2. Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal
Three superstar scorers. One basketball. The Phoenix Suns’ Big 3 may not be the best in the NBA this season, but it will be the most interesting.
Since the Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021, the entire roster has been turned over with one exception: Devin Booker. He’s the building block for this franchise and the one constant running through the building. He gets top billing.
The 26-year-old took his scoring to a new level last season, averaging a career-high 27.8 points per game while hitting a personal best 49.4 percent of his shots. The arrival of Bradley Beal and a full season of Kevin Durant could lessen his scoring numbers, but might open up chances to be even more efficient from the floor.
Speaking of KD, he struggled with injuries last season, only appearing in eight regular season games for Phoenix. The Suns won every single one of those games. For the full season, he invented the 55-40-90 club. With defenders needing to account for Booker and Beal, Durant can supplant his historic efficiency.
The fit gets messy with Beal, who has only ever played for one franchise and grew accustomed in recent years to needing to do everything for his team. Some nights, he’ll be the top option for Phoenix. But some nights, he’ll be third-fiddle. How will he adjust to that?
There are a lot of questions beyond who will score the most points in this Big 3. There’s no natural point guard among them and no defensive aces, either. Suns games are going to be very high-scoring, calling back to the days when Mike D’Antoni and Steve Nash were running the show.
The Suns have never won an NBA title. This Big 3 might be the core that gets them to that elusive goal, as long as Frank Vogel can get all the pieces to gel.