National Basketball Association

Suns' gamble on Durant-Booker tandem fails to pay dividends

Updated May. 12, 2023 12:13 p.m. ET

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Ric Bucher

FOX Sports NBA Analyst

The Phoenix Suns received the final bill for acquiring Kevin Durant on Thursday night, courtesy of the Denver Nuggets. Or at least they have to hope so.

A recent survey by FOX Sports of scouts, GMs and executives asked which team was facing its best last chance to win a title as currently constructed. The Golden State Warriors were first on the list. The Suns, maybe surprisingly, were second. Surprisingly because they just acquired four-time scoring champion Durant at the February trade deadline. But those responding to the survey were looking at the depth and future assets they sacrificed to attain Durant and the uncertain availability of 38-year-old point guard Chris Paul, who suffered a groin injury late in Game 2 of the series and did not play again.

All of which only makes the 125-100 thrashing by the Nuggets more troubling. While Denver will now advance to the Western Conference finals for the second time in four years, with an array of far less-celebrated players beyond two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, the Suns are left to ponder why they’ve been body-slammed out of the playoffs on their home floor two years in a row. They fell into a 30-point halftime hole against the Nuggets just as they did against the Dallas Mavericks a year ago.

"They both bring bad feelings about the game and what you’re trying to accomplish," said head coach Monty Williams. 

For those who might’ve forgotten, the Suns dealt Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder, along with a slew of unprotected future first-round picks, to add one of the NBA’s best all-around scorers to the one they already had, shooting guard Devin Booker. 

Just for fun — or maybe torture, if you’re a Suns fan — go back and look at the part those three wings played in helping Phoenix reach the Finals two years ago. All three were stout defenders who could spread the floor on offense, each being a plus-9 or better that postseason.

That walk back into the archives is provided so that the next time someone anoints a team as a championship contender simply because it has two great scorers, you can say, "But that’s not how championship teams are built." Because they aren’t. Yes, the Suns were missing both Paul and center Deandre Ayton, somewhat of a surprise scratch early Thursday morning because of a rib contusion. But Ayton was already being dragged for his relative ineffectiveness against Jokic through the first five games of the series and the Suns actually looked more potent in their first two games without Paul.

The danger in basing a team’s success on a pair of efficient high-volume scorers is that no matter how good they are, there are going to be nights where one or both is not efficient or scoring at a high volume. Williams didn’t have a Plan B, with Durant starting out 2-for-11 and Booker 2-for-8, especially since they were even worse on defense. Both were slow getting back in transition and in half-court rotations, Booker posting a remarkable minus-18 in the first quarter. The broadcast team made a big deal about Paul’s replacement, Cam Payne, scoring 10 first-quarter points, without taking note he was largely responsible for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scoring 17 in the period.

What had to really hurt is that the Nuggets, for the most part, didn’t even bother to double-team either Booker or Durant, as they did more liberally earlier in the series. Aaron Gordon did enough on his own to frustrate Durant, and the Nuggets were collectively diligent about picking up Booker as soon as he crossed half court, Caldwell-Pope switching onto him whenever the opportunity presented itself. The futility of the night for Booker was captured in the final seconds of the first half, when he pulled up for a wide open 14-foot jumper, a shot he seemingly never missed no matter how closely guarded in the first four games, and clanked it off the front rim.

So where do the Suns go from here? How do they add depth when they traded away this year’s first-round pick in the Durant deal, along with three other future first-round picks? What do they do with Paul, whose guaranteed $15 million for next season jumps to $30 million on June 28, six days after the NBA draft?

"It’s too hard to talk about that stuff right now," Williams said. "It’s hard for me to even see past today. But we’ll get together with the coaches, and we’ll re-evaluate as we go forward."

Let the evaluation begin. 

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, "Rebound," on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and "Yao: A Life In Two Worlds." He also has a daily podcast, "On The Ball with Ric Bucher." Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.

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National Basketball Association

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Ric Bucher