The Suns traded for Kevin Durant (one of my favorite players, mind you) and it was a mistake! Why is everyone scared to say it?
Every time the Suns struggle, the questions start:
"What's going on?"
"Why aren't they winning?"
"Why can't they make a playoff run?"
But the answer isn't complicated.
And this team is far from great. Tbh they kinda suck.
Not that Booker, or Durant, is terrible, or a bad leader, or whatever. The team just sucks.
The Suns already had a Finals team.
They built it over multiple draft classes and offseasons.
Mikal. Cam. CP3. Book. Even Ayton.
A roster with chemistry, roles, and balance.
Then… they traded it all away for Kevin Durant.
And yeah, some people will say: "But it's Kevin Durant!"
Cool. But that's like taking all your savings—everything you worked for over several years—and going out to buy a Porsche.
Thinking that's the missing piece. Then you're really gonna feel like you made it in life.
Yeah, it's flashy.
Yeah, you'll get compliments.
But it didn't make your life better. It made it harder.
And now, you've got way less flexibility than you did before.
You're still a dweeb. But now you're a dweeb with a Porsche and you can't make rent.
And the Suns weren't even dweebs; they were Western Conference champs! Two games away from winning a chip!
But they acted like Dweebs so here we are.
What would a dweeb do? Double down. Not listen to reason. Put tints on the whip, why not? I'm cooked anyways.
The Suns doubled down.
Traded for Bradley Beal.
The roster got top-heavy.
The chemistry? Gone.
The bench? Thin.
The identity? Lost.
The franchise? Cooked.
And to be honest (here's a take)
The gap between a star and a role player isn't as wide as fans think.
Most NBA players are elite at something (before you question me saying they're elite, ask yourself if you could play 30 minutes of basketball today, even with commercial breaks.)
Mikal became a 20+ PPG scorer the second he left.
But the gap between an effective role player and an ineffective one?
That gap might actually be bigger.
That gap is what's killing the Suns today.
They disrespected team-building.
They gambled everything on names, not cohesion.
And now, they're stuck with no margin for error.
It's not a mystery.
It's not bad luck.
It's bad team-building.
Let's not forget it was Ray Allen that hit that shot in Miami, not someone from the Big 3. It was Robert Horry and Derek Fisher hitting big shots for the 2000s Lakers when it mattered. When you have guys who execute in their role and let the stars be at their best, that's when the rings come in.
It's not all about star power. The Suns are walking proof of that.