It Might Be OVER for the Suns…
The Phoenix Suns head into the 2025 NBA Season with a ton of pressure on them after they had a disappointing start to the Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal era. They lost in the first round in a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves after trading everything to assemble their big three. Going into this year they’ve made additions like Monte Morris, Tyus Jones, and Mason Plumlee with Mike Budenholzer coming in to coach. It’s a better team, but it’s one with massive concerns still. Not to mention, if things don’t go their way this season, it will likely be the beginning of the end for this core, one that they just gave up everything to assemble. Let’s talk about it.
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0:00 – Intro (2024 Recap)
1:42 – The 2024 Offseason
3:41 – Can They Stay Healthy?
5:19 – The Defense is a Problem
8:07 – 2025 Prediction
8:47 – This is Their Last Chance
11:14 – The Bradley Beal Trade Consequences
13:16 – Outro
44 Comments
Great video
I agree on mostly everything except pressure, everyone is counting them out so if they do fail again nobody would be surprised. Also KD's legacy is pretty much set in stone at this point
suns are not over they are barely starting we got a lot of new essential players
They will be fine in the regular season. I could honestly see them contending for a top four seed if things break right for them, but this roster isnt built for the playoffs.
So niggas think we might be done but got hopes for the 76ers ?
i live in pheonix, and im so glad im a mavs fan
Hey Cone, I'd like to see your take on each of the teams with players in the Olympics and how you think the Olympic run will alter their trajectory. Example, KD might remember what winning feels like, Tatum/Brown may have an axe to grind and all that good good.
Will Beal be cool coming off the bench ?
T. Jones -PG
Booker/Beal – SG
KD – SF
Suns are the only team in NBA history that addresses their greatest flaw from last year and still are being questioned about if they actually improved.
Its fine, everyone can sleep on em. Will make their successes all the sweater.
For me, their big misstep was the Beal trade. He doesn't do anything that Booker doesn't already do better. He's massively overpaid compared to his production and health. You could see that redundancy in their net rating with their "big three" on the floor. They were something like a +6.6. That's good, but that's not anywhere near where you'd want your "star trio" to be at. For perspective, the trio of Tre Jones, Devin Vassell, and Victor Wembanyama was +9 in their minutes together. That's a trio from a team that won 22 games and finished 14th in the West.
I like their offseason additions. But I'm not sure how they solve the essential problem of redundancy. When you're building a "big three" you need to consider how each player supplements/complements the others. This isn't NBA 2K. Personally, with the new salary cap restrictions, I don't think big threes work that well anymore anyway. I think you're better off with two stars and a lot of great role players. But if you are going to build a big three, a construction like Maxey-George-Embiid makes more sense.
People blame the Beal trade but forget they got him for Chris Paul, someone who couldn’t even play anyway. It was an upgrade. The real issue was the KD trade which nuked their wings.
7:28 for half a second i was like "who tf is Bud Wilgo"
All they need to do is add 1 more wing and there fine
We were actually good defensively last season top 10, it was our offense that was trash and also Booker is not a bad defender
The suns can be better if Bradley Beal transitions to more of a defensive role. I’m not saying he should be a 3 and d player but he must prioritize defense then shot creation for that starting line up to work. If that happens suns are a top 5 team.
Best case scenario Bradley beal has a break out year to improve his stock and is sent off somewhere he wants to be
Should the Suns get bitten by the healthy bug, look out. My sleeper pick to come out of the West. If they are healthy, I don't see a better team. Book, KD and Beal are gonna be tough
I never thought this would work because they've combined three players that all demand the ball & do alot of one on one play just not good for team ball
Everyone blamed a former #1 pick for everything that went wrong. Now we had a much talented team and we blame a point guard situation.
When you assemble a big 3 someone has to sacrifice their game. Look at Bosh/Love. Unfortunately you also take the blame since you ain’t putting up previous numbers.
Team lacked leadership, culture and brotherhood.
Suns are just trying to play gm in 2k but they only check the over all stats
Im really tired of this KD getting injured narrative. Bruh, after coming back from the Achilles, people fell on his damn knees two years in a row and he had a freak accident due to a wet floor when he joined the suns.
