The Phoenix Suns just got dealt with a first-round elimination at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. A disappointing end to what seemed like an otherwise promising season at the start is now casting doubts over the Suns’ future. With Phoenix getting swept in the very first round, the franchise’s financial aspects pose a big problem with what the team should do going forward.
The Phoenix Suns went all in during last year’s offseason to bring Bradley Beal and form a ‘Big Three’ after Kevin Durant was traded to the team. The team traded away most of their future to form a new squad around KD, Beal, and Devin Booker.
According to Spotrac contributor Keith Smith, the Phoenix Suns have, “$194.1 million in committed salary (at least!) for 2024-25 season for seven players.” Not only that but, “The second apron projects to be set at $189.5 million.”
To make matters worse, the Suns have, “Every first and second-round pick after 2024 first (#22 overall) is either owned or tied up in swaps.” Given how there is barely any wiggle room in the cap space or assets to draft for the future, the Suns are now in a tough spot when considering their franchise’s future.
As per HoopsHype, Kevin Durant’s salary for the 2023-24 season was $47,649,433. Devin Booker’s salary this past season was $36,016,200. And Bradley Beal, who did not waive his trade clause, was paid $46,741,590.
Just to put things in perspective, the salaries for all three stars on the squad for the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season will run up to around $150,732,950 to be precise. And that is after not taking Jusuf Nurkic’s $18,125,000 and Grayson Allen’s $15,625,000 into consideration.
The Phoenix Suns are in a tough spot now. The team was touted to be a real championship threat, and with Kevin Durant’s experience, few doubted the Arizona side’s capability to challenge for the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Now, based on their financials and draft picks, the Suns don’t have a lot of options left. Either the front office could trade all three stars and go into a rebuild. Or the team could fire their head coach, Frank Vogel, and find another replacement for him to run it back again next year.
Out of the available options, the latter one seems to be the wise choice out of the two, given how the Suns went all in. Going overboard on salaries and parting ways with their draft picks, it would be beneficial for Phoenix to not give up on this roster right away and give the stars and its players more time to develop on-court chemistry.
Plus, running with this squad for another year might give Phoenix enough time to make the most of the financial and draft blunders they committed to bring Durant and Beal to the Suns. It’ll be interesting to see if the Suns make some moves this offseason and what those moves will end up being.
Will the front office pull the trigger and go into rebuilding mode or make a few trades and signings to bolster this roster even further? We’ll let you ponder upon that.
