How The Suns’ Super Team Experiment Exposed The Myth Of NBA Dynasties

If you were to predict the Phoenix Suns would miss both the 2025 postseason and Play-In tournament, the first assumption would be that the team had suffered unfortunate injury luck.

While Bradley Beal only played 51 games due to injury, Devin Booker (75 games started) and Kevin Durant (62 games started) both led the teams in starts, while both averaging over 36 minutes per game over the season.

The production for this duo was not the issue either, as Durant averaged 26.6 points per game on a .642 true shooting percentage, while Booker produced 25.6 points and 7.1 assists per night.

With the stars playing to their career averages and not missing significant time, perhaps the Western Conference was just too talented, and the Suns narrowly missed the last available spot.

Their 36-46 record not only finished three games out of the tenth seed in the West but would have also fallen short of reaching the Play-In tournament if they were in the Eastern Conference.

How is it possible that a team with two of the top-ten scorers in the NBA miss the postseason?

The answer to that question starts in 2019.

After three consecutive seasons finishing with less than 25 wins, the Suns narrowly missed a playoff appearance with a 34-39 record.

This season was shortened due to COVID, as Phoenix entered the season’s pause with a 26-39 record.

Once the “Bubble” portion of the season resumed in July, the Suns were the best team in Florida, going 8-0 over the remainder of the regular season.

Unfortunately, there were not enough games for the Suns to earn a playoff berth, but it instilled a sense of optimism throughout the organization.

Alongside the best season of 23-year-old Booker’s career, the Suns featured Kelly Oubre Jr (24 years old, 18.7 points per game), Deandre Ayton (21 years old, 18.2 points per game), and the sharpshooting duo of Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson becoming significant role players.

Suns general manager James Jones sought to capitalize on this young core by giving them a veteran point guard in Chris Paul.

Paul came to the Suns after signing a max contract with the Rockets, then being dealt to the Thunder. The Thunder then sent Paul to Phoenix in exchange for four players including Oubre and a 2022 first-round pick.

This move, alongside the development of their young talent, led to the end of their playoff drought, finishing second in the Western Conference standings and reaching the NBA Finals.

At 35 years old, Paul had a career year, finishing fifth in MVP voting and leading the league in assists, making the trade a win-win after year one.

With a majority of the roster already under team control, the Phoenix front office ran it back in 2021-22, with the only significant contract move being a 4-year, $120 million extension with Paul, negating the $44 million player option Paul had available heading into the year.

A regular season with just 18 losses was washed away when the Suns failed to get past the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs.

In the blink of an eye, the wide-open window for Phoenix transitioned to an offseason with decisions to be made around their former first-round pick Ayton.

The Suns decided to bring their big man back to the desert on a four-year, $133 million contract.

Up to this point, it seemed as though the Suns were building a championship-contending roster for years to come after following the textbook example of a rebuild.

The patience by Jones and his front office would soon be tested in the 2022-23 season, when they entered the midway point of the year with just a 21-24 record.

This middle of the pack production in a talented Western Conference is where the strategy seemed to change for the Suns’ decision makers.

After years of developing a roster that reached the NBA Finals ahead of schedule, the Suns changed the trajectory of their franchise when Durant became suddenly available ahead of the Trade Deadline.

To acquire Durant in the last year of his contract, the Suns had to send Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, and four unprotected first-round picks to the Nets. This instantly impacted the depth of the Suns, a trend that would continue over the next two seasons.

The Suns were no match for the Nuggets in the second round of the 2023 playoffs, which then led to more changes within the organization.

Head Coach Monty Williams was replaced by Frank Vogel, and Paul was replaced via trade for Bradley Beal in a move that sent the future Hall of Famer to Washington, alongside Landry Shamet, four first-round picks, and six second-round picks.

In a two-year span, the Suns went from one of the best cap situations in the NBA to $60 million over the limit.

This season, despite featuring three players who averaged over 22 points per game the season prior, proved to be another step back for the organization. The Suns finished sixth in the West and failed to win a single game in their first-round playoff series.

Now, as the Suns break their four-year playoff streak in 2025, it shows that the move to acquire Durant may have been what changed the course of the Suns as a franchise.

While it is difficult to pass when one of the best scorers in the history of the sport is available, it shows another example of a team on paper not translating to hardwood.

The “Superteam” phenomenon of the 2010s felt as though it would impact the parity of the NBA. From the Celtics to the Heat, then the Warriors, these teams made the league fearful that this was the only way to win.

However, when teams like the Nets, 76ers, and Suns have failed to replicate this level of domination, then the crisis seems to be avoided.

Instead, the top contenders in the postseason accumulated their talent via rebuilding and developing homegrown stars, the strategy originally followed by the Suns.

As the Suns seem to be one offseason away from becoming a lottery team yet again, their failure to achieve the ultimate goal may act as the final warning for any team looking to trade assets away for maximum-contract stars.