For the 2nd year in a row, Suns face come-to-Jesus moment for Christmas

Through 28 games last season, the Phoenix Suns had lost eight of 11 times to fall to 14-14 heading into their Christmas Day matchup. And through 28 games so far this season, the Phoenix Suns have lost eight of 11 times, once again falling to 14-14 heading into their Christmas Day matchup.

Despite a year of continuity, improved bench depth, a head coaching change and a new system that finally has the Suns shooting more 3-pointers, the same issues continue to fester.

At a certain point, the highest-paid common denominators from last year have to be the ones responsible for eradicating those problems, or else wholesale change may not be far behind.

Perhaps there’s no better time for a come-to-Jesus moment than Jesus’ birthday. Last year, it came in the form of an ass-kicking at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, punctuated by a 50-point, 15-assist beatdown from Luka Doncic. If Monday’s 117-90 loss to the Denver Nuggets was any indication, their Christmas Day rematch in Phoenix may inflict similar pain.

But whether it’s the Suns’ double-digit rout from Dec. 23 or one that feels inbound for Dec. 25, the Suns have been spiraling for a while now. They’re 6-13 since their 8-1 start, and while Kevin Durant’s injuries undoubtedly set them down this path, he’s been back for the last five games now. His superhuman presence hasn’t prevented lifeless, rock-bottom losses to sub-.500 teams like the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons.

Devin Booker’s absence be damned; just like it was with KD earlier in the season, this team should be nowhere near as helpless when one of Booker, Durant or Bradley Beal is sidelined.

Ask 10 different Suns fans what the biggest problem is, and you might get 10 separate answers. The center position in general, lack of size, wing depth, Jusuf Nurkic’s horrendous start, Beal needing to come off the bench, Booker regressing, KD’s leadership, Budenholzer’s coaching, inherent roster flaws, lack of athleticism — all of them have been offered up as the biggest culprit at some point this season.

There’s truth in almost all of those reasons, but the most important truth is that it doesn’t matter which weakness rises to the top of this anger-driven free-for-all. Because for a team that is expected to contend for a championship, with the type of payroll reserved for championship-level teams, led by an owner and front office with championship aspirations, this team is nowhere near championship-caliber.

And not only are they running out of time to prove they can ever get there, but there is no magical trade to plug up every hole that’s currently sinking this ship.

Make no mistake: That highly unlikely Jimmy Butler trade would certainly help! Butler would give the Suns additional size, length and switchable defense on the wing. He can get to the rim, score in isolation and elevate his performance in a playoff setting. And aside from his obvious fit as a two-way star, he’d address the current lack of dog that feels like a glaring problem in Phoenix at the moment.

But even if we ignore Beal holding all the power with his no-trade clause, and even if we suspend our disbelief that the Miami Heat would actually want Beal and his massive salary over simply keeping Jimmy Buckets, the Suns would still have problems even if they managed to swing that type of blockbuster move.

Because as much as Butler would be a more seamless fit compared to Beal, Phoenix only has one first-round pick in 2031 and three second-rounders to offer in trades. That means that even if they somehow convinced Beal to waive his no-trade clause and bamboozled Pat Riley into trading Butler to the Suns, they’d still likely lose the majority of their picks in that exchange.

So how exactly are they then supposed to pursue a much-needed upgrade at center, armed only with negligible draft capital and a bunch of second tax apron restrictions that prevent them from combining outgoing salaries or taking back more money than they send out?

That highly unlikely Jimmy Butler trade would make the Suns better. But even if that pipe dream became a reality, it would by no means solve all their problems.

Are the Suns fixable?

To that point, there is no external savior to be found here. There is no outside trade that fixes everything and sets Phoenix back on its desired path to a championship. “Blowing it up” isn’t a realistic option either, because unless Durant and/or Booker demand a trade, this front office isn’t hitting the eject button on the face of the franchise who’s only 28 years old, nor are they unceremoniously dumping the team’s best player.

Players talk in this league, so trading either one of those stars before they ask out would send a message to the entire NBA that loyalty isn’t valued in Phoenix. If Devin Booker and Kevin Durant aren’t safe, why would prospective free agents ever feel comfortable pledging their allegiance the Suns?

Blowing it up is a harder, more arduous path than impatient fans are willing to admit. Not every team can be an anomaly like the Oklahoma City Thunder, stockpiling dozens of draft picks while also assembling a young contender in a such a “short” span of time.

No, for the Suns to prove themselves as a legitimate playoff team that could actually contend in the Western Conference, their only hope lies in the same place it did at the start of the season: Internally.

That’s either a great comfort or an irrefutable condemnation of their prospects, depending on who you ask. Because so far, the Suns have shown little resolve when they’ve been put to the test. They’ve routinely folded when other teams have struck first, they’ve let third-quarter runs by their opponents spiral into debilitating deficits, their defense has put up zero resistance against mediocre competition, and bad habits like turnovers have slowly started to creep back into the picture.

Despite being more locked-in at the start of the season, Phoenix is now one of the worst half-court defenses in the league — a problem that’s compounded when lazy, live-ball turnovers gift their opponents easy runouts. Their effort, focus, size and athleticism have paled in comparison to the opposition on a nightly basis for weeks now. This group appears disjointed, demoralized and completely dumbfounded over how to fix it.

Monday’s inert loss to Denver felt like it should’ve been a breaking point. No one seems to have answers for how to snap this locker room out of its current funk, and once Booker is healthy enough to rejoin the lineup, his return alone won’t be enough to flip that switch.

Something needs to jumpstart this group so they can begin to address the myriad of on-court issues that need addressing, beyond these base-level problems of “effort,” “focus” and “grit.” For all the talk about tactical adjustments and roster reconfigurations — and trust us, we’ve covered and will continue to cover both of those at length — the Suns need a come-to-Jesus moment to exorcise whatever demons are lingering.

All the pieces are in place for this team to be better than what we’ve seen. They have a coach who has the Suns ranked in the top-10 in 3-point attempts. They replaced incapable role players like Keita Bates-Diop, Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks, Jordan Goodwin and Chimezie Metu with legitimate bench upgrades like Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Ryan Dunn, Mason Plumlee, Monte Morris and Oso Ighodaro. They even added a point guard in Tyus Jones like everyone was clamoring for!

But despite all of those upgrades on the margins, the Suns are still entering Christmas with the exact same record as last year. Their Big 3 can’t stay healthy, they’re way worse than they should be whenever one of them goes down, and something just feels inherently wrong.

A trade here or there could still help, but there is no Deus Machina coming to bail this team out. Starting on Christmas Day, the Suns have to prove they’re willing to do the dirty work in order to be the team that was expected…or face a reality where this roster looks very different over the next few months.