Are the KD-Infused Suns Title Contenders?
Just before the February 9th trade deadline passed, the Brooklyn Nets sent Kevin Durant and TJ Warren to the Phoenix Suns as part of a four-team deal that included the Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers. The blockbuster deal resulted in nine players switching addresses and multiple draft picks and pick swaps changing hands.
When the dust settled, many were of the opinion that the Suns won the trade because they acquired Kevin Durant who even at 34 remains as one of the elite forwards in the NBA today.
After years of coming agonizingly close to winning a title but ultimately falling short, Phoenix is effectively “all in” this year. Is a Big Three of Durant, Devin Booker, and Chris Paul enough to finally get the Suns over the hump?
Championship or Bust
“We have one goal. We know it’s not going to be easy to get there, but we feel we have the talent, we have the mindset.”
That was Booker’s answer when asked if his team has everything needed for a championship run. Analysts have already begun to anoint the Suns as a loaded championship-contending team capable of making waves in the wide open Western Conference.
Although KD has yet to play a single minute with his new teammates, the Suns are looking good in terms of their current standing in the stacked Western Conference. Having won seven of their last ten contests, Phoenix sits in fifth place with a 32-28 record, 9.5 games back of the Nuggets for 1st in the West.
To many, the remainder of the 2022-2023 season is “championship or bust” for the Suns. Because god knows that if they don’t win it all despite having Kevin Durant, the Internet won’t be kind.
On the other hand, Phoenix potentially winning a championship with KD, CP3, Booker, and Deandre Ayton will be redemption for a team that made it to the NBA Finals in 2021 before losing to the Bucks. Many believed the Suns were only one big name away from winning it all. KD certainly fits the billing of a big name addition.
Potential Roadblocks
As exciting as the future is for Phoenix, a loaded team such as the Suns will still have its fair share of obstacles to overcome.
For one, injuries have to be front of mind for Suns fans. Right now, three players are listed as out as the NBA gears up for the All-Star weekend in Utah. Aside from Durant, who hasn’t played since January 9th, Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne remain out and will be re-evaluated after the Utah festivities. There’s also the worry that Chris Paul, at 37, might be unable to stay healthy over the course of a deep playoff run.
More importantly, the biggest obstacle the Suns will need to overcome lies in the playoffs- particularly who they will face in the first two rounds. In the 2022 playoffs, they beat the New Orleans Pelicans in the opening round only to lose against the Dallas Mavericks in the next.
At the time of the KD trade, there were running jokes that the two-time NBA champion wouldn’t be able to save the Suns against Luka Doncic, who now has Kyrie Irving as his backcourt partner. A Suns-Mavs match-up in the first round would be rife with storylines as it would pit the two former Nets stars against each other.
There’s also the possibility they could run into either the Clippers or Grizzlies in the first round, neither of which they’ve fared particularly well against in recent memory.
Are the KD-infused Suns now title contenders? Absolutely.
Do they have enough to win an NBA championship? That’s a different story.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.