This deadline has been one of the craziest ever. Never had a star as big as Kevin Durant been traded mid season before. This creates an interesting question: Can a team win a championship while just making a huge trade at the deadline? It hasn’t happened before, but could this be the first year?
The Suns will immediately become one of the best offenses in the NBA after acquiring Durant. It’ll take awhile for Durant to learn the offensive scheme and their plays, but adding a scorer of his caliber will be great game one. Both Durant and Booker can play off ball well, but both can also create shots late in the shot clock. The Suns run a ton of off ball screens to sprint Booker open, they’ll probably do this for Durant as well. Durant fits really well into the Suns offense as another creator. Also, this Suns team will be one of the best mid range shooting teams ever. This isn’t even a knock on them likely shooting too many, Durant hits them at such a high clip that they’re almost as efficient as threes. Booker is also a renowned mid range king; his fadeaway is a lethal weapon for him. He can hit it out of the post with multiple people on him. He gets really high on it and releases high. He can also shoot fadeaways with no momentum going his way. Chris Paul is also well known as one of the best mid range shooters ever, especially out of the pick n roll. Despite his small size, he punishes teams who drop ball screens (Nuggets( by pulling it from mid range. This trio of elite shooting should immediately make them one of the best shooting teams in the NBA. The Suns already clocked in at 5th in 3P%, sitting at 37.9% from the arc. Adding one of the best shooters ever should surely up this, even if they did trade away some great shooters. I expect this team to improve to a top 7 offense, as they are 16th right now and in need of scoring.
In the starting lineup, Kevin Durant will obviously replace Mikal, but who will replace Cam Johnson? Torrey Craig has started most of the year with him out, and even with the addition of TJ Warren, I don’t see that changing. Craig brings a 3&D wing to the Suns team. His defense is really great, he’s got a super high motor and has great screen navigation. He’s long and has a big frame. He’s also very good at pestering the dribbler on ball. He can guard forwards as well as smalls. He should fit well with a team who’s lacking in defense. Their defensive rating is 7th in the NBA, but they just traded away one of the best defenders in the NBA. None of the Suns’ other four starters have been great on defense this year (Durant is likely the best of them), so starting an elite defensive wing who can shoot is valuable. Their defense will regress a bit after this trade, likely making them in the 10-14 range in defensive rating.
The question of depth has to be brought up. Cam Payne is injured, but should be back soon. In the meantime, Saben Lee will take over backup PG duties. It isn’t great, but there’s nothing else to do until Payne gets back. The backup point position is a small flaw, however. The rest of their bench is more straightforward. The center position will either be occupied by Jock Landale or Bismack Biyombo, whoever they deem more fit for the rotation. The wings and forwards off the bench will likely be revently acquired Darius Bazley and TJ Warren, and Josh Okogie. These players bring a nice blend of versatility, shooting, and defense. Their bench should be fine and this issue is being overblown.
This team has the makings of a deep playoff team. Multiple creators, shooting, defense, etc. I believe the Suns will start off slow as Durant is still going to adjust and they’ll finish as the 3 or 4 seed. However, they could go to the Finals. As a team with an elite mid range, they can punish the drop coverage Denver will probably throw at them in the playoffs. This team, if they figure everything out, has real championship upside.