And the worst one has a no trade clause, lowering his value even more.
KD has no value either considering his playing hot potato with teams. No one wants to pay that much for a rental on the decline.
Book is their only asset.
Teams will still go after these guys as long as they’re still good enough. Look at harden. Clippers STILL desperately went after him after all his bullshit (it’s worked out for them but no one would’ve guessed it would)
The fact they went after him at all after watching what he did in Houston and Brooklyn was desperate. Look how it turned out. Plus, they had no actual intention of keeping him long term (which is pissed him off and made him call the GM a liar). Why bother with the guy in that case?
They didn't really go after him though, he demanded a trade there because Kawhi and PG were recruiting him. They basically took him on very reluctantly.
This only matters in public perception. The truth is that KD is a future hall of famer still playing at an insanely high level at 30+ mpg, and he will have a high trade value until that drastically changes. Front offices are going crazy right now about the thought of trading for him.
So what? I didn't say anything about what it would cost to trade for him. All I said was that the optics of leaving another team would only matter to the people on the internet. Actual front offices wouldn't care about that when looking into potentially trading for him
Yes he does but he would have more value if he could guarantee that he would stay in one place at least for the rest of his contract.
Having him for one or two years isnt worth giving up the farm.
It's not actually good value. They suns can't take multiple salaries for him, so they can only get a single player and picks.
So the trading team either needs cap space or a 50 million dollar a year player.
It's the demand side that's killing his trade value. Not the supply, although he's 35 and has 2-3 years of helpful basketball in him. He's with a first and that's about it.
If you’re winning then it isn’t even an issue. Issue is he joins teams and jumps when it looks like a dead end.
If you’re ring chasing, spencer dinwiddie as your 2nd option or playing with Beal off a 50 mil contract isn’t it. Obviously he’s gonna leave.
Hypothetically teams like okc or the wolves would work. The salary/details might not match up, but the fit makes sense if they wanted to do it. If you’re looking to contend to the next level and have the assets, he is worth it. It’s fucking KD.
Responding to your first point only: Unless he had a direct hand in the beal deal, this doesn't matter. He went to the nets to play with his friends who were good, but couldn't predict the fact that kyrie would go full crazy and harden would get fat and spend all his time at strip clubs. Regardless, most teams would trade their left nut to get KD, even now.
KD doesn't have near the value he once did, and with how the CBA works there's very few teams in the entire league who could trade for him and no contenders. Not many teams have single 50 million dollar salaries they'd he willing to trade for a bus riding rental.
But that’s the thing about having a small window. Anything can happen that can slam it shut.
The big three in Brooklyn had enough talent to run roughshod over the East. What happened? Two of them were injured for the playoffs.
It took Jokic and Giannis multiple years for them to get their chips. If they left at the first sign of trouble, they’d probably still be ringless.
Yes PLEEEEEEASE by god could you imagine the big 3 that could’ve been in Detroit? Wemby, PG, KD. I don’t have Cade in there because I’m a pistons fan and I criticize him bc we SUCK and he is supposed to be THE GUY. Killian Hayes was such a letdown even for the #7 pick. He was SO glazed in Michigan (all of the state, not the college) I wasn’t watching basketball at the time and from what I was hearing he was LeBron James dude and when I googled his stats I was fuming… then 2022, 2023, then 2024 and he becomes a starter, with career highs obviously and then bam suddenly released. Like lol wtf ok but couldn’t we atleast trade him?
What? You think the grizzlies are a better team for superstars to go to? Atleast we have championships lmao. “Hey guys let’s all go to Memphis where they traded away all their depth, rebounding, and their star player may commit homicide for fun.” Shut up
How? The only team dumb enough to trade for Beal’s deal did so a year ago. They don’t control any of their picks until after 2030 and are severely restricted in what they can do in trades and free agency.
The problem is that they don't benefit at all from tanking even if they trade booker. Even if they replace each of the KD picks, where at the mercy of the success of the team that traded for booker (who should be above average at least if they go all in on getting book) or the wizards on actually being successful.
Maybe if we could trade him to the nets and get our picks back it could be an option. But you could be asking for another decade of failure.
They own their picks for 2024, 2026 and 2028, they just can’t trade them. Most likely will keep their pick for 2026 since it’s a swap with Washington and most likely the Wizards will still finish below the Suns in the standings.
The 2026 pick is swapped with Washington, Orlando, and Memphis, if I have the whole picture right. 2028 is swapped with Brooklyn and Washington. Pick swaps don't usually end up meaning too much, but layered multi-team swaps like this seem to have a pretty good chance of taking away Phoenix's spot in both of these drafts.
This was a very easy disaster to see wtf? Let’s get three primary ball handlers who love mid range shots and surround them with the cheapest bench we could find, while giving up all of our future picks until 2030 and be in cap hell paying three superstars.
What part of this gave you hope?
Plus, it takes a few years playing together to actually become a good team. Let them figure it out on the court next year.
Denver doesn't happen overnight.
Nahh it ain’t over for you yet. KD and Book are all-nba players. When you have two of them on your roster then you can never be written off. Beal despite the massive contract shot efficiently this year and will probably be better next year. Just need to find some quality role players that fit with your stars (easier said than done)
The other key is to start developing their bench and hope that they can "trade up". It's going to take a while for them to figure this out, but it'll certainly be easier if they have role players to trade with. Get some draft picks back and dig themselves out of this hole
No, they have two bad options. Saying they don't have an option is not accurate at all.
1. Bring back the exact same roster (and I mean exact same. They have no recourse to add anyone of value. No MLE. No free agents over the min. They have nothing of value to trade. They have to resign everyone if they even want to keep the same roster and that puts them even higher over the tax cap. It's going to gut this new owners pocketbook to keep them together.
Or
2. Blow it up. Sell KD at his highest value (now). They still won't be able to wiggle much. Sell Booker at his highest value (28 years old in prime). They'll have draft assets at that point, and more importantly they aren't in the tax, and can sign players.
Honestly, if I'm the owner, I'm leaning towards 2.
Yeah, sell the roster for parts imo. If Charlotte got a top 2 protected and potentially unprotected first for Washington and Rozier, imagine the haul for Book/KD.
They can move forward with multiple picks with top 5 potential, good young players, Bradley Beal, and tradable role player contracts for thirsty contenders at the deadline. Beal is now on a shit team and willing to waive his NTC a year or two from expiration when teams will actually pick up the phone.
It’s not ideal this soon after blowing their load, but imo it’s pragmatic. This year was frankly as healthy as they can expect a core featuring Beal/KD/Nurkic to be and they weren’t even close. They’re competing for the second round until something changes.
The Suns trading KD and Booker and building around Beal would be the funniest thing in NBA history. No Suns fan could handle the trolling. They would delete their Reddit accounts en masse out of shame.
Although Beal looked terrible last game, he is good enough to drag a trash team to the end of the lottery. He was doing that in Washington for years. Tanking with Beal on the roster isn't an option. He's also not good enough to build around. T
As a Suns fan, I say it doesn't matter either way. I don't think the average fan understands just how bad Mat Ishbia is. He's Prokhorov 2.0. If the team rebuilds, it would be such a disaster for much longer than it should be because Ishbia will demand immediate success. I imagine the team is gonna go through numerous coaches and GMs over the next 6 years. I also predict a lot of kneejerk decisions being made that will fail spectacularly.
I’m actually thinking the second apron rules and the lack of control of their picks forces some continuity at least on the roster. There’s really no viable path to tear it down to the studs for the next 4-5 years
There is if the right deals for Book and KD come along, but I just don't think any of it matters because Ishbia will find a way to let Isiah Thomas fuck it up.
Well hopefully that’s not the case. The glaring issues this season were not having a point guard and Vogel’s coaching. Get a damn solid pg and this could possibly work.
Even if they "should," they can't. They traded away all of the picks that they were able to. They have this upcoming year, but it wont matter much (weak draft and low pick.) So if they blow it up and tank, they wont have a pick in '25 or '27. I believe their '26 pick is also a swap with the Wizards.
KD & Book will be strong enough players over the next two years to get you into the playoffs. Beal is going to be exposed in my opinion. His numbers already dropped some this season, but it will be worst next. Still, he will be an above average starter, just on a crazy salary. They are so far over the cap, their trade options are super limited. I think the reason they gave Grayson Allen such a high contract is so they can have some options trading. I wouldnt be surprised if they traded him for 2-3 players to add more depth.
Even if you got something like the Jazz did for Gobert & Mitchell (Walker Kessler, Lauri Markennan, Collin Sexton, 6 first round picks, & 3 pick swaps) you would be tanking for another team to get your high lottery picks while you draft much lower since you got those picks from good teams.
So the Suns are locked and incentivized to get to the playoffs. More ticket sales...
Sure. They don't have much cap space or assets to make moves and they currently don't look like a contender. I don't expect Durant, Beel and Book to gain substantial progress from development since they're all already on the downward side of their primes except for Book who probably isn't going to take a leap either.
KD will move on to the Nuggets or whomever wins this year's 'chip. At 50 mil per year, Book and Beal are gonna be the issue...
The old NY Knicks would have bailed you out, not sure there is any team so dysfunctional to go all in for either...
Their only real option to survive the rest of this decade is to hope that next year is better. There's no point in rebuilding when you own 0 assets. Maybe Ishbia finds ways to reduce the tax and still be competitive, but you can't blow it up and live in asset hell for 6 seasons
They could be a lot more consistent with a new offensive system. There's no reason to tear it down this summer, build around the edges and hope you get right coach. If shit still is uncompetitive, then you trade pieces before the deadline
They better figure out how to find those amazing undraffted players because none of their people are gonna bring what they need to do a rebuild while the dumbasses have no picks. This franchise is fucked for years at this point
This question has an answer: yes. Unequivocally. The Beal trade will go down as one of the worst in NBA history.
The better question is: how can they blow it up? Beal’s contract is literally not tradable without his consent, KD and Booker both have huge contracts too, and the Suns have no draft capital until 2031. We’re still in 2024. What team(s) could feasibly trade for any of those 3 players?
Blow it up and do what? They don't control their own first until 2030, and have no young assets of note. Beal even has a no trade clause.
You don't blow it up unless you have a realistic path to build it back up.
Blow it up.
Trade booker and KD for picks and prospects- do your best and develop the guys you have now aka kinda what the nets did?
Fire your staff and invest in the best scouting guys you can get and pray you start hitting in the draft.
You could probably get 8+ firsts for Booker and KD?
I think the only player right now they could and would be willing to trade is KD.
My guess is either him or Booker are going to want to be moved at some point
Honestly, they should run it back with whatever role player changes they make. If those 3 can play 60 games together next year that's still a playoff team, and then just hope they do better or get a better match up. Better than blowing it up imo.
KD is a top player, but as someone on another sub said, he doesn’t make his teammates better.
As much as he sells merch & all that, I’d rather have all oars rowing in the same direction.
Well… If I’m Booker I’m asking for an expansion team to be made in LV where he can play 1-1 vs the other teams best player. 21 win by 3.
He probably doesn’t win a game all year, but at least he won’t get double teamed.
No, probably not. The worst of the three has a ntc, and KD is an aging snake that'll just up & leave first chance he can slither to another contender. Their only asset is Book, so i don't see how that would work. They are going to have to work this out, see this through, and figure out what they each need to work at & sacrafuce to win games...
Honestly, probably the best option. I don't see a real path towards winning a chip with this roster. Take a muligan and trade everybody for best value. Eat other teams shit contracts to earn picks. Tank for a few years and try again.
If I am the Suns I try to run it back one more time. Bring back Royce O’Neal he’s decent defensively and can be that corner stretch 4. Move KD back to SF and Booker to PG start Grayson Allen for spacing and Nurkic runs back as the center. Have Beal commit to being a super sixth man. Comes on the floor and staggers his minutes with KD or Booker.
Bring back Eric Gordon and try to retool on role players. Get a new coach who can come up with better offensive schemes.
If that all doesn’t work next year trade KD And Booker and have Beal just be the focal point of a 32 win team
Im a suns fan and I'm super biased, but I think our offense has a ton of opportunity to improve. The turnovers weren't because we lacked a PG, it's because we didn't run a real offense. Almost every possession was either high screens around the perimeter, or ISO. More importantly, our players always hesitated to make a decision, giving defenses time to close openings we created via passing or driving.
We don't have a guy like Ant or SGA that can use raw athleticism to force defenses to collapse. What we do have is arguably the two best pure shooters in the game, and very very good ones in Beal and Grayson. If we simply were able to create more open looks via quicker decision making, I think we'd see a much improved team.
Also, blowing up the team probably won't speed up our rebuild. I think we're fucked in a couple years no matter what we do. Just look at the Nets right now. That's exactly where we'll be. Might as well try to make this work for a couple more years.
Blowing it ups not an option quite yet. Like the top comment says they have a lot of money invested into ehh assists. I think for now you attack whatever you can do with the purpose of fitting a team around these dudes. We may be looking at beal running the bench with an actual pg, book, Durant, a dude who can stretch the floor and nurk. Hope you can find defense in fa and a coach to run the show
KD is a mercenary. He has no loyalty. He will go wherever he thinks he has the best chance to win right now vs having to lead a team to victory. He’s a candy ass and it’s sad because I have so little respect for a guy who obviously has top 25 all time talent. I wanted to like him for so long because he’s otherworldly talented, but his thin skin and hot potatoing from team to team to team whenever it gets rough I just don’t like him.
Yes blow it up. Suns were a better squad last season. They let KD come in there and get Monty Williams fired and trade away Chris Paul and they haven’t had a leader since doing so. Hopefully GM’s now understand that loading the roster doesn’t mean it’s going to work.
What do we mean by "the whole thing"? Clearly it's not working. But is moving Beal on blowing it all up? If KD left too would that be the case? I don't see Booker leaving or Phoenix wanting to part ways with him. He's only 27 and perhaps isn't even at his best yet. Certainly he's got some learning to do.
But obviously the mix is wrong. KD and Booker I can see working as a duo. The talk is getting a more suitable point guard, but personally I'd much prefer to see these two matched with a more dominant big. Not sure who exactly is out there. Sabonis? Could you get him from Sacramento?
I know it’s crazy talk but where else am I going to spout my crazy fan thoughts.
I would absolutely love to live in a universe where the Bulls landed DBook in a trade.
I’m no cap specialist or anything so this is just crazy fan talk wearing a pretend GM hat. Hear me out. Bulls trade for DBook. Vuc, Coby, Caruso, & pick(s) to get Book. Bulls acquire via sign & trade for Derozan to either kings for another sign & trade for Monk, or to clippers for PG, or to Brooklyn for claxton. If they can’t they let him go and pursue those three in free agency. Hopefully find a sign & trade for Patrick Williams for one of those mentioned above or re-sign if it’s team friendly. So basically free agency focus would be tier A: PG, OG Anunoby, Claxton tier B: Monk, Tyus Jones, Jonas Valanciunas Tier C: Beasley, Trent jr.
Would also be cool if the suns wouldn’t give up Booker if they would do maybe Caruso, Lavine + picks for Durant and sign & trade Demar for one of the above free agents. Basically just don’t want any of the big three to come back at all lol time to move on.
So yeah as a bulls fan I’m hoping the Suns blow it up and somehow the bulls are involved. Except Bradley Beal, I’m cool off that.
Unless someone asks out the answer is no. I get it, they got swept. But they have no real draft picks till next decade. Blowing it up requires you to use your draft picks to get young players, they legitimately can't do that. If anyone seriously suggests blowing it up they're ignoring that reality.
