The Phoenix Suns should, and would, do the Kevin Durant trade again 100 out of 100 times. Durant is a future Hall of Famers, among the NBA’s Top 75 Players of All Time, a two-time NBA champion and Finals MVP, and one of the top five scorers ever. Adding him at the trade deadline was arguably the greatest trade in NBA deadline history.
So why are the Phoenix Suns down 2-0 to the Denver Nuggets in their second-round NBA playoff series? If you look around the NBA, the best teams holding court have two things going for them: continuity and depth. The Suns had both before the Durant deal but gave up two of their best 3-and-D players, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, to get Durant. This forced them to dig through the waiver wire and deep in their bench to replace what they lost.
Josh Okogie and Torrey Craig have been fine, but just look at how Bridges and Johnson performed once given higher usage roles in Brooklyn. Bridges unveiled a new level of his game, playing like an All-Star with the Nets, averaging 26 points. The Suns have struggled throughout the playoffs to get offensive production from anyone outside their main four guys. Craig is the fifth-highest scorer at 9.3 points per game.
Something else interesting has emerged in these playoffs. Devin Booker has emerged as the Suns’ biggest scoring threat. Suns coach Month Williams trusts him to carry the load, as Booker leads the team in shot attempts at 23.7 per game. Durant is averaging 18.7 shots per game. Booker is shooting the highest percentage of the starting five at 57.2 percent and the second-highest FG percentage overall. His 35.4 ppg not only leads the Suns but is only slightly behind Miami’s Jimmy Butler 35.5 ppg for the overall playoff high scorer.
Phoenix Suns lost two key roster cogs
In Golden State, Durant was the MVP of the team, though Stephen Curry was and is their most important player. Golden State was already a champion before Durant arrived. He came as a free agent, allowing the Warriors to maintain their continuity and depth upon his arrival. The Suns sacrificed their two of their biggest rotational cogs and draft capital to absorb Durant. Bridges was their perimeter lock-down defender, an aspect on their roster that is sorely missing against the Nuggets.
The Phoenix Suns have been unable to stop Denver in its first two matchups, allowing the Nuggets to shoot 47 percent in both games. The Suns have struggled to get stops when it counts. To make matters worse, they lost Chris Paul to a left groin strain in Game 2. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that he is doubtful for Games 3 and 4, although he is expected to push for a return for Game 3. The Suns are officially listing Paul as day-to-day.
No one is arguing the Suns should not have gone after Durant. Or that the package they gave up was too much. It’s just a referendum on super teams. There is something to be said for teams who keep their core together for the sake of continuity.
The Nuggets chose to build organically around Nikola Jokić, their two-time MVP. They made less splashy moves over the past two seasons, like trading for Aaron Gordon in March 2021 while bringing in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope via trade and signing Bruce Brown in free agency last summer.
The Chris Paul trade was the Phoenix Suns’ first big trade in 2020. The rest of the supporting cast was mostly built through the draft, which included Johnson and Bridges. The Durant trade was the second big swing they took. But now, only Booker and Ayton are their main rotation players who were drafted and developed by the Suns. Utilizing trades is not a handicap toward contention. But when two out of your three most important players were acquired that way, it rarely resulted in a championship. The Toronto Raptors 2019 championship was the last time a team won it all with a roster constructed with multiple major trades for Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, and Kawhi Leonard.
The Suns have two of the best on-ball scorers in the NBA and an aging but Hall-of-Fame point guard. But without a bench and elite defenders, they have struggled against the Nuggets. The Suns were blessed enough to have built a contender Durant was eager to join. They were also lucky enough for Durant to become available via trade after trying and failing to acquire him last summer, during his first trade demand fiasco.
Acquiring a superstar of Durant’s caliber is always the most challenging part of team building. But the Phoenix Suns’ struggles against the Nuggets have shown the underrated importance of continuity and depth, two things they gave up to get Durant in the first place.
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo