Preface
We've seen too many teams with superstars in history, such as the Celtics, who won the championship in 2008, and the Heat's Big Three, who won back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. At the same time, of course, there is also the Cosmos Brave, who are more terrifying than the first two teams, but due to injuries, they have also "only" won two championships.
Before the start of this season, the league has seen the emergence of a number of star-studded teams, including the Celtics, Bucks, Clippers, and Suns. However, since the start of the season, the road to the championship of these teams has been very different, the best Celtics, they have dominated the regular season to occupy the top position in the league, and the Bucks and Clippers have stumbled to play the top four records in the division.
As we all know, after losing to the Nuggets in the playoffs last year, the Suns found out about the fact that Paul was down and Ayton was embarrassed to be reused, so they said they wouldn't trade in the offseason, but in the end they sent the two of them away. Ayton was sent to the Trail Blazers in exchange for Allen and other chips, while Paul was sent to the Wizards, and the Suns also got Bradley Beal, who just played the best season of his career two years ago, averaging 30+ points per game.
At this time, the Suns already have three All-Star-level ball carriers in their paper lineup, so more and more fans are beginning to be optimistic about their performance in the new season, but after the start of the regular season, the Suns are unfavorable, Beal's injuries have come and gone, and Booker is the same, leaving the oldest Durant who has been carrying the team, but after all, it was because of injuries, so it is understandable that they did not perform well, but Booker and Beal still did not improve after their return.
As the game progressed game by game, the offseason-struggling Suns became the only team that looked like a pseudo-Big Three, and their form was up and down throughout the regular season, and it was only at the whistle that they barely finished in the top six in the West. And those who have watched the Suns game know that their shortcomings are obvious to the naked eye, in addition to the defense is bullied, they only play with talent on the offensive end.
However, the good news for the Suns is that on the one hand, they do not need to go through the play-offs to make the playoffs, and on the other hand, they also avoid facing the defending champion Nuggets in the first round.
But now that the playoffs have officially begun, the Suns seem to have made another wrong decision, and they have picked an opponent who is far superior to them. Although the Timberwolves have only Edwards and Towns at the All-Star level in the lineup on paper, the latter is still recovering from a major injury, but their roster depth is significantly better, especially on the defensive end, in addition to Gobert, McDaniels, Alexander Walker and other players are very good defenders.
This set of matchups was also considered to be the collision between the sharpest spear and the strongest shield before the game, and now it seems that the Timberwolves did play their regular season league's No. 1 defensive effect, but the Suns' best offense was completely dumb, and after two games, the series score was also rewritten to the Suns trailing the Timberwolves 0-2.
In these two games, the Suns scored no more than 100 points, G1 scored 95 points and G2 scored 93 points, and in the first game, the Suns shot 9 of 28 three-point shots, of which Booker was the culprit, he scored 18 points on 5-of-16 shooting, and 2-of-6 three-point shooting. In addition to poor shooting, the Suns' lack of a competent point guard was also very obvious, and they made 15 turnovers, which also allowed the Timberwolves, who were not very good at it, to take advantage of this to score 23 points.
In the second game, the Suns' offensive state was also very bad, not to mention 8 of 22 three-point shots, their mistakes did not decrease but increased, and the Timberwolves took advantage of this to score 31 points, and the most important thing is that they scored 105 points in the whole game. The Big Three played very poorly, Booker scored 20 points on 13 shots, Durant shot 18 points out of 15, and Beal shot 14 points on 17 shots, and the offensive efficiency of the three was average and the total turnovers were as high as 12.
When the three highest-paid players on the team are all performing like this, then there is no longer any blame for whether the other role players are shooting open threes or giving their best on the defensive end. This season, Durant's annual salary is 47.64 million and the league is second, Beal is fourth in the league with 46.74 million, and Booker is 26th in the league with 36.01 million, but he has also signed a super cap salary with the Suns with an average salary of nearly 60 million.
None of the big three have been able to produce at their own value, especially Beal, who has been holding the team back since the regular season and even worse in the playoffs, scoring less than 30 points in both games and committing five turnovers. Now it seems that the Suns really might as well keep Paul, who averaged 9.2 points, 6.8 assists per game and only 1.3 turnovers in the Warriors off the bench this season.
Obviously, the Suns' plan to form a big three has failed so far, not only do they have almost no hope of competing for the championship, but they may even be swept out of the first round by the Timberwolves. The key is that even if the team is really eliminated in the first round, the Suns don't seem to have any room for reinforcement in the offseason, and the salaries of the Big Three have been filled, and they can only sign with the base salary, if they want to trade Bill, there will be no one who is willing to take over his big contract now, and they seem to be dead now.
As for Durant, he took the initiative to apply for a trade to join the Suns, but now it seems that his hope of competing for the championship here is also very slim. Durant is now 35 years old, and it can be seen through these two games that he is not a god, and the decline in competitive condition compared to the Nets in 2021 is also visible to the naked eye, so if he wants to win the championship again before retiring, then continuing to apply for a trade is likely to be the best choice, but his reputation may be worse than now.
Booker is obviously the most unlikely of the Big Three to leave the team, first of all, his contract will not end until 2028, and then even if he has to be average this season, but after all, he is only 27 years old, he has a chance to regain his form in the future, and this time it is also the Suns who have a problem with the team's thinking, if a point guard who is good at defense and organization is arranged next to him, and Booker returns to the No. 2 position he is best at, then the Suns still have a chance to continue to rush for the championship.