Why the Suns' Kevin Durant has become a "problem" in Phoenix, Stephen J. A. Smith's view is straightforward.
Kevin Durant has clearly become a cause for a lot of controversy in Phoenix, and it's time to get it straight.
When the Phoenix Suns traded for superpower forward Kevin Durant in the middle of last season, he was supposed to take the Suns to another level alongside Devin Booker.
Then, Phoenix bought Bradley Beal last summer, adding a scary-looking trio to the team.
However, the whole experiment has so far been a complete disaster.
By the end of the season, the Suns had won just 49 games and finished the season in sixth place in the Western Conference, ruthlessly swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
To make matters worse, according to ESPN's Stephen M. According to A. Smith, Durant seems to be a "problem" with the Suns.
Smith said Durant was very withdrawn with the Phoenix Suns and did not speak with current head coach Frank Vogel for an entire month.
He added that the 35-year-old "never gets happy" and doesn't care how well he gets along with the coaching staff or his teammates.
Smith said Durant "lives in his own little world."
He went on to say that it was similar to the behavior that Durant showed in his final days before leaving the Golden State Warriors, which annoyed Draymond Green and eventually forced Durant to leave and join the Brooklyn Nets.
Smith urged the Suns to disband the trio of Durant, Booker and Beal, commenting that their on-court success isn't a "Big Three," they're just a "Money Big Three."
So what's next for the Suns?
The situation in the desert does not seem to be rosy.
Phoenix gave away a lot of draft picks to form this team, heavily staking the future. At the moment, it doesn't seem worth it, almost similar to what the Nets did in 2013 to get Kevin Garnett and Paul Pearce.
Interestingly, Brooklyn "recovered" in the summer of 2019 by signing Durant and Kyrie Irving, but traded the two midway through the 2022-23 season, when it became apparent that things weren't going to work.
So, how do the Suns recover?
Are they going to continue to support the Durant Booker-Beal trio next season and try to win the game?
Are they going to trade one of these (or more) Samsungs and try a soft reboot?
Or do they disband altogether, trade all three players to clear the salary bills and reclaim some draft picks in a full rebuild?
In theory, the situation seems not bad.
This season, Durant and Booker are averaging 27.1 points per game per game, and both players have performed well. Beal averaged 18.2 points per game as the third choice and achieved that by shooting 51.3%/43%/81.3% from the field.
Not only that, but the Suns also have good supporting players like Grayson Allen, Eric Gordon, and Yusuf Nurkic, all of whom have excelled this season.
So, what's the problem?
Clearly, the chemistry wasn't there, as shown by Phoenix being one of the worst fourth-quarter teams in the NBA this season (Smith noted). The Suns also had a mediocre defensive performance, ranking 13th in the league.
Phoenix fired Vogel and hired Mike Budenholzer as their new head coach, but it's hard to imagine Budenholzer fixing the Suns' problems right away (there's no doubt about it: Phoenix need to fix things quickly in order to be truly competitive next year).
Maybe it's time to accept the fact that this "Big 3" doesn't work, and what impact this will have on Durant's saga is another question.