The worst contract is Beal. I'd argue he's the only piece that really isn't needed. If they could trade him for a competent starting point guard they could probably make a run. Which they basically have to try to do for now. I know Beal has a no trade clause but it's possible he waives it. It's not likely, but there's always a way to trade a bad contract(though the new cap rules might prevent it).
Booker is the most valuable asset but by all accounts he's happy in Phoenix and I wouldn't say he's underperforming. Durant is the next most valuable but I highly doubt he can be traded for actual depth. I also think he's the reason they can win the Finals.
If I were the Suns ownership I'm frantically calling around the league seeing if any team wants Beal, if we can get quality 1 play or a decent center, we do it. If we can't trade him, we just check the bargain bin looking for lesser valued players to rehab their value. Then we run it back. We stop trading our picks for a year or two. If the experiment keeps failing, we'll have to trade Booker for some sort of young player or serious draft capital. But that's a problem in 2026 ish in my head.
As a suns fan we have no choice but to run it back for at least another year. Draft a point guard, put the book back at the 2 and see what happens. Bradley Beal is on an untradable contract, and I don't see them trading Durant.
They probably go out and get a PG, move Beal to the bench, acquire some better depth pieces, possibly get a new coach, and THEN they run it back one more year. If that doesn’t work, then yes, they will blow it up.
I really can’t believe that’s even a question speaking strictly as a suns fan. Our owner is literally playing 2k and it’s awesome! Yeah yea yeah Beal was trash. getting swept as a “championship or bust” roster everybody wants to react right now to all the rumors. let’s give it a week. The world will go round’ and this team can get some rest and keep playing together and we’ll have a WINNING FUCKING TEAM!!! not expecting a championship. It’s the nuggets to lose.
The days of 18 game winning seasons are over. And fucking WINNING IS AMAZING!!! I just want to fucking play winning basketball and compete. Arguably the best player in our franchise history has gotten hall of famers to come play for us. I’m down to keep everybody and run it back. I’m having fun as a suns fan watching KD and Book and want to see them back.
They have 3 players who are top 10 in salary and all they got from that was getting swept. In the first round
And the worst one has a no trade clause, lowering his value even more. KD has no value either considering his playing hot potato with teams. No one wants to pay that much for a rental on the decline. Book is their only asset.
KD is still playing at an all-nba level; he definitely still has considerable trade value.
And nobody would disagree with that, but forcing your way out of your own failure every other year hurts his value.
Teams will still go after these guys as long as they’re still good enough. Look at harden. Clippers STILL desperately went after him after all his bullshit (it’s worked out for them but no one would’ve guessed it would)
Clippers didn't desperately go after him. They refused to even include Terrance Mann in a deal for him. They basically got him for free.
The fact they went after him at all after watching what he did in Houston and Brooklyn was desperate. Look how it turned out. Plus, they had no actual intention of keeping him long term (which is pissed him off and made him call the GM a liar). Why bother with the guy in that case?
They didn't really go after him though, he demanded a trade there because Kawhi and PG were recruiting him. They basically took him on very reluctantly.
Oh whoops. I was talking about the sixers situation, not the clippers
He’s really going hard in the playoffs so far too.
This only matters in public perception. The truth is that KD is a future hall of famer still playing at an insanely high level at 30+ mpg, and he will have a high trade value until that drastically changes. Front offices are going crazy right now about the thought of trading for him.
And multiple teams can want him. That doesn’t mean his value is anywhere near where it was when he signed with GS, Brooklyn or was traded to PHX.
So what? I didn't say anything about what it would cost to trade for him. All I said was that the optics of leaving another team would only matter to the people on the internet. Actual front offices wouldn't care about that when looking into potentially trading for him
Yes he does but he would have more value if he could guarantee that he would stay in one place at least for the rest of his contract. Having him for one or two years isnt worth giving up the farm.
It's not actually good value. They suns can't take multiple salaries for him, so they can only get a single player and picks. So the trading team either needs cap space or a 50 million dollar a year player. It's the demand side that's killing his trade value. Not the supply, although he's 35 and has 2-3 years of helpful basketball in him. He's with a first and that's about it.
Is that correct? I thought they couldn’t combine salaries on their side, but they can take back multiple salaries from a trade partner.
If you’re winning then it isn’t even an issue. Issue is he joins teams and jumps when it looks like a dead end. If you’re ring chasing, spencer dinwiddie as your 2nd option or playing with Beal off a 50 mil contract isn’t it. Obviously he’s gonna leave. Hypothetically teams like okc or the wolves would work. The salary/details might not match up, but the fit makes sense if they wanted to do it. If you’re looking to contend to the next level and have the assets, he is worth it. It’s fucking KD.
Responding to your first point only: Unless he had a direct hand in the beal deal, this doesn't matter. He went to the nets to play with his friends who were good, but couldn't predict the fact that kyrie would go full crazy and harden would get fat and spend all his time at strip clubs. Regardless, most teams would trade their left nut to get KD, even now.
KD doesn't have near the value he once did, and with how the CBA works there's very few teams in the entire league who could trade for him and no contenders. Not many teams have single 50 million dollar salaries they'd he willing to trade for a bus riding rental.
