What are we most curious about for the Suns to begin 2024-25?

The Phoenix Suns are fighting to stand out this season. Odds are they will be pretty good. Just maybe they’ll contend.

An offseason of upgrading the roster around the Big 3 has left them with an improved group on paper with questions lingering.

In the first season preview roundtable, we asked our participants to set the bar for Phoenix’s 2024-25 season.

Now we asked them to pick out one point of intrigue: What one storyline (or player) are they most curious about as the Suns embark on this season?

Who or what are you most curious about as the Phoenix Suns enter the 2024-25 season?

Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo: Seventy-two hours ago, I would have said Jusuf Nurkic or maybe even Ryan Dunn, but our colleague Kellan Olson has convinced me otherwise: it’s Bradley Beal. His role has to expand, flex and contract depending on the night and the situation. He must defend with a ferocity that he hasn’t totally embraced in his career.

He must concede that he is not the one or the two and be the best supporting actor he can. Is he overqualified to stand in the corner and shoot 3s? Absolutely, but that’s life on the Phoenix Suns.

Kellan Olson, co-host of the Empire of the Suns podcast and Arizona Sports at Night: Does something happen to balance out this roster? This could be Beal thriving as the third banana. This could be Ryan Dunn emerging as a starter by the All-Star break. This could be the perfect trade falling into the Suns’ lap. As it stands right now, it’s just a little off.

Beal becoming a do-it-all third star would add so much to little areas that Phoenix needs to fill the gaps in, while also providing the Suns with a guy who can dominate sections of a game so it’s not all on Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Dunn can become the wing the Suns do not have in an NBA when 3-and-D wings with size are absolutely vital to serious success. Trading one of Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale or Josh Okogie to find that type of wing is surely on the table by midseason, but that wing becoming available is a whole other thing.

Kevin Zimmerman, co-host of the Empire of the Suns podcast and ArizonaSports.com lead editor: To get super specific, can the Suns find their Death Lineup? Doing that means they’ve found an identity and a clear group to close games, even if it pushes out a player who once had a bigger role.

The league is getting weird, where some team’s point guard on one end could be a center on the other. For Phoenix, it doesn’t get that crazy, but is there a “center” who can be a switchable defender and floor spacer to complement, in theory, the Big 3 and point guard Tyus Jones? Dunn enters the season as the top candidate if he indeed keeps his shooting at passable levels.

Getting less specific, what does that mean for Allen and Nurkic? Can they be impactful with reduced roles if someone steps up? What if Beal, as many in this roundtable brought up, doesn’t find traction?

This will be a fascinating development — or lack thereof — to determine the Suns’ ceiling.

John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo: How they handle the long grind of an 82-game season when they are small and lack traditional wing players. The Suns have a lot of strengths but there are some weaknesses and defensively they may be challenged with these issues.

Vince Marotta, co-host of Bickley & Marotta: For me, it’s Beal. He was good in his first year in Phoenix, but clearly he needs to be better for the Suns to accomplish their ultimate goals. I’m also curious how Beal operates in a three-guard lineup and what happens if/when Dunn makes a bid to join the starting lineup to add size, athleticism and defense.

Could Beal be the first man off the bench? Would he be amenable? Can you do that with a player making $50 million? With all of these questions, it’s easy to see why I think Beal is absolutely integral to the Suns’ success.

Luke Lapinski, co-host of Wolf & Luke: There are a lot, honestly. Drafting a rookie with crazy defensive upside, the addition of a couple of true point guards and the commitment to firing up a lot more threes as a team all make the honorable mention list. But my answer’s actually going to be Booker’s evolution in Year 10.

He’s still got plenty of time to win a championship (or multiple championships), but nothing’s guaranteed in this league. And if you take a step back, this might be the best roster he’s been on so far. It’s certainly up there. How does the guy who’s going to go down as the greatest Sun of all time someday get his team to the next level now? What did that Olympic experience bring out in him? And what does his version of growing as a leader look like?

That last one is something Booker brought up on his own last week. And if we’ve learned anything over the last decade, it’s that Devin Booker usually improves when he says he’s going to improve.

Alex Weiner, ArizonaSports.com editor: Dunn will probably be a popular answer for this considering the Suns have not drafted and developed a really good young player in a few years, and Dunn becoming a staple would be a significant development for the bench unit this year and beyond.

Another storyline is just how many 3-pointers the Suns will take this year to spread the floor. Phoenix took the 24th most triples last year and had the fifth-highest shooting percentage from deep. The Bucks were top-five in 3s taken in four of Budenholzer’s five years there.

Mitch Vareldzis, co-host of Arizona Sports at Night: How will the second most expensive team in the league respond if this fails to bring a Larry O’Brien trophy to Phoenix? There have been reports about a Durant extension that could be offered next offseason, but if you keep spending money and it doesn’t bring you the results you want, then you may have to consider adjusting your strategy.

Owner Mat Ishbia has said to Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo that living in the second apron is not a forever thing. Eventually, the penalties will start to add up, and even the uber-competitive Ishbia will likely flex fiscal responsibility at some point.

So the storyline for me is what decision is made up top if the product on the court fails to return on investment. I am not saying “they will blow it up” if they fail, but don’t be surprised if there is an emphasis on filling out the roster through the draft or other means.

The West continues to be the tougher conference so a lot will need to go right for Phoenix the way it’s currently constructed.

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