The Suns’ future doesn’t look very bright and this season, they’ve been a Western Conference equivalent of the Sixers.
It feels like the Phoenix Suns are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Mike Budenholzer is the franchise’s third coach in as many seasons. Since acquiring Kevin Durant, the Suns have not made it out of the second round in the Western Conference. As we approach the halfway point of 2024-25, Phoenix sits at 15-18 on the outside looking in of the play-in tournament picture in the West despite entering the season with a win total at 51.5 at most sportsbooks.
Does all that sound familiar? Phoenix has been underachieving in a similar way the Sixers have been in the season’s first half. Kevin Durant has appeared in 23 of Phoenix’s 33 games so far this season, an identical number to Paul George’s Sixers availability. Yet, a strong month before the deadline could see the Suns make a rise in the West, potentially above the play-in tournament line that they’re currently below, and would certainly make the Suns a trade deadline buyer.
To be perfectly clear, I would absolutely rather be the Sixers when it comes to this coming offseason and beyond. Durant and Bradley Beal are both over 30 years old and part of a “Big 3” with Devin Booker that feels faker than the Sixers “Big 3” which has only played 10 games together. A healthy Embiid is probably the best player of the six players in both Big 3s and Tyrese Maxey seems to only be improving. Lastly, Phoenix certainly does not have an exciting young player like Philadelphia does in Jared McCain.
However, I do find the question of which team might be able to salvage 2024-25 to be an interesting one. Optimistic Sixers fans often point to the lack of depth in the Eastern Conference after Cleveland, Boston and maybe New York, as reason to believe the second half could be a good one for the team and there’s still a path towards a deep playoff run.
Well, the West might be even shallower than the East. The Houston Rockets are currently the conference’s No. 2 seed and the Memphis Grizzlies sit in the third slot. I doubt many NBA fans view either of those teams as a serious contender and despite not even being in the play-in tournament at the moment, Phoenix is only five games behind Memphis in the loss column.
Logically, it makes more sense to believe the Sixers are more capable of a deep playoff run. Their biggest hurdle to clear seems to be availability and chemistry. It might not ever mesh for Philly for the remainder of the season, but Nick Nurse has at least been with the team for a couple seasons now and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. While Nurse is only in his second season with the Sixers compared to Budenholzer’s first in Phoenix, why would the Suns suddenly begin to play for Budenholzer after going through the motions for their last two coaches?
The motivations and efforts of both teams on Monday is something to monitor when watching the game. It’s always fair to wonder how motivated NBA teams will be in regular season games, but these two teams have to hit the gas eventually. The Sixers are playing their first home game after a successful 4-2 road trip to end 2024 and begin 2025. If they can stay hot, Phoenix might look like a team that doesn’t care by the fourth quarter.