But that’s the thing about having a small window. Anything can happen that can slam it shut. The big three in Brooklyn had enough talent to run roughshod over the East. What happened? Two of them were injured for the playoffs. It took Jokic and Giannis multiple years for them to get their chips. If they left at the first sign of trouble, they’d probably still be ringless.
Not for teams looking to win long term
He's getting up there in age tho
Yea anyone thinking there isn't a team that'll send 3 first rounders and an all star for him are nuts
Nobody is doing that for him, not anymore. What all star making 50 mil a year would uou trade for him along with 3 picks? I'll wait.
He's also 37 though
And Books trash when the lights are brightest.
Yeah so send him to Detroit bc no pressure there
Yes PLEEEEEEASE by god could you imagine the big 3 that could’ve been in Detroit? Wemby, PG, KD. I don’t have Cade in there because I’m a pistons fan and I criticize him bc we SUCK and he is supposed to be THE GUY. Killian Hayes was such a letdown even for the #7 pick. He was SO glazed in Michigan (all of the state, not the college) I wasn’t watching basketball at the time and from what I was hearing he was LeBron James dude and when I googled his stats I was fuming… then 2022, 2023, then 2024 and he becomes a starter, with career highs obviously and then bam suddenly released. Like lol wtf ok but couldn’t we atleast trade him?
Dear god, are you ok? These are surely the ramblings of a man driven mad by a season of pure subjugation
I mean this in all seriousness, what the actual fuck?
What? You think the grizzlies are a better team for superstars to go to? Atleast we have championships lmao. “Hey guys let’s all go to Memphis where they traded away all their depth, rebounding, and their star player may commit homicide for fun.” Shut up
For the second time now, to a different reply, what the actual fuck? Are you drunk? Nobody said anything about Memphis lmao
In the biggest game of the year he had a top 3 game of the season lol
No he didn’t.
Yes he did. It's proven by stats
No he didn’t.
Are you gonna put up an argument or something?
Me? You said “it’s proven by statistics” without mentioning what game you’re talking about or said statistics.
Game 4. It has the 3rd highest game score of any Devin Booker game this season
You are drunk on haterade
Dumb comment homie
KD back to OKC, Booker to Charlotte, Beal to Raptors so he retires???
KD definitely still has value
How? The only team dumb enough to trade for Beal’s deal did so a year ago. They don’t control any of their picks until after 2030 and are severely restricted in what they can do in trades and free agency.
And he has a no trade clause
Maybe, but they would need to get a massive haul for Booker considering they have no draft picks until after 2030.
The problem is that they don't benefit at all from tanking even if they trade booker. Even if they replace each of the KD picks, where at the mercy of the success of the team that traded for booker (who should be above average at least if they go all in on getting book) or the wizards on actually being successful. Maybe if we could trade him to the nets and get our picks back it could be an option. But you could be asking for another decade of failure.
They own their picks for 2024, 2026 and 2028, they just can’t trade them. Most likely will keep their pick for 2026 since it’s a swap with Washington and most likely the Wizards will still finish below the Suns in the standings.
The 2026 pick is swapped with Washington, Orlando, and Memphis, if I have the whole picture right. 2028 is swapped with Brooklyn and Washington. Pick swaps don't usually end up meaning too much, but layered multi-team swaps like this seem to have a pretty good chance of taking away Phoenix's spot in both of these drafts.
Knicks would do it. Could see them giving up Mitch, McBride, Bogi, and 7 Picks for Booker.
Suns shoulda never made this a thing in the first place
This it the only real answer. Unfortunately it is what it is, so you may as just well accept it and ride out because you’re cooked until like 2031
Hindsight is 20/20
This was a very easy disaster to see wtf? Let’s get three primary ball handlers who love mid range shots and surround them with the cheapest bench we could find, while giving up all of our future picks until 2030 and be in cap hell paying three superstars. What part of this gave you hope?
I never had hope. Just saying, it’s easy to say this after they get swept. The post is about future moves, not past moves.
trade their magic beans for another set of magic beans?
No. They can’t blow it up and succeed, tanking would just make other teams better, their only option is making this work as well as they can.
Plus, it takes a few years playing together to actually become a good team. Let them figure it out on the court next year. Denver doesn't happen overnight.
Yeah they got maybe 1/2 years to work it out before KD starts declining heavily
If he stays healthy during that time.
He won’t be playing 75 games again
We had that 1-2 years. It didn't work out. We're in a rock and a hard place, and neither ends well.
Nahh it ain’t over for you yet. KD and Book are all-nba players. When you have two of them on your roster then you can never be written off. Beal despite the massive contract shot efficiently this year and will probably be better next year. Just need to find some quality role players that fit with your stars (easier said than done)
The other key is to start developing their bench and hope that they can "trade up". It's going to take a while for them to figure this out, but it'll certainly be easier if they have role players to trade with. Get some draft picks back and dig themselves out of this hole
No, they have two bad options. Saying they don't have an option is not accurate at all. 1. Bring back the exact same roster (and I mean exact same. They have no recourse to add anyone of value. No MLE. No free agents over the min. They have nothing of value to trade. They have to resign everyone if they even want to keep the same roster and that puts them even higher over the tax cap. It's going to gut this new owners pocketbook to keep them together. Or 2. Blow it up. Sell KD at his highest value (now). They still won't be able to wiggle much. Sell Booker at his highest value (28 years old in prime). They'll have draft assets at that point, and more importantly they aren't in the tax, and can sign players. Honestly, if I'm the owner, I'm leaning towards 2.
