Biggest Winners, Losers of Suns' Horrid Season

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns' 2024-25 season is finally over after a disastrous campaign.

Phoenix finished 10 games below .500 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20 season despite having the highest payroll in NBA history.

After such a down year, who were the biggest winners and losers on the Suns?

Winners: Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro, Collin Gillespie

Even though they found themselves on the bench for extended periods of time, the Suns’ rookies made the most out of their opportunities when they were on the court to make fans excited for the future.

Ryan Dunn (28th pick) and Oso Ighodaro (40th pick) outplayed their draft positions and gave Phoenix solid rotation pieces for years to come.

While only on a two-way contract, Collin Gillespie emerged in the last couple months of the season, providing grittiness and energy the Suns desperately needed. Although he burst onto the scene late in the year as the Suns season slipped away, he proved to be someone Phoenix should keep on the roster next season.

You can read more about the positive impact of these players by clicking here.

Losers: Everyone Else

As Devin Booker said plenty of times this season, a lot of responsibility for the team’s performance comes from its three stars in Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

Booker finished the season strong, but he wasn’t the same player the majority of the year as he tried to lean into being more of a playmaker. Durant’s performance on the court was far to blame—he was the most consistent player Phoenix had all season and was a great role model for the young players. Beal was very inconsistent and had limited availability all season.

For the three stars, it’s more about what their future holds on why they fall in this category, especially after mortgaging a ton of future assets to acquire Durant and Beal.

Phoenix will have to either try to mend its relationship with Durant after it tried to trade him earlier this season, or Durant could find himself on another team next season via trade, leaving Phoenix with a big hole to fill.

Another note for Durant is that he put together a very impressive season this year, but is ineligible to make an All-NBA team after failing to meet the 65-game threshold (played in 62 games).

Booker has said multiple times he wants to stay with the Suns, but what the team looks like around him after the offseason remains to be seen.

Beal is the most unlikely to stay with the Suns with Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reporting there’s a 0% chance he’s on the roster next season.

Simply put, there’s no reason a team with three $50 million players should miss the playoffs, which is why everyone in the front office also falls in this category and are squarely on the hot seat, highlighted by CEO Josh Bartelstein and president of basketball operations and general manager James Jones.

Owner Mat Ishbia might be the biggest loser in all of this, as his aggressive approach to building the team and not being wary of spending money did not pay off at all and now he will have to do his best to correct his decisions.

First-year coach Mike Budenholzer has now been fired after a very unsuccessful first season. The Suns had a lot of high hopes for the Arizona native, but Phoenix is now looking for its fourth coach in four years this offseason.

The Suns’ two players they signed to extensions last year, Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, are on the trade block after rocky seasons. The Suns will have to hope to net good rotation players in potential trades for them because of the money they make.

All three players the Suns acquired from the Charlotte Hornets in midseason trades in Nick Richards, Cody Martin and Vasa Micic all could be off the team next year.

Micic has a team option for next year, while Martin’s salary for next season is non-guaranteed. If the Suns don’t pick up Micic’s option and waive Martin, that would help them get under the second-tax apron.

Richards was solid for the Suns, but was not starter material. His money for next season is also non-guaranteed, so the Suns have a decision to make whether to guarantee his $5 million salary or not.

The Suns’ veteran-minimum contract players—Tyus Jones, Mason Plumlee, Monte Morris, Damion Lee and Bol Bol—were decent at times but inconsistent for the most part.

Jones was benched after the All-Star break after being promised the starting point guard position when he signed with the Suns and never materialized to what Phoenix thought he could be. It will be interesting to see if he will sign with a team for more than a vet minimum this summer after turning down more money last summer to join Phoenix.

Plumlee fell out of the rotation late in the year after being unreliable as a backup center. Morris did not get many opportunities because of all the guards the Suns had and a back injury sidelined him for several games late in the year.

Lee re-signed with the Suns after missing all of last season with a knee injury, but hardly saw any playing time except in garbage time.

Bol chose to re-sign with Phoenix for a veteran minimum before even testing free agency last summer, but barely got playing time until February when he shined and eventually started 10 games before getting relegated to the bench.

The 25-year-old showed a lot of flashes at times, but found it hard to carve out a consistent role. He is another player to watch in how his market shapes out this summer.

The Suns have several questions to answer for their performance this season, and it is clear that it is not going to be a simple fix.