As the Phoenix Suns chased their first NBA Title, the front office got busy in its most aggressive offseason yet. The team traded Chris Paul for Bradley Beal and sent Deandre Ayton to Portland to get Jusuf Nurkic. These moves led to a 49-win season for the Suns but they only managed a six-seed and were swept in the first round of the playoffs at the hands of the up-and-coming Minnesota Timberwolves.
It was a disappointing first season for Phoenix’s Big Three, but where does this team rank among the most notable duds in the NBA this year? Here are the five biggest failures in the NBA in 2023-24.
5) Golden State Warriors
Last season was an underwhelming one for the Golden State Warriors. Fresh off an NBA Title, the team saw Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins miss a combined 81 games yet the team still managed to squeak into the playoffs and reach the Western Conference Semifinals. With a healthy Steph, the addition of Chris Paul, and the removal of Jordan Poole, Golden State was set to have better chemistry and more success in 2023-24.
Instead, Chris Paul hardly had his expected impact and Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins underwent considerable regressions. The team still managed a two-win improvement, but it was not enough to secure a playoff spot in a deep Western Conference.
4) Philadelphia 76ers
Despite being a seven-time All-Star and a perennial MVP candidate, Joel Embiid has never reached the Eastern Conference Finals in seven tries. This includes five exits in the Eastern Conference Semis (three in Game 7s) and a pair of First Round losses. This season, a team that played more than half the season without Embiid finished the year on a nine-game winning streak to reach the postseason, only to lose in the opening round to the New York Knicks.
Philly’s average margin of defeat against the Knicks was just 4.5 points and Sixers fans will have to wonder if a Joel Embiid-led team will ever be able to win when it counts.
3) Milwaukee Bucks
With the addition of superstar point guard Damian Lillard to aid the efforts of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the Bucks had a strong shot to add their second NBA Title of the 2020s. Instead, a tumultuous season saw a mid-season coaching change, a nine-win decline, and ultimately a first-round exit in the playoffs. Full weight cannot be given to the playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers since Giannis missed the entire series while Dame was out for two games. But it is difficult to ignore that Milwaukee wasted the best offensive season of the Greek Freak’s career and failed to capitalize on the first of three years of its Big Three.
2) Phoenix Suns
Year two of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and year one of KD, Booker, and Bradley Beal was not as fruitful as Suns fans hoped. Even with new coach Frank Vogel, the team only managed a modest four-win improvement (45 to 49 wins) as an improved Western Conference meant that Phoenix only earned a six seed in the playoffs. It was from early on in the team’s playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves that the Suns were overmatched. Minnesota’s length and athleticism bothered Phoenix to no end and Anthony Edwards looked every bit of the player compared to Michael Jordan as he exposed Durant defensively.
Like the Bucks, the Suns have two more years with their Big Three, so judgment cannot be passed entirely on one season. But Booker, Beal, and Durant were all healthy for the playoffs, and the team’s lack of fight against the Timberwolves made the Suns one of the NBA’s biggest failures in 2023-24.
1) Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies were a surprise upstart team in the Western Conference over the last few years, earning a two-seed in the West in 2022 and 2023. This season was always going to be more difficult, as star guard Ja Morant began the year with a 25-game suspension. His return proved to be short-lived, as Morant suffered a season-ending shoulder injury after just nine games back. The team was 6-3 with its MVP candidate on the floor and 21-52 with him out of the lineup while finishing last in the NBA in offensive efficiency. The result was a 24-win decline for a team that shuffled through lineups like a deck of cards.
More must-reads: