With a five-year supermax salary of $317 million, do the Suns really want to rebuild? But you don’t even have the draft picks.

The new season is about to kick off. In the past few days, Westbrook finally found his next home, joining the Kings for 3.6 million a year. However, this is also an unguaranteed contract, and the Kings can lay off him at any time. Durant renewed his contract with the Rockets for 90 million in two years. He was sincere and willing to make salary space for young people. However, the negotiation between Ethan's team and the Rockets collapsed and they wanted too much. Judging from the team strength rankings for the new season given by the US media ESPN and the NBA official website, the Eastern Conference is basically dominated by the Knicks and Cavaliers. As long as they do not have extensive injuries, it is not a big problem to lock in the first and second places. As for the Magic, Pistons, Bucks and even the 76ers, they basically belong to the second echelon, and every family has its own hard-to-learn experience, whether it is injury risks or the boss wants to leave.

The situation in the Western Conference is more complicated. In addition to the absolute strength of the defending champion Thunder, the Nuggets + Rockets + Clippers, plus the Timberwolves who have reached the Western Conference Finals for two consecutive seasons, are all moving closer to the Thunder. This basically locks in 5 of the direct tickets to the playoffs. The Lakers, Warriors, Mavericks, Spurs and other teams, including the Kings and Grizzlies behind them, may have to fight in the playoffs. However, in the new season, the Western Conference has a bad tank team, and several US media have basically reached a consensus on the rankings: Jazz, Suns, and Pelicans, these three teams have a high probability of being at the bottom. ESPN ranked the Suns 26th in the new season's strength list, and the NBA official website ranked them 25th. This is different from what Suns owner Ishbia said.

During the offseason, including media days, Suns owner Ishbia expressed confidence that the team’s goal for the new season is to win more games than last season. By building a reasonable lineup configuration, the team will remain competitive and successful in the future. Last season, the Suns had 36 wins and 46 losses, eventually ranking 11th in the Western Conference, but only two games ahead of the 13th-place Spurs. During the offseason, the Suns management was very busy: they bought out Bill's remaining two-year 110 million maximum salary contract and extended the payment for five years; sent Durant to the Rockets in exchange for Jaylen Green + Brooks + the No. 10 pick (Maruac was selected), including the exchange for Mark Williams. The Suns, from the owner to the management, are essentially very resistant to messing up. But what ceiling does the team have?

After Durant and Bill left one after another during the offseason, Booker received a two-year super maximum salary extension of 145 million U.S. dollars. Starting from the new season, the salary will be: 53.14 million + 57.08 million + 61.02 million + 69.88 million + 75.47 million U.S. dollars, for a total of 5 years of 317 million super maximum salary! But Booker has never been a qualified boss. Before Paul came, Booker led the team all year round. His own statistics were exaggerated and gorgeous, and everyone in the team bullied him. After Paul arrived, he took the team to the finals, but then the team began to plummet. In 2023, Booker and Durant took turns playing singles, and eventually lost to the championship Nuggets; that summer, Paul left and Beal came, but in the summer of 24, the Big Three were swept 4-0 by the Timberwolves; last season, they couldn't even get a ticket to the play-offs.

First of all, Booker is indeed an exaggerated scorer. He has averaged more than 25 points per game for 7 consecutive seasons. He and Antetokounmpo are the only ones in the league who can do this! But Booker has no organizational skills (his assists and ball holding ratio are too low), and the defense is easily targeted (last season, the team's defensive efficiency difference was -5.1 when he was on and off the court), and his On-Off value was -0.9. Especially when Durant is absent, Booker leads the team to win. Booker does play easily when he has an organizer like Paul to revitalize the team, or when Durant attracts the most defensive attention from the opponent. But without this level of trump card, Booker can still score points, but he can't lead the team. In the new season, Booker has locked in the No. 1 position!

This is why the American media are generally not optimistic about the sun! The sun will also return to the position at the rear of the western sky 6 years ago. But the Suns have long been incapable of losing. The swap rights in 2026 are in the hands of the Magic or Grizzlies, the first-round pick in 2027 is in the hands of the Rockets, the swap rights in 28 are in the hands of the Knicks or Nets, the first-round pick in 29 is in the hands of the Rockets or Nets, and the swap rights in 30 years are in the hands of the Wizards and Grizzlies! First of all, the Suns can't continue to strengthen, they only have one first-round pick that can be traded; secondly, the Suns can't mess it up, which is equivalent to making a wedding dress for the Nets, Rockets, and Grizzlies. The most helpless thing is that after Booker completes this contract extension, when he is 34 years old, he can get a salary of US$75.47 million!

Booker is available for trade, but the Suns list him as not for sale. But as time goes by, Booker will depreciate more and more, until in the last three years, he will become a burden! As for the Suns' lineup, there is also no hope of rebuilding. Jaylen Green has been trained by the Rockets for four years and has made no progress; Mark Williams is not wanted by the Hornets, so Dunn and Maluachi are the only ones left. He has the "strength" to show off, but he doesn't have the qualifications to show off. He can't help himself. From another perspective, if you are not a family and don't enter the same door, maybe only the Suns understand Booker's goodness, just like the 76ers and George, keep it for yourself.