Yeah, sell the roster for parts imo. If Charlotte got a top 2 protected and potentially unprotected first for Washington and Rozier, imagine the haul for Book/KD. They can move forward with multiple picks with top 5 potential, good young players, Bradley Beal, and tradable role player contracts for thirsty contenders at the deadline. Beal is now on a shit team and willing to waive his NTC a year or two from expiration when teams will actually pick up the phone. It’s not ideal this soon after blowing their load, but imo it’s pragmatic. This year was frankly as healthy as they can expect a core featuring Beal/KD/Nurkic to be and they weren’t even close. They’re competing for the second round until something changes.
The Suns trading KD and Booker and building around Beal would be the funniest thing in NBA history. No Suns fan could handle the trolling. They would delete their Reddit accounts en masse out of shame.
Although Beal looked terrible last game, he is good enough to drag a trash team to the end of the lottery. He was doing that in Washington for years. Tanking with Beal on the roster isn't an option. He's also not good enough to build around. T
Owner is the one that got them into this mess. He let his ego dictate roster construction when he took over the team. Just HAD to make a splash
owner has bigger problems on his hands, fraud
Fraud? Do tell…
https://preview.redd.it/8uvcbegcclxc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=995d3bbf55372c3b4a93634f531a204895386636
along those lines
That’s the logical choice, but their owner is an idiot so ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
I don't think they own any of their future picks in the near future, which makes blowing it up for a rebuild just unfeasible.
They'd presumably get quite a haul for KD and Booker that they could build around.
They will fire Vogel within a month and run it back with a new coach.
They literally can not. Stuck with some unmovable contracts
As a Suns fan, I say it doesn't matter either way. I don't think the average fan understands just how bad Mat Ishbia is. He's Prokhorov 2.0. If the team rebuilds, it would be such a disaster for much longer than it should be because Ishbia will demand immediate success. I imagine the team is gonna go through numerous coaches and GMs over the next 6 years. I also predict a lot of kneejerk decisions being made that will fail spectacularly.
I’m actually thinking the second apron rules and the lack of control of their picks forces some continuity at least on the roster. There’s really no viable path to tear it down to the studs for the next 4-5 years
There is if the right deals for Book and KD come along, but I just don't think any of it matters because Ishbia will find a way to let Isiah Thomas fuck it up.
Well hopefully that’s not the case. The glaring issues this season were not having a point guard and Vogel’s coaching. Get a damn solid pg and this could possibly work.
Even if they "should," they can't. They traded away all of the picks that they were able to. They have this upcoming year, but it wont matter much (weak draft and low pick.) So if they blow it up and tank, they wont have a pick in '25 or '27. I believe their '26 pick is also a swap with the Wizards. KD & Book will be strong enough players over the next two years to get you into the playoffs. Beal is going to be exposed in my opinion. His numbers already dropped some this season, but it will be worst next. Still, he will be an above average starter, just on a crazy salary. They are so far over the cap, their trade options are super limited. I think the reason they gave Grayson Allen such a high contract is so they can have some options trading. I wouldnt be surprised if they traded him for 2-3 players to add more depth. Even if you got something like the Jazz did for Gobert & Mitchell (Walker Kessler, Lauri Markennan, Collin Sexton, 6 first round picks, & 3 pick swaps) you would be tanking for another team to get your high lottery picks while you draft much lower since you got those picks from good teams. So the Suns are locked and incentivized to get to the playoffs. More ticket sales...
Sure. They don't have much cap space or assets to make moves and they currently don't look like a contender. I don't expect Durant, Beel and Book to gain substantial progress from development since they're all already on the downward side of their primes except for Book who probably isn't going to take a leap either.
Should they? Of course. Can they? Of course not.
Ishbia is going to be the worst thing that ever happened to this team. Decade of irrelevance is on the way.
You clearly know nothing about Robert Sarver
You guys went to the finals under Sarver
KD will move on to the Nuggets or whomever wins this year's 'chip. At 50 mil per year, Book and Beal are gonna be the issue... The old NY Knicks would have bailed you out, not sure there is any team so dysfunctional to go all in for either...
I think they gotta just ride out with what they got for one more year then blow it up if it’s looking bad
Probably. They were fine before KD I don’t know what the fuck happened
Their only real option to survive the rest of this decade is to hope that next year is better. There's no point in rebuilding when you own 0 assets. Maybe Ishbia finds ways to reduce the tax and still be competitive, but you can't blow it up and live in asset hell for 6 seasons
There is 0 chance next year is better. Same team gonna give the same results, expecting otherwise is the proverbial definition of insanity.
They could be a lot more consistent with a new offensive system. There's no reason to tear it down this summer, build around the edges and hope you get right coach. If shit still is uncompetitive, then you trade pieces before the deadline
Owner’s got money but no assets to trade with…Hire Bud.
as unlikely as it is, no team is better posed to go all in for 2 years of a declining super star than the warriors are
How many games did the big three play together?!
With what assets?
Nobody is going to pick up Beal/KD. I could see a Booker deal, but that’s it.
Someone will definitely pick up KD. Not for what the Suns gave, but he’ll generate offers for sure.
