To say it was a disappointing season for the Phoenix Suns would be a significant understatement, and many of their supporters will be hoping they can show much-needed improvement in the upcoming NBA season, which gets underway in late October.
There was a weight of expectation on Phoenix’s shoulders in the 2023/24 season, which was understandable given that they had a trio of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant within their ranks, which added a serious amount of quality to their squad in that campaign.
However, for one reason or another, it didn’t click as they would have originally hoped for, as Phoenix crashed out of the play-offs after a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Minnesota Timberwolves, where Anthony Edwards produced plenty of impressive showings to steal the headlines in that series win.
Booker and Durant were both involved for the US Olympic Men’s basketball team over the summer, and played their part in them winning the Gold Medal, after beating France in the final of the competition.
They’ll both be eager to make a positive start to the 2024/25 NBA season, and you’d like to think that if they can do that, the Phoenix Suns will have every chance of winning the NBA Finals this year, as they look to follow in the footsteps of the Denver Nuggets, who won their first title after defeating Miami Heat 4-1 in the finals.
The Phoenix Suns are priced at 30/1 to win the NBA Championship, a price that many will see as an excellent each-way bet. There’s no doubt that the Phoenix Suns have got a squad that’s more than capable of challenging the very best teams in the NBA this season.
It’s all about their key players staying injury-free, and performing to a consistently high standard. As we saw from their defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-offs last season, if the likes of Booker, Durant, and Beal struggle, their attacking threat is very much nullified.
There were plenty of negatives for Suns’ supporters to talk about during last season, but it’s worth remembering that some of their squad were plagued with injury problems, which disrupted any momentum that they tried to build.
Ultimately, those injuries caught up with them, and they’ll be keen to see the back of them heading towards the preseason schedule, which gets underway in the next week.
Tyus Jones, Mason Plumlee, Monte Morris, and E.J. Liddell have all arrived at Phoenix this summer, which will add some quality to their team, whilst Drew Eubanks was the notable departure, as he moved in favour of a move to Utah Jazz.
With Mike Budenholzer in charge of the Phoenix Nets nowadays, he’ll be looking to have a similar impact to what we saw in his time with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he won the NBA title in the 2020/21 season, before losing in the semi-finals in the following year.
