The Phoenix Suns appear to be a long chance to win the NBA Championship in 2024 as I write this.

The Suns appear dated, sluggish, and uncoordinated, even if the series with the Minnesota Timberwolves is still ongoing. It’s also difficult to picture this Suns squad defeating any of the other top teams, like the Denver Nuggets, even in the unlikely case of a comeback.

Naturally, a lot of supporters are staring back rather than ahead. returning to the untraveled path. The other reality. the one in which, on February 20, 2023, the Suns failed to complete a blockbuster trade that would have sent Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson.

And maybe even a different scenario where the Suns had not traded Deandre Ayton, their only #1 overall pick in team history, to the Portland Trailblazers in September of last year as part of a trade that also netted them Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen.

In these situations, it is difficult to hold a fan accountable for being a revisionist. Prior to the KD agreement, the future appeared promising, didn’t it? That core had, after all, just been on the verge of winning an NBA championship. And now that Durant is getting older, the future appears to be limited.

To shock some, though, I would probably choose the same course of action again. Why? That seems ridiculous, doesn’t it?

To be honest, I’ll concede that it might. However, I personally admire (the majority) of the audacious moves made since Mat Ishbia succeeded Robert Sarver as owner. This is no longer the organization that does nothing, that is scared to invest a huge amount of money, that just accepts its place as a mid-market team and aspires to compete every few years.

No. This is a more daring Suns team that was prepared to take a chance on a string of high-risk/high-reward decisions that it knew would not win over a significant portion of the fan base. They leapt despite the expense when they saw an opportunity to bring an all-time great scorer to Phoenix.

It could be accurate to say that it was safe to stand pat, run it back, and try to develop the “core” Suns into something more than they had previously been. The possibility that it was the right decision is an untestable hypothesis.

I’m hoping that the 2024 Suns are not done. I’m hoping they can shift gears and have a successful postseason run. I genuinely do.

I won’t, however, wish they had erred on the side of caution. The brave will reap rewards from fortune. In due course. That’s got to be true.