The Suns made serious efforts to compete for the NBA championship by forming a superstar trio of Durant, Booker and Bill.

According to US sports media F/W reporter Sidante Gupta. Two seasons ago, the Suns made serious efforts to compete for the NBA championship by forming a superstar trio of Durant, Booker and Bill. The Suns have lost regretfully in the expensive investment to win the trophy. Worse, their efforts to succeed in the playoffs were also empty-handed. According to recent reports from ESPN's Zach Kram, the Suns have invested huge salaries in the past two seasons to help them achieve their championship aspirations. He wrote:

"The Suns lead the league in total wages in the first two seasons with the eager support of Ishbiya. According to an analysis of Spotrac data, Phoenix spent $626 million between wages and luxury tax payments. That's $51 million more than the second-place Golden State Warriors. This doesn't even take into account the non-economic penalties Phoenix faces for the league's new cap environment, as it costs more than the second-rich line." The breakdown of these numbers highlights how expensive the Suns' strategy has become after team owner Ishbiya facilitated the acquisition of Durant and Bills. Their contract has had a huge impact on the Suns' cap.

Below is a rough breakdown of the Suns' salary and tax bills for the past two seasons. Suns salary and tax bill details

2023-24 season: $255.7 million (total cash $189.6 million, estimated luxury tax bill $68.1 million)

2024-25 season: $370.1 million (total cash $219.9 million, estimated luxury tax bill $152.2 million)

Kram's figures are slightly lower than the full total, but this has not mitigated the impact of the Suns' economic losses. As he mentioned, the numbers don’t take into account the additional non-economic penalties that the Suns have to deal with. With Durant, Booker and Bill occupying 107.11% of available cap space in the 2024-25 season, Phoenix is bound to be heavily penalized for its roster construction efforts. The huge luxury tax bill can still justify by the success of the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Suns also did not perform well in this regard.

Phoenix's last playoff victory was in the first round series against the Clippers in 2023, when Bill had not joined the team. The Suns have failed to win a playoff victory since forming the superstar trio. In the 2024 playoffs, Phoenix was swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Last season, the team's performance was bad enough to miss the playoffs and fell to 11th place in the West.

Cram also compared the Suns' spending with the New Orleans Pelicans, highlighting how big the gap is with the next team on the roster who didn't win the playoffs at the time. He wrote: "Phoenix is almost twice the spending of the next team that didn't win the playoffs; the New Orleans Pelicans spent $336 million, $290 million less than the Phoenix."

However, the end of the 2024-25 season also marks the end of the Phoenix experiment. In many ways, the trio simply cannot work together. Whether it is technical overlap or lack of chemistry, some factors prevent each player from performing at the best level. Last season was probably the best chance for the trio to succeed. Durant has played 62 games, Bill has played 53 games, and Booker has played 75 games, and they have plenty of time to build chemistry. In this regard, this may just be an inappropriate situation.

Durant was subsequently traded to the Rockets, which was one of the key moves this year's offseason. The Suns cut off some salary by replacing Durant's contract, and also recovering some lost draft capital by acquiring Jaylen Green and Dillon. Meanwhile, Phoenix recently chose to buy out Bill's contract while extending it over the next few seasons. Although this money will be dead money on their salary list, the impact of the ceiling will be greatly reduced. This move also allowed Bill to join the Clippers as a free agent, improving their overall lineup strength. The Suns have promised to rebuild around Devin Booker, who recently agreed to renew his contract for two years, making him the most valuable player in the league. Given the huge investment in the 28-year-old star, the Suns are expected to open up a new path forward.