings for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. They have the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, while the Kings still have games left against the lottery-bound Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets.
Making matters worse, the Suns will be without star forward Kevin Durant for at least the next three games, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. They're headed on the road to face the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks before returning home for a back-to-back against the scorching-hot Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder.
After their loss to the Rockets on Sunday, Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer expressed confidence in his team's ability to right the ship, but time is running low. A few more losses could seal their fate as the most expensive bust in NBA history.
The $300-Plus Million Club
The Suns entered the season on pace to pay more than $400 million in salary and luxury tax, but their wheeling and dealing ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline helped them trim their tax bill. However, they're only the second team in league history to cross the $360 million threshold for total roster spend.
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The 2023-24 Golden State Warriors set the NBA record with a $382.5 million salary-plus-tax bill last year. They finished the regular season at 46-36, but a blowout loss to the Sacramento Kings in the opening game of the play-in tournament kept them out of the playoffs.
This year's Suns would have to go 6-1 over their final seven games to even finish at .500.
Every team that has spent at least $300 million in salary and tax prior to this year has at least made it to the play-in tournament. Other than the 2023-24 Warriors, the four others all made the actual playoffs. Their results were mixed from there—the Los Angeles Clippers suffered two straight first-round exits, while the 2021-22 Warriors won a championship—but all of them at least ended the regular season with a chance at winning a title.
The teams with the highest salary + tax bills in NBA history.Salary/tax data via Spotrac
Barring a drastic turnaround sans Durant, the Suns aren't even guaranteed that.
An Offseason Storm Awaits
Even if the Suns were committed to their Big Three of Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal moving forward, a catastrophic season like this could make them reconsider that stance. However, the Suns made clear at this year's trade deadline that they are not committed to keeping this trio together.
The Suns spent weeks trying to figure out how to flip Beal in a deal for then-Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, but Beal's no-trade clause proved to be an insurmountable hurdle. They pivoted to considering deals involving Durant—particularly one that would send him back to the Warriors—but Durant put his foot down and made it clear that he didn't want to leave Phoenix in the middle of the season.
However, Durant wasn't thrilled that the Suns shopped him, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. Multiple reporters have hinted that a Durant trade this offseason is all but a foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, Beal told ESPN's Tim MacMahon that he's "open to considering other possibilities this offseason," although his contract may be too toxic for the Suns to offload without attaching additional assets.
Even though Durant is turning 37 in September, the Suns should still fetch a haul for him if they trade him this offseason. The 15-time All-Star is averaging 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game this year while shooting 52.7% overall and 43.0% from deep. They might not recoup everything they gave up to get him at the 2023 trade deadline, but multiple suitors figure to jump into the bidding.
However, team governor Mat Ishbia appears to have zero appetite for a long-term rebuild.
"It's surprising to me that other people, other fans, they actually like the rebuild process," Ishbia told MacMahon. "Like, 'Oh, let's rebuild it.' Are you crazy?! You think I'm going to go for seven years and try to get there? You enjoy the 2030 draft picks that we have holding? I want to try to see the game today. I want us to win today, and we're going to try."
Trading Durant could help the Suns slip back under the second apron, which would free them from the most punishing team-building restrictions in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Not being able to aggregate contracts or take back more money than they sent out in trades drastically limited their options at this year's deadline. If they're planning to retool around Booker to salvage whatever's left of his tenure in Phoenix, they'll need as much flexibility as they can possibly get.
However, it's fair to wonder whether they can accomplish that goal by trading Durant. They gave up nearly all of their future draft capital to acquire him and Beal, which drastically reduces their margin for error moving forward.
Since the Suns will finish over the second apron this year, they won't be allowed to trade their 2032 first-round pick this offseason. If they finish over the second apron in any of the next three seasons as well, that pick will automatically move to the bottom of the first round. They'd have to be below the second apron for at least three years across a four-year stretch to unfreeze the pick.
If the results of this season weren’t reason enough to reduce their payroll, the frozen-pick penalty should further incentivize the Suns to consider cutting costs this summer.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats viaNBA.com,PBPStats,Cleaning the Glass orBasketball Reference. All salary information viaSpotrac and salary-cap information viaRealGM. All odds viaFanDuel Sportsbook.
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