5 reasons why the Phoenix Suns will once again come up short of winning an NBA championship
New Phoenix Suns team owner Mat Ishbia hasn’t made major personnel moves, traded away much of their draft future and spent over the second tax apron just to compete for an NBA championship.
He wants to bring Phoenix its first one ever.
The Suns have a prolific scoring trio in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, talented young big in Deandre Ayton and a new head coach in Frank Vogel who preaches defense.
They have one of the NBA’s most talented teams, an owner who is all in and a general manager in James Jones who somehow put together a quality roster with veteran minimums to go along with four max contracts.
On paper, they’re eye-popping, but here are five reasons why the Suns will fall short of an NBA championship again.
Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers or Golden State Warriors
Each team is problematic for the Suns.
Denver has two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who dominated the Suns in the Western Conference semifinals the Nuggets won in six games on their way to winning their first NBA title.
Jamal Murray has made his way back to being one of the game’s top shooting guards after a season-ending knee injury in 2021.
Aaron Gordon is the perfect four man for the Nuggets, Michael Porter is talented with room to grow and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the do-it-all guard.
Michael Malone’s confidence as a coach is dialed up way past 100.
Los Angeles is not only loaded, but it’ll go through an entire season with all the additions it brought in before last season’s trade deadline.
The Lakers recently added Christian Wood, a scoring big, to their talented group.
LeBron James is back for a 21st season and Anthony Davis, when healthy, is right there with the NBA’s top two bigs – reigning MVP Joel Embiid and Jokic.
As for the Warriors, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green still feel as if they have championships left in them.
More: Five reasons why Phoenix Suns will win their first NBA championship this season
They now have an extra incentive to be the last team standing — Chris Paul.
Two years after being the catalyst in Phoenix’s run to the finals, Paul was traded to Washington in the Beal deal. The Wizards later moved him to Golden State where he once again has a legit chance to win his first NBA championship.
The Suns may have to go through two of these teams just to reach the finals. Good luck with that.
Lack of chemistry
The Suns only return five players from last season’s team in Ish Wainright, Josh Okogie, Damion Lee, Booker and Ayton as well as two-way player Saben Lee.
They could have a revolving door for the fifth starter, but their rotation may be all over the place if players don’t establish themselves and shine in their designated roles.
The Suns have had players meet up all summer to workout together and play pickup games. That’s a sound way to build chemistry.
Vogel plans to use the regular season to figure all this out going into the playoffs, but the longer it takes for the team to get on the same page on the court, the more challenging it will be to win a title, especially when facing teams that have been together longer like the Nuggets, Lakers and Warriors.
Deandre Ayton
He’s starting the season with the Suns after leading the Bahamas to their biggest FIBA wins in taking an Olympic pre-qualifying tournament in Argentina.
Ayton took a huge step in changing his narrative in that tournament, but can he carry that momentum in his sixth NBA season and be a difference-maker for the Suns?
Only time will tell, but Ayton could very well be out of Phoenix.
He’s been in trade talks for more than a year now. In a perfect world, he complements the play of Booker, Durant and Beal, carries the offense at times and is a rim protector.
If he falls short of what the Suns need from him, they may wind up moving Ayton before the trade deadline or they may just part ways with him earlier to get a better fit in return for less money.
Doing that is a risk if the Suns don’t get in return what they need to make that championship push.
If Ayton plays well and Phoenix is winning, this is a non-issue.
If he is not and the Suns are up and down, a change may be coming.
Fifth starter
Booker, Durant and Beal will get theirs.
Ayton can post a double-double in his sleep. He’s averaged one in each of his five NBA seasons.
The question is will the fifth starter, be it Josh Okogie, Keita Bates-Diop or Yuta Watanabe, be able to make defenses pay for doubling Booker, Beal and Durant?
Whoever is on the court with those three must deliver or hope their perimeter stars can consistently make tough shots.
Free throws
Booker and the Suns can complain to the officiating all day and night, but they must figure out a way to get to the line more.
The numbers don’t lie.
2020-21 season – Averaged 18.7 FTAs to finish 29th out of 30 NBA teams.
2021-22 season – Averaged 19.9 FTAs to finish 27th out of 30 NBA teams.
2022-23 season – Averaged 21.7 FTAs to finish 27th out of 30 NBA teams.
The Suns have had success despite those numbers. They want to play with pace, but when the game slows down, they’ll have to get to the line or keep looking at the free throw disparity in disgust after losses.
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Nuggets, Lakers, Warriors stand in Phoenix Suns' way of NBA title
