51 million more than the Warriors! The Suns spent 626 million in the past two years and did not win a single playoff game

In 2023, the Suns traded Durant and Bill, and formed a Big Three combination with Booker, but almost all the team was broken down, and there were few members who reached the finals in 2021. I thought that after forming the Big Three, the Suns had greater hope of winning the championship, but not only did the Suns not return to the finals, they even failed to win a playoff game.

This summer, the Suns first traded Durant to the Rockets, and then reached a buyout agreement with Bill, so the Big Three combination ushered in a breakup, and the Suns became Booker's single-core team again. Not only that, Suns also reached a two-year, $145 million maximum salary renewal contract with Booker, which means that Suns will continue to rebuild with Booker as the core in the future.

Looking back at the sun over the past few years, it is indeed a bit like a roller coaster. Before Paul joined, the Suns were in reconstruction. Although they had won several high picks, they had no improvement. Until Paul joined, the Suns completed their reconstruction in one fell swoop, and they reached the finals directly in 2021, but unfortunately they failed to win the championship.

I thought the Sun would continue to maintain its peak next time, but after changing to a new boss, the Sun was ambitious and formed a combination of three giants, but ended up in a mess. From the perspective of hindsight, if the Suns had no trade to Durant and Bill, they might still be the top teams in the West and have hope of competing for the championship.

It is worth mentioning that because the Big Three receives maximum salary, the Suns' salary expenditure in the past two seasons has also been quite high, with a total spending of $626 million on salary and luxury taxes, ranking first in the league. Among them, a lot of luxury tax was paid. The total expenditure last season was close to about 400 million US dollars, and luxury tax accounted for half.

The Suns' total salary in the past two seasons not only leads the league, but also $51 million more than the second-ranked Golden State Warriors. However, under the leadership of the Big Three, the Suns have never won a playoff game. In the 23-24 season, although the Suns made the playoffs, they were swept out 4-0 by the Timberwolves in the first round. In the 24-25 season, the Suns did not even have the qualification to playoffs, so they failed to enter the playoffs. In sharp contrast to this, all teams except the Suns have won at least one playoff game in the top 10 teams in total spending in the past two seasons. In addition, the Pelicans' total spending in the past two seasons was only $336 million, $290 million less than the Suns, but they have also made it to the playoffs and are almost comparable to the Suns' performance. From this point of view, the Big Three of the Suns are undoubtedly very failed.