To say that the Phoenix Suns went through a disastrous 2024-25 season would be an understatement. A team that dreamed of competing for a championship after pulling off blockbuster trades for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal in 2023 has fallen off a cliff, ending the 2024-25 campaign with a 36-46 record and missing the postseason entirely. In the aftermath of this, the Suns have decided to relieve head coach Mike Budenholzer of his duties, and Phoenix is now going to have four different head coaches in four seasons. Among all 30 teams in the association, the Suns arguably have the bleakest outlook. They don’t control their own first-round pick until 2032, and it’s not like they have blue-chip youngsters on the roster ready to take on a larger role should they decide to run it back next season. Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro are solid rotation pieces (more so the former), but they are going to be high-caliber role players at best, barring an unforeseen development in year two from them. To that end, the Suns brass has to acknowledge that the team is going nowhere fast. They have to recoup as many assets as they can for whatever’s left of their barebones roster, and it has become abundantly clear who they must trade away. Suns must prepare to bid farewell to Kevin Durant Jerome Miron-Imagn Images When the Suns traded for Kevin Durant in 2023, it was easy to envision how competitive Phoenix was going to be for at least the next few seasons. But even then, the best they can muster in three years with Durant on the roster is a trip to the second round of the playoffs, where they were bounced by the eventual champion Denver Nuggets two years ago. The issue with the Suns’ roster in the immediate aftermath of that Durant trade was their lack of depth. But the new CBA rules and the Suns’ continued wheeling and dealing put them at such a tough spot, roster-building wise, that they never got to the point where they’re able to put together the supporting cast the team needed to compete in the loaded Western Conference. The Bradley Beal trade proved to be the nail in the coffin for this Suns team. Beal was expected to make the Suns’ offense unstoppable. Instead, it put the Suns’ cap sheet in total hell, necessitating other moves that ended up putting the team at an even worse spot than they already were. Trading away Deandre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen was seen as a solid move to give the team more playable pieces, but the Suns simply backed themselves into a corner with that one after trading for Beal. And Beal has proven to be a disaster in the Valley, playing in just 53 games each year and being marginalized even further in the team’s offense. His production this season of 17/3/4 is a trainwreck considering that he’s about to make a total of $110 million until 2027. If given the choice, the Suns would much rather trade away Beal. But Beal, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, will have to agree to any prospective deal, complicating matters for Phoenix. Teams that could accept a potential Beal trade are teams the veteran guard wouldn’t want to go to, and at this point, the 31-year-old guard appears to be happily stuck in the Valley. There are even rumors that the Suns may decide to buy out Beal’s contract, which would be a horrific, if fitting, capper to this ordeal. Devin Booker could get the Suns’ rebuild going in one fell swoop. Booker would net the Suns a boatload of first-round picks and quality young players. But it’s rare for a superstar player to go out and say outright that he would want to stay on the team through the good and the bad. It would be an even bigger slap to an already hurting Suns fanbase if the front office decides to trade away their homegrown star who’s been with the team since 2015. Trading Durant away is not preferable for the Suns. In an ideal universe, they would much rather keep the ageless star who averaged 27/6/4 this season. But with the Suns having to hit the reset button, a Durant trade should be their first step to climbing out of the hole they’ve dug themselves in. Durant will be in the final year of his contract next season, and many teams will still be lining up for his services. He fits into every team as one of the most dynamic scorers in the league and a proven superstar who can produce under any circumstance. Suns fans shouldn’t have too much attachment to Durant as well, which would make trading him away an easier sell to a fanbase that just wants its beloved team to right the ship.