The 2021-2022 Phoenix Suns will go down in infamy as a powerhouse team with high expectations who floundered embarrasingly in a Game 7.
The downfall seems heavier than it seems. It’s the combination of a season touted as a revenge tour after faltering in the previous NBA Finals, the franchise record 64 wins, and the MVP campaign of their star. All those things went up in flames by the brilliant play of the Dallas Mavericks who are moving on to the Western Conference Finals.
The way it all ended for the Suns was stunning and even confusing. How can a team lose by that many at home in the most important game of the season? It wasn’t even close. The Mavericks led from start to finish, enjoying an advantage of as many as 46 points. The team with the best record was brought to its knees by a generational star and cast of role players who simply stepped up.
Now the hard part begins for the Suns as they pick up the pieces of a shattered season. Losing a hard-fought NBA Finals is one thing, but to lose in such a shocking way in the semis is a different hurdle altogether.
As any team eliminated, Phoenix faces an offseason of many decisions.
The main priority is Deandre Ayton. Is the front office willing to give him the max contract? If so, the Suns will have to pay the luxury tax for the first time in more than a decade. Talks about getting Ayton a max extension faltered last year. Fortunately for the Suns, Ayton still played well during the regular season and didn’t harbor any hard feelings even though he didn’t get what he wanted.
After averaging 14.4 points a year ago, he upped it to 17.2 per game this season while still averaging at least 10 rebounds. When you talk about playoffs, he put up 17.9 points and 8.9 rebounds against the Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans compared to last year’s Finals’ run of 15.8 points and 11.8 boards. He played his butt off in back-to-back seasons for the Suns.
However, has that changed after the Game 7 blowout?
The big man logged in just 17 minutes in Game 7 and when head coach Monty Williams was asked about the limited playing time postgame, he could only say that it was “internal.” Is tension brewing in the Valley? If Ayton doesn’t get the max from Phoenix, will he sign somewhere else?
There are other front office concerns for Phoenix such as the extension-eligible contracts of Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson. JaVale McGee, Elfrid Payton, and Bismack Biyombo will be unrestricted free agents while Aaron Holiday and Ishmail Wainwright will join Ayton in restricted free agency. Are they willing to run it all back to have another go at the title? And what cost will that entail? What kind of pieces do they need moving forward?
When it comes down to it, the Suns’ future hinges on Devin Booker.
Booker averaged a personal-best 26.8 points and 5.0 rebounds this season. His shooting numbers were still impressive (46.6 percent field goal shooting, 38.3 percent from deep, and 86.8 percent from the line) and he still managed to get 4.8 assists despite the keys of the offense being in Chris Paul’s hands. He also nabbed 1.1 steals - the most in his seven-year career. He was more efficient and controlled this year as exhibited by his 2.4 turnovers, which was a far cry from his 3.1 average a year ago.
All that being said, where is he among the game’s current top players? How far along is he from the likes of Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic? Of course, he wants to be an MVP contender, but, it’s one thing to be in the MVP conversation and to actually be one of the final three nominees. This isn’t to shade the shooting guard, but a lot of the voters didn’t seem to see him as one of the best players this season.
Is he in the tier of Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic? Or do you see him like a Donovan Mitchell? There are levels of superstardom and Booker was primed to make a leap this season.
Nonetheless, Booker still has a lot of time to prove he belongs in the upper echelon of stars. At 25, he is about to enter his prime. What will that look like? What kind of improvements will we see in the years to come? Great things are expected from the young star and with it comes the pressure of leading a contender. The future of the Phoenix rests on the shoulders of Booker.
The Suns’ Game 7 loss can be reduced to a simple footnote of another title run the following year. Maybe the embarrassing defeat will fuel them to achieve something greater. Then again, if they don’t reach the heights of the past two years, will they be remembered as a team who was always a contender in the early 2020s but never quite got over the hump? Only time will tell.
