With the Suns losing 116-122 at home to the Timberwolves today, the Suns finally ended the first round of the game and were still swept out of the game 0-4. Booker, who scored 49 points, and Durant, who scored 33 points, were very unhappy. The Suns have a big three, especially Booker and Durant, who have played an average of 42 minutes per game and can score 26.8 points in this series. Booker averaged 41.8 minutes per game, chipped in 27.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.8 steals. The Suns are the only team in NBA history to have two 26+ scorers per game who have been swept away. The Suns ended in a bleak end, which is bound to trigger 4 chain effects. If the Suns can negotiate this one-for-four deal with the Lakers, it is expected that the Suns can hope to challenge for another championship next season.
One, the Suns have a strong chance of changing head coach Vogel.
ESPN's Sams revealed that the Suns will consider a complete change of coaching staff. In this series, under the Suns' defense, the Timberwolves have 6 players averaging double-doubles per game, namely Edwards 31.3 points, Towns 19.3 points, Gobert 15.2 points, McDaniels 14.3 points, Walker 12.3 points, Conley 11.8 points, and Reed on the bench averaged 9.5 points per game.
At the same time, against the Suns, there are three superstars who can average 20 points per game. The Suns' offense was a mess, both offense and defense were lost, and Vogel couldn't come up with effective measures. The Suns could consider hiring Bucks championship coach Budenholzer, who has a wealth of playoff experience as a Popovich protégé, and his offensive system is also quite complete, with Booker and Durant, the two big scoring masters, the Suns are expected to take off again.
Two, the 35-year-old Durant can't afford to wait, and if the Suns don't act, Adu could request a trade.
If the Suns don't change their head coach or make a big trade, then Suns star Durant may ask to leave, after all, Durant has repeatedly expressed his discomfort and dissatisfaction with his offensive role next to Beal and Booker this season. Durant hated being assigned to shoot three-pointers in the corner, and the head coach didn't tailor an effective strategy for him to play to his pick-and-roll with the ball. Durant played very unpleasantly, even so, Durant also performed very well, this round Durant played an average of 42 minutes per game, can get 26.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 blocks.
Third, in the past 5 years, the Suns have no draft picks and can't be rotten. If you want to strengthen it, you can only do it through trades, and the Suns Booker and Durant can't move, and it is very likely that they will trade Beal.
Beal has 3 years and 161 million left on his contract, and has a trade veto power and an annual salary of 50 million+ per year starting next season. The Suns need to convince Beal, who has a trade veto and a 15% trade margin, to go to a team that has a chance to win a championship, and maybe Beal will agree.
Beal has achieved nothing with the Suns this season with Durant Booker, and its characteristics don't match the Suns. The management's abandonment of Harden and the exchange of Paul for Beal was the biggest mistake of the season, but it was not that Beal's ability was too bad, but that Beal's offensive position had declined by the side of the Big Two, and his performance in this series was still quite good. In this series against the Timberwolves, Beal played an average of 38 minutes per game, averaging 16.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, shooting 44.1% from the field, 43.5% from three-point range, and 80.3% from the free throw line. Just the last game was not good, Beal played 31 minutes, shooting 4-of-13 from the field, 1-of-5 from three-point range, scoring only 9 points, 6 turnovers and 6 fouls, and a team-low plus/minus of -12.
Fourth, the league's top five superstar Durant was severely humiliated by Edwards, and Edwards will definitely take over the baton of the NBA's top scorer.
Although Durant played very bravely, he is 35 years old after all, and he is not enough to change the situation on the court with his offensive ability. On the contrary, Edwards is young and energetic, his offensive skills are quite good, and he has explosive physical fitness and defensive awareness, offensive and defensive integration, in this round of the series against the Suns, Edwards averaged 31 points, 8 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2 steals per game, shooting 51.2% from the field, and 43.8% from three-point range.
Fifth, if the Suns can make a big one-for-four deal with the Lakers, it will definitely be a win-win for both sides.
The Suns can send Beal to the Lakers, and the Lakers need to send Russell, Bamura, Vincent and Wood. The Suns can make up for Beal's offensive ability by acquiring Russell, while Vincent is on the guard line and he is still pretty good on the defensive line when he is healthy, strengthening the Suns' defensive defense. Hachimura offers tremendous offensive and defensive ability on the front line, which is something the Suns desperately need. In addition, providing Wood can also strengthen the Suns' interior offense, after all, Nurkic is only averaging 08.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in this series, which is quite sluggish. At the same time, the Suns send Beal to be a little more flexible with salary space.
At the same time, the Lakers can have a core of perimeter ball-handling offense after acquiring Beal. Let James have plenty of rest time, Mr. Su Qun once said that if the Lakers want to break the game, they must find a third ball-holding scoring point to reduce James' burden. Let the 39-year-old Zhan play time within 30 minutes, so as to have enough physical strength to play the crucial fourth quarter. Beal, while not the best candidate, is in the current free agent market. After all, the 39-year-old James can't afford to wait, and the Lakers are not willing to give away a first-round pick in 2029, so getting Beal at a lower price is also a win-win situation, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for the two superstars, Durant and James.