My prediction at the beginning of the season was that if the Suns so much as get off to a poor start, Kevin Durant would start throwing fits and probably demand a trade. Well, they did get off to a poor start, a 4 and 6 one to be exact, but KD held his composure. And as the season progressed and dudes started to gel and get healthy, there were stretches in which the Suns looked formidable, even though this isn't necessarily what you would call a holistic roster.
Now that the season is over and the Suns, with their big 3, got swept in the First Round (!), reportedly the diva in KD has finally showed up. It's been circulating that he "was not always happy with how he was used", "feeling that he was... relegated to the corner... and not having proper designs to play to his strengths". I don't know if that's fake news or not, as I would presume most players probably have issues with how they are "used". But if Kevin did intentionally let this leak, then his tenure with Phoenix may be a lot shorter than most of us expected.
To some degree, I can appreciate those sentiments as the Suns, as with most teams in the NBA these days, play offense as if they don't have any particular strategy in mind. But it appeared to me that KD was pretty much allowed to take any and all the shots he wanted. Also, Phoenix got their asses straight up bust by a better (constructed) team. Anthony Edwards is a revelation, like the next Jordan out this piece.
KD, THE MISUNDERSTOOD SUPERSTAR DIVA
When Durant bounced on the Thunder in 2016, he was only about 27 years old. At the time, some people were criticizing him along the lines of being, most simply put, a traitor.
The Thunder were the second best team in the West. When Kevin left, not only did he destroy that dynamic, but he went to the Warriors, their main rival and the best team in the conference, making Golden State even more unbeatable. And you know, I could understand why OKC fans felt as if he stabbed them in the back, especially considering that this was the organization that drafted and more or less built a team around him.
Most NBA superstars never won a professional championship, never won a collegiate championship, and some of them didn't even win a high school championship. Yet, they're paid tens of millions of dollars annually. To most people, I think that would rightfully classify as a success story, Cinderella even. But in recent years, let's say since the Shaq + Kobe era, the argument became something like no matter how much money or individual accolades you've achieved, you're not a legitimate success as a NBA star unless you win a championship(s).
It's that line of thinking - the Mamba mentality, if you will - that I believe made Lebron obsessed with winning. He was but a lad when he came into the league. And the same with KD.
When you're older, it's easier to look back and say 'hey, I made my millions anyway, so what difference does it make if I never got a championship'? But when you're young and like in your teens and twenties, peer pressure and outside voices and shit like that have more of an influence.
So if that was the specific reason why Durant joined the Warriors, to win a championship, he should've been applauded as one of the most intelligent stars in the league rather than a turncoat, because guess what? Most superteams don't win championships. So him 'taking the easy way out' was wise from that perspective. In fact, those couple of seasons with the Dubs may well be the only NBA championships he ever wins.
THE BEAL EXPERIMENT
When the Suns acquired Bradley Beal to play alongside Durant and Booker, I saw that as a bit of overkill, albeit one with potential. Beal had developed this reputation of being a loyal superstar, one who was willing to stick with the team that drafted him, the Wizards, despite the fact that they've established themselves (since the departure of John Wall) as one of the most garbage squads in the league. I actually admired Bradley for that, not giving into the pressure to hastily chase a championship, even though, as we can see now, he eventually did so anyway. But I was thinking that when he did leave, he would go to a team like the Heat who could actually use him.
There's this prevailing idea that the most talented team always wins (a seven-game series), but that's not true, as proven by the Pistons in 2004. Yet to this day, we seemingly have braintrusts who think like if you throw three superstars together, they just gotta win a championship. I don't think there's ever been an NBA champion who won on sheer talent, besides maybe the Heat with LBJ + Wade + Bosh. And even with them, you know, they all had to agree beforehand that Lebron was the alpha.
When the Suns had Booker + Durant + CP3 + Ayton, that was more of a championship-level roster, one poised to take on the likes of the Timberwolves or Nuggets. But I knew, from the time KD arrived, that the ball was going to be taken out of the hands of Chris Paul, so he would be made obsolete. The same thing more or less happened when Kevin was on the Nets, that since he favors bringing the ball up and is very capable of doing so, then it's like the PG basically has to play like a 2. But you can't expect someone like CP3 to make that adjustment. So, in the name of accommodating KD, he had to go.
What was a bit more shocking was when Phoenix traded Ayton. Or let me say that once Deandre left (and was replaced by Jusuf Nurkic), then it became obvious that the Suns' strategy, with the addition of Beal, was to basically outshoot other teams. And you know, they had a pretty good regular season, one that, in theory, can be built upon. But it's like, dudes ain't getting no younger. You know what I mean? These type of superteam rosters are built more for instant championships than years of development.
So my argument, in theory, is that it would have been better for the Suns to have kept Paul and Ayton rather than acquiring Beal and Nurkic. That move made them more formidable from a quote/unquote superstar standpoint, but it made them less of a holistic, comprehensive team. But the reason I say this is a theoretical argument is because once you acquire a superstar diva like Durant, there's always the risk of the team dynamic being thrown out the window. You know what I mean? Like the situation also could've been worse if CP3 stuck around.
SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
This is a messy situation.
The most logical move, if Phoenix doesn't make any major roster changes between now and next season, is for Beal to try to play more like a traditional PG, setting out to average 10apg. The problem though is that with KD in tow, he probably isn't going to get a chance to touch and hold the ball enough to do so. So another option would be to move him to the second unit, where he could do more damage against opposing benches. But chances are someone of his caliber wouldn't be down with not starting.
The more realistic approach would be making Durant the point. Even though he was the alpha on OKC, it wasn't necessarily like the team was built around him per se. So it can argued that, as historically talented as KD is, he never had his own team, so to speak. So maybe the Suns could take that approach, while concurrently keeping Booker around and using Beal as a trade chip. But the irony of the situation is that doing so would entail acquiring the same types of players they recently parted ways with, i.e. a dominant inside C and a pass-first G that can also score.
CONCLUSION
The Suns have so thoroughly falling into the trap of star chasing and failing to properly deal with an unruly-yet-necessary player (Deandre Ayton) that now, perhaps the best thing that can happen to them is KD demanding a trade after only one full season.
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