He hasnt had durability issues. He has had mishaps
If the Suns start bad, they will trade KD in the deadline. If they do okay, they will keep this team together, but we all know KD is about a month of subpar playing by his teammates from asking for another trade probably to Dallas or Boston or something crazy like that
To think that the Suns might be bad until 2031 is hilarious. Its so far away and yet so real for them
1) KD is NOT injury prone. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons Bruce Brown and Jimmy Butler ran/fell into his leg each season respectively. He's not like Kawhi where his body just breaks down on him.
2) The Suns ended their season at 13th defensively despite the shortcomings of the roster. The difference between Frank and Budenholzer is that Frank is garbage at offense, while Bud can (and does) coach both at a high level.
Also, regarding defense. It's worthy of mentioning that the Nuggets in 2023 had no big name defenders on their team, yet they defended well enough to win. Just because a team has a roster that isnt well known for defense, doesnt mean they wont play defense at all.
When Vogel was fired, I wanted chaos. F Defense. We have Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. We need Mike D'Antoni back.😂
Beal trade was the biggest issue. If they had traded CP3 for draft assets or a cheap player, or let him leave when his contract ended, they'd have had money on the books to help sure up that defense/roster, or at least have some flexibility. Beal just doesnt fit and costs too much money, while also having that no trade clause in his contract so he has to agree to any trade, meaning he cant be moved. KD and Book at least can be traded if need be and would've allowed them to blow it up if the money from trading CP somewhere else or letting him walk, didn't work out well enough. They had Book and KD, would've had Nurkic, and worked from there, but paying Beal 50 million is just far too much when you already knew KD and Book were on the roster with their contracts
Another defensive minded coach for a team that is not defensive minded, definitely not going to end good…again
KD trade was idlotic. Classic new owner shlt, making move at all costs even if it doesnt make any sense and costs you every last asset.
Clippers and suns keeping the big 3 dream alive.
Nurkic played only around 50+ games in his last 2 seasons in Portland because they literally were tanking and had to sit their vets to lose games, so him playing 70+ games isn't that much of a surprise as he was not actually injured a lot in those 2 seasons. you need to look into context rather than raw data. him playing around the 70 games mark should still be possible next year.
Had no idea you went to uva I’m from Charlottesville that’s pretty cool
Notice how KD gets swept and nobody says a word. Imagine if that was Tatum!! Omgggg 😂 like I always said. KD and Booker are high volume jump shooters who provide nothing else. That’s why they’re always getting smacked around.
Once again 49 wins while going through what they went through is not a “massive disappointment” they win 50+ games if all 3 play 65+ games & they simply lost to a better team in Minnesota and they acquired the necessary pieces in the offseason
Getting Bradley “over rated over priced” Beal doomed this team last year. Beal is a con artist. He was always a second option on a horrible wizards team 5 years ago and never ever deserving of his max contract. NO ONE wants him on their roaster especially with his stupid no trade clause. The NBA should eliminate Wizards, Hornets, Clippers and Blazers. They are watering down the ENTIRE NBA
cone to 100k subs KEEP GOING
The Suns trading for Beal might’ve been their biggest mistake. Given the next to nothing Boston gave up, they could’ve traded much less and gotten Jrue Holiday instead who would’ve given them the playmaking and defence they were otherwise missing. With the extra remaining assets, they easily could’ve made more moves for some solid defensive role players. They easily could’ve been top contenders had that happened but it’s too bad. Jrue has somehow been underrated his entire career when he’s proven time and again that he can be that final missing piece on a championship contender as long as they have at least two solid scorers with him which the Suns had.
They need to get rid of Beal for role players
I think that it's defense that kills Phoenix. It's not that they don't have talented defenders, it's that the effort felt very lackluster on that end last year. You look at teams like Boston and their defense is good because not only do they have talent, but they also try hard on that end. Even guys like Pritchard who are not great defenders put in a lot of effort on that end and try to get steals, jump lanes, be a nuisance and fight for rebounds. Similarly, both JT and JB work hard on the defensive end, which sets the right tone for the rest of the team. It's hard for everyone to buy-in when the best players are relying on the roleplayers to do all the defending…which is sometimes how it felt watching the Suns play.
I can't stop thinking about Ant rocking back and forth, arms crossed, thrusting his waist forward 🤣🤣🤣
they need 2 trade Beal 4 a defensives style player
yes this year maybe next year is the Suns last chance 2 win championship
Ayton wouldve taken this team to the finals 🙃
Their team can get to playoffs, but the highest they can go is maybe the second round tbh. It'll be fun watching them tho