There is no doubt that the Phoenix Suns have been perhaps the most disappointing team in the entire NBA this season. At this point it is unclear if they will even win 40 games, a terrible turn of events for a group that promised so much. Not only is the play-in tournament not guaranteed as they sit 11th in the Western Conference, many fans don't want the Suns to make it.
They will only get embarrassed by a superior opponent if they do, with many believing it is better to head into a long offseason to try and fix the many problems that currently exist in The Valley. Hanging over all of that is the future of Kevin Durant, with the 36-year-old widely expected to head for the exit door this summer.
Durant has been at the forefront of one of the team's biggest problems.
Surprisingly it is not the defensive end that we are talking about either - as although the Suns as a whole have been horrendous - Durant himself is still capable of having stretches where he can make a difference on that end of the court. It just hasn't been close to good enough as the team sits 27th in defensive efficiency (117.5) at this late stage of the campaign.
Rather it is the offensive end of the ball where the Suns have somehow escaped criticism, despite boasting Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Not only that, but Grayson Allen - who led the league in 3-point shooting last season - is also on this roster. Royce O'Neale is also capable of hitting a shot from deep, while point guard Tyus Jones loves setting up his teammates in their spot.
It is not that sitting 10th in offensive rating (115.3) is bad - clearly it is a lot better than what they have been able to achieve defensively - but it is still nowhere near the levels you would expect of this team. Statistically this is the third worst offensive output of Durant's career (116.5) since 2017-18, while Booker has failed to hit the heights we've come to expect from him as well.
The 115.5 points the Suns average when he is on the court this season his worst mark since before the team went into the bubble, went 8-0 and kickstarted a run that eventually led to an NBA Finals appearance in 2021. Having their two best players regress notably offensively in the same season is not only unacceptable, some blame surely must go to head coach Mike Budenholzer.
He has already clashed with Durant on several occasions this season, and the schemes and sets the team runs just do not inspire a lot of creativity - and most importantly - have never led to a sustained period of dominance on that end of the court. With Beal it is even worse, because there is growing evidence that the Suns are better on both ends without him.
Jordan Poole has passed Bradley Beal for the most 3-pointers made in a single season in Wizards franchise history.
Poole: 224
Beal: 223 pic.twitter.com/nz3BPFspVg
— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) March 31, 2025
Which is a shame - because if the Suns could have put together an awesome scoring stretch - they would surely be in the hunt for a playoff spot at this point. They also would have been an unwelcome opponent for anybody to play, as the prospect of keeping Durant and Booker quiet across a series would have been such a daunting task.
Instead this group mostly rolled over defensively, while the cohesiveness with their three elite scorers never came together. The only hope for the rest of the season is that Booker can get back into some sort of groove as the main attraction with both Durant and Beal out, and that he is happy enough to carry that into next season when he will surely be the leading man in Phoenix again.