PHOENIX – The suns were shattered, shattered and silenced. The Phoenix coaches and players looked almost lifeless under the wistful enthusiasm of an ill-timed t-shirt toss, which saw gameday officials toss free gear into the Footprint Center’s already half-empty lower bowl.
With more than five minutes remaining in Game 6 against the top-seeded Nuggets on Thursday, an eventual 125-100 loss ended the Suns’ season. But while Denver indulged in a rousing timeout in the fourth quarter, Phoenix ended the break with blank looks and no appearance of a scrum. From head coach Monty Williams to injured centre-back Deandre Ayton, the home team’s bench sat quietly. A black towel protected Kevin Durant’s face.
A reserve-filled lineup simply stood on the pitch with their hands on their hips.
“It was shit. It was a bad feeling. It was embarrassing,” said Durant, who scored just 8 points on 2 of 11 shots in the first half. “They came out and hit us in the mouth and we couldn’t recover.”
The all-world goalscorer didn’t arrive until February, but the sentiment was all too familiar from last season’s poor finish. An impressive home loss in Game 7 to Dallas, where Phoenix was up to 30 points behind. In this year’s elimination from the playoffs, the Suns had to concede a deficit of up to 32.00. marks the third and fourth largest deficits in NBA history for a team on the verge of elimination — and in back-to-back campaigns.
“Last year’s team was more of a ball and body movement team. This year we were more focused on pick and roll and iso,” said Williams. “It’s two different situations. So that’s something we need to look at to see what combinations of players we have that fit a playstyle. But it’s difficult to judge things like that 20 minutes after a loss.”
Over time there will be reflections and reactions. Like last season, this reboot of the Suns certainly won’t be back in Phoenix in its entirety. Post-game emotions were fresh and fresh, but soon the clock starts ticking when it comes to making decisions for a front office that spent so much money to sign Durant to the close, under aggressive new ownership in Mat Ishbia, with a squad that has only four contracts fully guaranteed for the 2023/24 season.
“Right now it’s hard to see what the future holds for our team,” said Durant, who finished Game 6 with 23 points.
That Chris Paul is out with a groin strain and Ayton is out with a bruised rib is important context, but one theme from the post-game availability of Durant and Williams was that the Suns backed down from any explanation that could border on an excuse. Not when Phoenix pledged the promising futures of Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, as well as four first-round picks between 2023 and 2029 and an additional pick swap in 2028 to sign Durant. Not when a new collective bargaining agreement goes into effect early in the NBA’s next calendar year that includes numerous provisions designed to prevent teams with expensive, star-studded rosters like the Suns from finding ways to further improve.
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant had a brutal first half in Game 6, scoring 8 points on 2 of 11 shots. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Paul has only $15.8 million of his $30.8 million salary guaranteed for next season, and there will be plenty of debate across the league over Phoenix’s options, the future Hall of Fame point guard to move. The Suns were already giving rival teams the impression that they were looking for a long-term replacement for Paul before they hit the blockbuster trade deadline for Durant, league sources told Yahoo Sports and were contacted by league officials with ballers from Fred brought VanVleet to Terry Rozier.
Then there’s the future of Ayton, the franchise’s No. 1 pick from the 2018 NBA draft, who signed an offer sheet from the Indiana Pacers on limited free agency last season before Phoenix signed his four-year, $133 million contract. dollars fulfilled. Could Ayton have played his last game at the Valley? Indiana went forward and re-signed starting center Myles Turner in January for a two-year, $60 million extension, but the league’s brightest cap heads consider his declining pay structure to be one of the more tractable deals in the NBA. The aforementioned Mavericks are another team often mentioned as being interested in Ayton’s services. Perhaps there is another club that covets Ayton and allows the Suns to split his extensive contract into two contributors who can give this unity against Denver the depth it so desperately needed.
The truth is, aside from a move from Ayton or Paul, Phoenix have few resources to improve this team in hopes they can challenge for the 2024 championship. With Cameron Payne’s non-guaranteed salary and a team option for Ishmail Wainright, Phoenix is already around $165 million on next season’s payroll. Add in six salary slots with minimum contract terms — a mechanism that doesn’t exactly lend itself to big Impact players — and the Suns are about $7 million behind the new second tax apron, with only one mid-level taxpayer available from there . In 2024-2025, the math gets even more complicated when Devin Booker’s salary jumps from $36 million to an estimated high of over $50 million in average annual worth, and counting.
“I think they need to use the veteran minimums and hope they get something good for Ayton in return,” an opposing team strategist told Yahoo Sports.
Next is the staff. Assistant head coach Kevin Young has emerged as one of the league’s hottest candidates for a managerial job. He was a finalist for the Utah Jazz bench a year ago, has already done interviews for Houston’s quest this offseason and is part of it Toronto’s process to also replace Nick Nurse. The league’s coaches say Young will eventually be put on a bench of some sort, whether it’s this summer or some summer to come.
The 2023-24 season will be the final season of the original five-year deal Williams signed in 2019 before an expensive contract extension he signed last summer goes into effect for 2024-25 and beyond. That sense of security hasn’t stopped Williams’ name from gaining prominence among league personnel – including several notables present at Game 6 – when potential candidates for the Bucks’ head coaching job were discussed, sources said. Milwaukee is expected to hire several experienced coaches currently employed by competing franchises. Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is another opposing player on the Bucks’ radar, according to league sources.
“It’s hard for me to look beyond that today,” Williams told reporters. “I’m going to go in there and speak to the coaches and we’ll reassess as we go along.”
The constant seems to be the tandem of Booker and Durant, with the former crushing opposing defenses in these playoffs through the final six quarters of the Suns season. Booker’s skillful playmaking and excellent scoring chances helped draw Durant’s attention away from Brooklyn. And there are few rivals who wouldn’t want a foundation for these two All-NBA talents to be on the books for the next three seasons.
Despite an overwhelming disappointment, Durant still expressed confidence in the situation in which he applied to join in February.
“Yeah I am. I am. I’ve had a blast playing with these guys, getting to know them, living in Phoenix, playing for Coach Monty, playing for the staff,” Durant said. “So, just more reps “, that’s all. More iterations on that, keep building and understanding yourself on a different level as an individual and as a basketball player. And I think that’s coming. So we’ll see what happens, you know? It’s definitely frustrating, disappointing and embarrassing to lose, but it’s also about how to get up and keep pushing and finding ways to get better. That’s really the mantra.”
It’s just amazing how many ways to improve there are actually to discover.