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The Phoenix Suns aren’t breaking up their star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
“The Suns’ intention, from what I’ve been told, is to keep their Big Three together,” Windhorst said Monday on Get Up. “Which they should. They don’t have much of an option otherwise.”
Suns team governor Mat Ishbia implied the team is basically running it back when he addressed the media after a first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Ask the other 29 GMs — 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks and everything as is,” he told reporters.
“The house is not on fire. We’re in great position. It’s not hard to fix. It’s not like we’re like, ‘Hey, we don’t have enough talent to win a championship.’ We have enough talent to win a championship. Do we have enough continuity? … There’s a lot of things we can look at. Do we have the right leadership in place?”
As Windhorst alluded to, the problem Phoenix faces is that it’s almost impossible to envision a scenario in which it can trade Durant, Booker or Beal and get meaningfully better in the short term.
Fox Sports’ Ric Bucher spoke to an Eastern Conference general manager who speculated that dealing KD would net “the Jrue Holiday Package,” which for the Portland Trail Blazers meant Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams and two first-round picks.
Even leaving aside the fact Brogdon and Williams were hurt for most of this season, swapping Durant for role players probably doesn’t get the Suns closer to a title.
Booker probably has the most trade value of their three stars, but draft compensation would like form the foundation of most offers based on past precedent. And draft picks aren’t helping the franchise right now.
Beal, meanwhile, is a net-negative asset thanks to the three years left he has on his $251 million contract. Phoenix didn’t even have him waive his no-trade clause as a condition of his trade from the Washington Wizards, either.
The Suns, as currently constructed, appear to be on a road to nowhere. They’re good enough to make the playoffs but well below a championship level. Unfortunately for the organization, raising its ceiling beyond that is probably out of reach.
