Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty Images
We can’t limit the Phoenix Suns’ setup to just two stars. If you’re a stickler for the interpretation of pairing (which is technically pretty broad), then go with Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant, since Devin Booker is the franchise tentpole who was already in place.
This trio is mega-talented. That much is inarguable. They are all above-average on-ball creators and off-ball threats relative to their status as, well, on-ball creators. But the functional imbalance they present is stark.
Booker is the closest one of them comes to being a primary playmaker. And as we saw time and again last season, that type of hierarchy has its limitations. Sure, Beal missed a ton of time. And Phoenix’s supporting cast was not, shall we say, the most reliable. That’s all sort of the point.
People take issue with the Beal trade. That’s understandable. The Suns didn’t have to make it. But they weren’t getting a better player in a vacuum for what they could give up at the time. Even when filtering out team governor Mat Ishbia’s impulsion and factoring in the hurdle posed by inheriting Beal’s no-trade clause, his individual value exceeds what they gave up.
Any frustration about opportunity cost must zero in on the Durant acquisition. Phoenix forked over Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round picks and a 2028 first-round swap to get him. The price was, and remains, ultra-steep. Durant was 34 at the time and will be entering his age-36 season next year. The Suns winnowed down their prospective title window by converting long-term assets into someone with a shorter-than-longer superstar shelf life.
However! This is Kevin Durant. He remains a dominant offensive force, albeit one perhaps less equipped to handle double-teams.
The move seems riskier, if not less palatable, now than before. But it also remains defensible. KD gives you a championship best-case outcome, however plausible, right now. Those assets, or whomever else Phoenix punted on acquiring by moving them to Brooklyn, represent purely theoretical title windows.
Hence the bizarreness of this superstar trio. And it only gets zanier when you consider the aging Durant is the best defender of the tripling. (Booker has a case for stretches at a time.)
Weirder still, getting both Durant and Beal is to some extent about nudging up your ceiling when Booker catches a breather. However, the Durant-Beal tandem actually lost the minutes they logged without D-Book last season.
Can we chalk this up to Beal’s initial absence setting back the chemistry? Flawed roster construction that’s now semi-corrected? (Welcome to chaos, Monte Morris!) A not-so-stellar head coaching fit? (Godspeed, Mike Budenholzer!) Do these three just need more time to jell? How much time do they actually have?
“Bizarreness,” in this instance, is an analog for a slew of questions without concrete answers.
