Suns’ Devin Booker: Last two years were toughest of my career

The Suns’ grand plan of building around a so-called “Big Three” is officially finished — and maybe finished faster than anyone thought.

Kevin Durant has been traded to the Rockets, with Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks headed to Phoenix. Bradley Beal? He was bought out and quickly scooped up by the Clippers.

And the Suns themselves? They’re turning to former Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their new head coach.

That leaves Devin Booker. He’s the last of the three who was supposed to take Phoenix from contender to champion. It never happened. It barely ever came close.

Now, the organization is in something of a reset. They’re moving on from expensive stars who didn’t fit, giving the coaching reins to a first-timer, and leaning on Booker to be the anchor.

That may not excite fans in the short term, but it does at least simplify things. One star, one voice, one direction.

Booker, to his credit, isn’t sugarcoating the past two years. He told Burns & Gambo there was a “disconnect” in last season’s group.

“I don’t think there was any hatred in our last group amongst the guys,” Booker said. “I just think when you are all on a different plan and don’t have the same common goal or same objective, then that’s what it turns into.”

He also called the past two seasons “the toughest of my career.”

That says plenty. Because if Booker, a guy who’s been through plenty of losing and plenty of change, says this has been the hardest stretch, you know the issues ran deep.

The Suns are moving on now. Whether it’s forward or sideways, that depends on what they do from here.

But one thing is certain — the Big Three era in Phoenix is over, and only Booker remains to tell the tale.

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