The Phoenix Suns seem like a difficult team to predict heading into the 2024-25 season for a variety of factors after they finished 49-33 last season but were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!For one, the Suns have a new coach and system with Mike Budenholzer and part of this system includes a true starting point guard in Tyus Jones, a position the team did not utilize a season ago. Phoenix still has three of the best offensive players in the NBA in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, and retained its top-six rotation players from last year, giving the team a new sense of continuity.
One anonymous NBA executive told Sportskeeda‘s Mark Medina that the Suns are the top team in the West because of their star power.
“The team to beat in the West is Phoenix, believe it or not,” the executive said. “I think their top-end talent is just ready to make a move. KD [Kevin Durant] and Book [Devin Booker] are really, really good. They had an outlier year last year with trying to get everything working together. I think [Mike] Budenholzer and Tyus Jones are great additions.
“I think they will figure out a way to use some draft compensation and [Jusuf] Nurkić contract to get even better [in a trade]. I think the team that emerges from the West in Phoenix. I believe in Kevin. I believe in Booker. I believe in Budenholzer. Denver, Dallas, Oklahoma City are options. But I think the one-two punch in Phoenix is better than the one-two punch anywhere else.”
An anonymous NBA executive says the Phoenix Suns are the best team in the West
“The team to beat in the West is Phoenix, believe it or not. I think their top-end talent is just ready to make a move. KD [Kevin Durant] and Book [Devin Booker] are really, really good. They had an… pic.twitter.com/FHV4DsuTJw
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 14, 2024
On the latest NBA.com power rankings that released on Sept. 30, the Suns were picked to finish fifth in the West after the offseason wrapped up.
Almost every power ranking has the Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 1 in West on NBA.com) as the top team in the West after they were the No. 1 seed last season and retained pretty much their entire rotation while also adding Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. The NBA executive explained why he did not have OKC coming out of the West.
”I don’t think the Oklahoma City Thunder are willing yet in its competitive cycle to push more chips to go for a championship. If they were willing to do that, they would be my pick to come out of the West. But I don’t think they’re willing to do that. They probably think Chet [Holmgren] and Jalen [Williams] are too young. I don’t think they want that pressure to put draft picks and a big contract to go trade for another No. 3 or No. 4 type of player.”
The Timberwolves (No. 4 on NBA.com) are in a bit of a confusing spot after trading away Karl Anthony-Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. The NBA executive discussed Minnesota’s outlook for this season:
“Minnesota took a competitive step backward with the [Karl-Anthony Towns] trade. They took a considerable step backward. Julius Randle is a really good offensive player, but he doesn’t necessarily play a good team game and doesn’t stretch the floor like KAT did. I think they will find it difficult to play ANT [Anthony Edwards] and Julius on the floor together. ANT needs to play in space. But there won’t be space with Julius and Rudy_[Gobert] on the floor together. At least with KAT, there was more space. In playoff basketball, the whole objective is to draw two defenders to the basketball. KAT did that. I don’t know that Julius does. ANT certainly does.”
The Dallas Mavericks (No. 3 on NBA.com) advanced to the NBA Finals last season and added Klay Thompson this offseason, but lost a key starter in Derrick Jones Jr. The Denver Nuggets (No. 2 on NBA.com) still have three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and just won the NBA championship two seasons ago.
“I think Dallas caught lightning in a bottle last year with PJ Washington’s play,” the executive said. “I think they still lack a big who can score the basketball routinely. PJ is not really a great scorer. Once every couple of years, Kyrie becomes a megastar and then comes back into his shell. I think last year was the super-star year, and am concerned that he will regress. I don’t discount Dallas. They’re a big-time team. But I would give Phoenix the edge because their top-two players are more reliable and their coach is better.
“With Denver, Joker [Nikola Jokic] is the best player in the league. But Denver’s second-best player is going backward. Jamal [Murray] hasn’t been the same. There is something about Jamal’s health and physical capacity right now that concerns me. Michael Porter is also terribly overrated. He’s a one-way player and just a scorer. I also don’t think Denver has the assets to get an upgrade. They’ll be stuck with the team they have.”
Led by KD, Book & Beal… what are your expectations for the @suns this season?#SunsAllAccess pic.twitter.com/HUGNI2P3sB
— NBA (@NBA) October 14, 2024
The other anonymous executives who were interviewed either said Oklahoma City, Denver or Dallas with no mention of Phoenix and weren’t big believers in Minnesota.
Every executive interviewed by Medina had the Boston Celtics as their favorite to repeat as NBA champions.
Where do you think the Suns stand among the pecking order of the Western Conference?
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