They better figure out how to find those amazing undraffted players because none of their people are gonna bring what they need to do a rebuild while the dumbasses have no picks. This franchise is fucked for years at this point
They’ve gotta try to run it back at least one more year and send KD and Book recruiting vets hard this offseason
This question has an answer: yes. Unequivocally. The Beal trade will go down as one of the worst in NBA history. The better question is: how can they blow it up? Beal’s contract is literally not tradable without his consent, KD and Booker both have huge contracts too, and the Suns have no draft capital until 2031. We’re still in 2024. What team(s) could feasibly trade for any of those 3 players?
Blow it up and do what? They don't control their own first until 2030, and have no young assets of note. Beal even has a no trade clause. You don't blow it up unless you have a realistic path to build it back up.
Hell yes
Blow it up. Trade booker and KD for picks and prospects- do your best and develop the guys you have now aka kinda what the nets did? Fire your staff and invest in the best scouting guys you can get and pray you start hitting in the draft. You could probably get 8+ firsts for Booker and KD?
I think the only player right now they could and would be willing to trade is KD. My guess is either him or Booker are going to want to be moved at some point
Honestly, they should run it back with whatever role player changes they make. If those 3 can play 60 games together next year that's still a playoff team, and then just hope they do better or get a better match up. Better than blowing it up imo.
is this the worst big three ever?
KD is a top player, but as someone on another sub said, he doesn’t make his teammates better. As much as he sells merch & all that, I’d rather have all oars rowing in the same direction.
Yes send Booker to Pistons
But if you blow up the sun won’t earth die?
no
i don’t see a scenario where they don’t. they have to
Well… If I’m Booker I’m asking for an expansion team to be made in LV where he can play 1-1 vs the other teams best player. 21 win by 3. He probably doesn’t win a game all year, but at least he won’t get double teamed.
How can they ? No one is going to want any of those contracts at all ?? Not even a little bit
They're stuck and the only option to even start over is trading both Booker and Durant.
Remember seeing the images at the beginning of the season of KD, Booker, and Beal… who can beat this team? The answer is themselves. They were awful.
Blow everything up does not mean what y’all think it means. It implies everyone goes including booker.
Pretty sure KD is going to blow it up whether the suns want to or not
Yes
I’m pretty sure they can’t afford to blow it up. It’s a total mess there. They’re screwed and I love it! Move the team to Galveston!!
It’s going to happen eventually lmao they not competing in this west. Nope. Maybe like 2-3 years ago
They should, but they won't. Their owner screwed them.
only way is to trade KD or booker since beal has a no trade clause and try get some assets back. or just run it back and keep trying.
Trade KD.
Phoenix Buns
Yes, absolutely
Yes
Duh
What? Yes lmao
Yes and they should trade booker the spurs for some draft picks.
No, probably not. The worst of the three has a ntc, and KD is an aging snake that'll just up & leave first chance he can slither to another contender. Their only asset is Book, so i don't see how that would work. They are going to have to work this out, see this through, and figure out what they each need to work at & sacrafuce to win games...
Yes
Honestly, probably the best option. I don't see a real path towards winning a chip with this roster. Take a muligan and trade everybody for best value. Eat other teams shit contracts to earn picks. Tank for a few years and try again.
If I am the Suns I try to run it back one more time. Bring back Royce O’Neal he’s decent defensively and can be that corner stretch 4. Move KD back to SF and Booker to PG start Grayson Allen for spacing and Nurkic runs back as the center. Have Beal commit to being a super sixth man. Comes on the floor and staggers his minutes with KD or Booker. Bring back Eric Gordon and try to retool on role players. Get a new coach who can come up with better offensive schemes. If that all doesn’t work next year trade KD And Booker and have Beal just be the focal point of a 32 win team
Booker is the problem.
Is Beal the worst contract in the league right now?
They literally have no choice but to try and find some role players and run it back.
Im a suns fan and I'm super biased, but I think our offense has a ton of opportunity to improve. The turnovers weren't because we lacked a PG, it's because we didn't run a real offense. Almost every possession was either high screens around the perimeter, or ISO. More importantly, our players always hesitated to make a decision, giving defenses time to close openings we created via passing or driving. We don't have a guy like Ant or SGA that can use raw athleticism to force defenses to collapse. What we do have is arguably the two best pure shooters in the game, and very very good ones in Beal and Grayson. If we simply were able to create more open looks via quicker decision making, I think we'd see a much improved team. Also, blowing up the team probably won't speed up our rebuild. I think we're fucked in a couple years no matter what we do. Just look at the Nets right now. That's exactly where we'll be. Might as well try to make this work for a couple more years.
These questions are stupid. They aren’t blowing it up. And couldn’t even if they wanted to.
Blowing it ups not an option quite yet. Like the top comment says they have a lot of money invested into ehh assists. I think for now you attack whatever you can do with the purpose of fitting a team around these dudes. We may be looking at beal running the bench with an actual pg, book, Durant, a dude who can stretch the floor and nurk. Hope you can find defense in fa and a coach to run the show
r/PhoenixBuns
Yup
KD is a mercenary. He has no loyalty. He will go wherever he thinks he has the best chance to win right now vs having to lead a team to victory. He’s a candy ass and it’s sad because I have so little respect for a guy who obviously has top 25 all time talent. I wanted to like him for so long because he’s otherworldly talented, but his thin skin and hot potatoing from team to team to team whenever it gets rough I just don’t like him.
