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By Jackson Shaw
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – “Absolute disaster” and “losers” were just some of the words used by NBA writers to describe the Phoenix Suns’ trade deadline action – or lack thereof.

The Suns’ main highlight of the deadline was the moving of center Jusuf Nurkić, and many fans were disappointed with the 26-28 Suns not making any big changes to improve the team’s trajectory.

With a star-studded roster that has yet to pose much of a postseason threat in recent years, analysts are persistent in believing Phoenix will make a move on some of the big-name free agents every season.

“It’s been my long-standing policy not to talk about rumors, speculation,” said Suns president of basketball operations James Jones in a press conference before a game against Utah on Feb. 7. “What we do internally, we keep internally. It always gets noisy when you’re not winning. We’re not winning, and so we’ll just stay above the noise.”

The big rumor swirling around the Suns during this year’s trade deadline was the potential acquisition of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler. Butler voiced that he wanted to come to Phoenix to team up with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant but to get the financial logistics straight, the Suns would have had to move on from Bradley Beal, who wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause.

“You guys care about the rumors more than me,” Beal said in an interview after a loss to Oklahoma City on Feb. 5. “I’m still competing … I still got the Phoenix Sun uniform on. Nothing changed for me … I want to win here.”

The other move executed by the Suns before the deadline was the trading away of high-level wing defender Josh Okogie in exchange for Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards, a prelude of the intention to move Nurkić.

Closing in on the Feb. 6 deadline, Durant was also a hot topic involved in rumors about a potential departure, which sparked speculation of a “toxic” locker room. Durant shut down the conjecture.

“It’s easy to say our locker room is not connected when you come in there 45 minutes before and guys are in their game mode and not talking to each other,” Durant said in an interview post-deadline. “I think it’s unfair and lazy to categorize our team as toxic when you come in there for five minutes throughout four months.”

As for Jones, he recognizes that there is still work to be done within the roster, but he sees no problem in the current team’s capability of winning.

“It allows us an opportunity to focus with this team on what it is that we want to do, which is compete at a high level, have success in the playoffs and compete for a championship,” Jones said.

With 28 games left in the regular season, however, Phoenix has fallen to the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference after losing six of their last seven before the All-Star break. The Suns open the second half of the regular season Thursday in San Antonio against the 23-29 Spurs.

Since the Suns’ finals berth in 2021, the franchise’s aggressive push to win a championship has been underwhelming. They’ve had their fair share of injuries, but the past two seasons ended with a 4-2 conference semifinal loss to the Denver Nuggets in 2023 and a sweep in last year’s first round to Minnesota (with a healthy Booker, Durant and Beal).

While Phoenix didn’t advance past the second round in the season following its finals run, the franchise still had a promising future with a young roster surrounding Booker highlighted by key role players like Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson.

But in February 2023, after the hiring of owner Mat Ishbia, the Suns started getting aggressive. Ishbia got right to work, acquiring Durant from the Brooklyn Nets and Beal in a trade with the Washington Wizards. The two stars joined Booker to form the league’s newest big three, but it cost the Suns their young pieces in Bridges, Johnson and Landry Shamet; as well as veterans Chris Paul and Jae Crowder, and four first-round picks.

The Suns have remained competitive in every season since then, but have yet to duplicate the success of the 2021 season. With the second half of the season tipping off Thursday, coach Mike Budenholzer and the Suns find themselves near the bottom of a competitive Western Conference, and they didn’t give fans too much of a reason to expect an improvement.

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