The Phoenix Suns have made a few changes heading into the 2024-25 season, most notably adding a new coach in Mike Budenholzer and a starting point guard in Tyus Jones after being swept in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!However, the rest of the roster pretty much stayed the same with the team keeping its entire starting five from last season and best bench player in Royce O’Neale.
Suns Ring of Honor member Charles Barkley thinks Phoenix will continue to have the same problems that hurt the team last season. On the latest The Bill Simmons Podcast, Barkley went on another tangent about the lack of leadership the Suns possess.
“My Suns, they got no identity and no leadership,” Barkley said. “You gotta have a style of play. You gotta have leadership. The Suns have not proven they can do that yet.”
Barkley has criticized Kevin Durant several times for his lack of leadership ability. Durant himself had a puzzling statement when asked who the leader of the team was when the team went down 3-0 in the first round against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Who’s the Suns leader right now?
Kevin Durant: “The coach is the leader.”
Suns don’t have a floor leader out there?
KD: “We all speak up and talk, but the leader is the coach.” pic.twitter.com/KBE1NA8WYu
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) April 27, 2024
However, Durant’s co-star Devin Booker is now entering his 10th season with the Suns and just had a terrific run with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, starting all six games en route to the U.S.’s fifth-straight gold medal and being labeled as the “unsung MVP’ of the team by coach Steve Kerr.
“(Booker) is a terrific player,” Barkley said. “The whole dynamic of the team changed when KD and Beal came there. Now, they gotta have leadership. (Booker’s) got to take a leadership role. I think he’s reluctant because people assume that KD’s the best player. Kevin has said he don’t want to be a leader. He just wants to play basketball.”
“I challenged Booker last year, and they got mad … I said, ‘It’s gotta be Booker. He’s gotta take a serious leadership role.’ People are gonna listen to him because he’s a great player, but he’s gotta become more of a leader. Gotta be more of a vocal leader. Then we’re gonna see what happens with the Suns.”
Charles Barkley on Devin Booker and the Suns:
“He's gotta have to take the leadership role. I think he's reluctant because people assume KD is their best player… It’s gotta be Booker. He's gotta take a serious leadership role, people gonna listen cause he's a great player” pic.twitter.com/lbzQLtsx5a
— ☄️ Kath☄️ (@lookatmymood) September 4, 2024
Barkley’s feelings on the Suns lacking a true leader on the team turned out to be true with the end result last season.
In the 2024-25 season, can Booker meet Barkley’s challenge and step up to fill a void the team has missed since losing Chris Paul?
Devin Booker shows off quarterback skills in social media post
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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
