Where the Phoenix Suns Land in Post All-Star Weekend Power Rankings
Following the trade for Kevin Durant and leading into the final 22 games of the season, the Phoenix Suns are sitting pretty in recent power rankings after All-Star Weekend has come and gone.
In a Feb. 17 Bleacher Report power ranking, The Phoenix Suns rank as the fifth best team in the NBA only behind the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Boston Celtics.
The article outlines how despite not knowing what Phoenix will look like with Durant, it is safe to put them high in the power rankings just based on the impact Durant had with the Golden State Warriors back when he joined them in 2016.
In a new power ranking from The Athletic this morning, the Suns also rank as the fifth best team. Similar to Bleacher Report’s power rankings, this article outlines that the addition of Durant alone puts them as the fifth best team. However, it also acknowledges Phoenix’s struggles without Devin Booker while he was dealing with a groin injury.
A power ranking posted this morning from CBS Sports takes a completely different approach when it comes to the Suns. Phoenix is surprisingly ranked 11th actually moving down three spots from CBS’s last rankings.
It goes into how the loss of Mikal Bridges will definitely hurt the Suns on the defensive side of the ball and that they should be happy to be sitting as the five seed in the Western Conference despite an abysmal stretch where they once sat as the tenth seed in the standings.
These rankings certainly won’t stand as the season progresses. The unknown behind how Phoenix will look with the addition of Durant makes ranking the Suns even more tricky.
Through the next 22 games, Phoenix will either flex their firepower showing why they deserve to be ranked first in future power rankings or they will go through growing pains causing them to slip amongst the best teams in the NBA.