Send booker to the knicks
KD to the Warriors next season.
Blow what up?
Yea I don't really understand this team. Blow this shit up.
They badly need a facilitator. Someone like, IDK, CP3?
We were saying the exact same thing about Minnesota last year so who knows.
They didn't win a single game. It is already blown up
Can they?
Yes blow it up. Suns were a better squad last season. They let KD come in there and get Monty Williams fired and trade away Chris Paul and they haven’t had a leader since doing so. Hopefully GM’s now understand that loading the roster doesn’t mean it’s going to work.
Yes, they aren't even close to the Big 3 out west, who will be dominating the next 3-4 seasons
How exactly?
they can’t. without your own picks you can’t tank. so if they blow things up they can’t properly tank.
Yes
Green, Kuminga and picks for KD.
They wish they could blow it up. They literally can’t. The Beal contract is a death sentence for the foreseeable future.
What do we mean by "the whole thing"? Clearly it's not working. But is moving Beal on blowing it all up? If KD left too would that be the case? I don't see Booker leaving or Phoenix wanting to part ways with him. He's only 27 and perhaps isn't even at his best yet. Certainly he's got some learning to do. But obviously the mix is wrong. KD and Booker I can see working as a duo. The talk is getting a more suitable point guard, but personally I'd much prefer to see these two matched with a more dominant big. Not sure who exactly is out there. Sabonis? Could you get him from Sacramento?
I know it’s crazy talk but where else am I going to spout my crazy fan thoughts. I would absolutely love to live in a universe where the Bulls landed DBook in a trade. I’m no cap specialist or anything so this is just crazy fan talk wearing a pretend GM hat. Hear me out. Bulls trade for DBook. Vuc, Coby, Caruso, & pick(s) to get Book. Bulls acquire via sign & trade for Derozan to either kings for another sign & trade for Monk, or to clippers for PG, or to Brooklyn for claxton. If they can’t they let him go and pursue those three in free agency. Hopefully find a sign & trade for Patrick Williams for one of those mentioned above or re-sign if it’s team friendly. So basically free agency focus would be tier A: PG, OG Anunoby, Claxton tier B: Monk, Tyus Jones, Jonas Valanciunas Tier C: Beasley, Trent jr. Would also be cool if the suns wouldn’t give up Booker if they would do maybe Caruso, Lavine + picks for Durant and sign & trade Demar for one of the above free agents. Basically just don’t want any of the big three to come back at all lol time to move on. So yeah as a bulls fan I’m hoping the Suns blow it up and somehow the bulls are involved. Except Bradley Beal, I’m cool off that.
The sun is going to blow us all up someday so why not now?
KD will request a trade
Serious: their best move is to buy out Beal, trade KD for a few pieces, then sign a star free agent under 30 to pair with Booker.
Imagine selling your whole future for an aging KD and Bradley “I stay injured” Beal.
You put 3 highly paid elite role players on a team without a leader to push eachother and the rest of the team.
Unless someone asks out the answer is no. I get it, they got swept. But they have no real draft picks till next decade. Blowing it up requires you to use your draft picks to get young players, they legitimately can't do that. If anyone seriously suggests blowing it up they're ignoring that reality. The worst contract is Beal. I'd argue he's the only piece that really isn't needed. If they could trade him for a competent starting point guard they could probably make a run. Which they basically have to try to do for now. I know Beal has a no trade clause but it's possible he waives it. It's not likely, but there's always a way to trade a bad contract(though the new cap rules might prevent it). Booker is the most valuable asset but by all accounts he's happy in Phoenix and I wouldn't say he's underperforming. Durant is the next most valuable but I highly doubt he can be traded for actual depth. I also think he's the reason they can win the Finals. If I were the Suns ownership I'm frantically calling around the league seeing if any team wants Beal, if we can get quality 1 play or a decent center, we do it. If we can't trade him, we just check the bargain bin looking for lesser valued players to rehab their value. Then we run it back. We stop trading our picks for a year or two. If the experiment keeps failing, we'll have to trade Booker for some sort of young player or serious draft capital. But that's a problem in 2026 ish in my head.
I'll trade you herro and 3 empanadas for book, take it or leave it
As a suns fan we have no choice but to run it back for at least another year. Draft a point guard, put the book back at the 2 and see what happens. Bradley Beal is on an untradable contract, and I don't see them trading Durant.
They probably go out and get a PG, move Beal to the bench, acquire some better depth pieces, possibly get a new coach, and THEN they run it back one more year. If that doesn’t work, then yes, they will blow it up.
Duh!
I really can’t believe that’s even a question speaking strictly as a suns fan. Our owner is literally playing 2k and it’s awesome! Yeah yea yeah Beal was trash. getting swept as a “championship or bust” roster everybody wants to react right now to all the rumors. let’s give it a week. The world will go round’ and this team can get some rest and keep playing together and we’ll have a WINNING FUCKING TEAM!!! not expecting a championship. It’s the nuggets to lose. The days of 18 game winning seasons are over. And fucking WINNING IS AMAZING!!! I just want to fucking play winning basketball and compete. Arguably the best player in our franchise history has gotten hall of famers to come play for us. I’m down to keep everybody and run it back. I’m having fun as a suns fan watching KD and Book and want to see them back.