The Phoenix Suns were eliminated from the play-in after losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite having Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on the team, the Suns couldn’t even make it to the play-in.
Things were supposed to be better this season. The Suns replaced their head coach and added more playmakers, but the results were worse. So much so that the Suns are being called out for not just being bad, but for what they wasted in the process.
Kevin Durant, Booker Praised While Podcast Host Trashes Suns
After the Thunder eliminated the Suns, PHNX Suns’ Erik Ruby did not hold back while slamming the Suns for their poor season. In his rant, he also made it clear their struggles were not on Durant or Booker.
“It’s a disgrace to the game of basketball,” Ruby said. “It’s a disgrace that you have wasted Year 10 of Devin Booker. It is a disgrace that you have wasted one of the last years of Kevin Durant playing this beautiful game. It is a disgrace to watch this team game in and game out, and I’m just so, so sick of it.
“I’m actually glad they didn’t make the play-in because they didn’t deserve any sort of positive hope or momentum. This team deserves nothing, and that is exactly what they are getting. Nothing.”
The Suns were already coming off of a disappointing campaign last season after the Minnesota Timberwolves eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs. So, to some extent, the writing was on the wall that this team’s roster construction was not fit for contention.
Changes Are In Order
Even so, despite what Phoenix tried, this season served as more evidence that some changes are in order. Last season was disappointing, but Phoenix played well enough to hope that a couple of changes would change their fortunes. The final result was only more proof that this experiment was doomed to fail.
The Suns took a risk trying to make their team more top-heavy when they acquired Bradley Beal, only to realize that his redundancy next to Booker was a problem. Making it worse was how many roster holes this formula created.
The Suns lacked versatility, depth, quality big men and playmakers. They may have had the top-end talent of a contender, but what pulled the rug from underneath them was simultaneously lacking the other ingredients of one too.
So, Suns fans have every reason to be upset at the final result. Even in a season where expectations were reasonably high but still realistic, the Suns failed to match last season’s performance.
While Phoenix can change things up a bit, what makes this situation even more bleak is that the Suns don’t really have an easy way out of it. Trading Durant could give them some options, but not a lot.