No One Will Save the Suns

Phoenix gambled on an expensive, inflexible roster that hasn’t paid off, and the NBA trade deadline provided no savior or change in direction.

Durant (center) was the subject of several trade rumors over the last week. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Still bruised from a 140–109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, the Phoenix Suns settled on a consistent message: It’s fixable. A defense that was gashed for 43 points in the third quarter? It’s fixable. An offense that could muster just 16 points in the same 12 minutes? It’s fixable. The minimal effort displayed in the second half of a nationally televised game? You guessed it—it’s fixable.

“I think we’ve shown flashes over the last few weeks kind of how we want to play,” Suns point guard Tyus Jones said.

Added Devin Booker, “I just believe in the work. I believe in the process. The journey’s not always pretty.”

But it isn’t fixable, and it’s likely the Suns recognize that, too. They didn’t just lose Wednesday. They were bludgeoned. The game was competitive in the first half. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Suns coach Mike Budenholzer emptied the bench. With Kevin Durant out—officially sidelined by a pre-trade deadline ankle sprain—Phoenix’s offense stalled. The Suns’ numbers in the third quarter: 7.7% from the floor and 0-for-5 from three. Of Phoenix’s 16 points, 14 came from free throws.

“They had a push coming out of the third quarter,” Budenholzer said, “and we weren’t able to match it.”

Denied. By. Lu. Dort. 😤 pic.twitter.com/ZO6658Oqzw

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 6, 2025

Wednesday’s loss dropped Phoenix to 25–25, locking it into a three-way tie with the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors for the ninth and 10th spots in the Western Conference. Help isn’t coming. Efforts to acquire Jimmy Butler ended when Butler was dealt to the Warriors. Talks with Golden State for Durant died when Durant made it clear he had no interest in a Warriors reunion. Bradley Beal’s no-trade clause didn’t matter; no team wanted to take on the $100 million-plus Beal has left on his contract.

Mat Ishbia has come out swinging since buying control of the Suns in 2022, but his eagerness to microwave a contender has pushed the team to the brink of disaster. The Suns overpaid for Durant and never should have traded for Beal. They fired Frank Vogel after one season and replaced him with Budenholzer. Bud is a capable coach, but Phoenix’s 13th-ranked defense under Vogel has slipped to 24th this season, per NBA.com, while the offense has dropped from 10th to 13th.

Ishbia’s passion is admirable. His judgment has proven to be off.

Budenholzer understood the expectations. Despite Phoenix’s struggles last season, ownership believed it had a championship core. Better health, better coaching, the Suns reasoned, and this team could take off. Instead, in a conference led by young, athletic teams, Phoenix has looked old and slow.

Has any of this surprised Budenholzer?

“I think all of us are pushing to be better,” Budenholzer said. “I think there’s high expectations. We’ve got good players. We’ve got a good roster. I think we’d like to be better than we are. I think we got to acknowledge that. But every NBA job, every NBA team is unique and a challenge. So I wouldn’t say it’s been harder or different. The players are great. Figuring out hopefully how to put them in their best spots is the great challenge of coaching in the NBA.”

So what has gone wrong?

“I usually focus on the process and, what are we doing every day?” Budenholzer said. “Are we getting better? And I think we’ve shown flashes of that. We’ve shown growth, but it hasn’t had the end results that I think we’d all want and expect and like. But I think we’re pushing, we’re getting better. That’s what we got to keep doing.”

In a dream scenario, the Suns can get healthy, put the trade deadline behind them and make a run. A .500 record has Phoenix in the play-in mix, but the Suns are just three games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for the sixth seed. Inside the Suns’ locker room, players admit the constant trade chatter has been taxing.

“As much as everyone wants to say, you’re blocking it out, everyone sees it,” Jones said. “Everyone hears it, it’s around. But at the same time, you’re trying to lock in. And so again, when we show up, we got to be professional, we got to do our job, we got to lock in, lock in better.”

And even with the struggles, Jones said, the signs of life are there.

“We’ve just shown it throughout the year,” Jones said. “At times we showed it earlier, early in the year. So I know that capability is there. I know that the hunger of the guys is still there and we want to improve. We want to be better. So I’m confident in the group we got, I’m confident in each and every person in the locker room. And I think if you ask them, they’ll say the same.”

Booker agreed … sort of. “I’m always going to say [it’s fixable],” Booker said. But even during Phoenix’s 8–1 start, Booker saw flaws. “I always said at the start of the season we were squeezing by. It still wasn’t the type of wins that you like to see, that could have went either way going down the stretch. So if we’re beating teams and sitting in the fourth quarter, that’s a different thing, but it was coming down to tough shotmaking [in the] fourth quarter. We need to be better now.”

Indeed. Butler wouldn’t have rescued Phoenix, but there’s no Butler, no anyone coming to help the Suns now. Phoenix bet big on an expensive roster aging at key positions and now they have to try to win with it. The Suns had high praise for Oklahoma City on Wednesday. “They have a well-oiled machine over there,” Booker said. The Thunder are the bar in the West. Phoenix has less than half of this season left to figure out how to jump over them.