Inside The Suns

Analyst Picks Suns as Darkhorse Champion

The Phoenix Suns could move through the West better than some people think.

Donnie Druin

Oct 6, 2024; Palm Desert, California, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) moves the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Acrisure Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Palm Desert, California, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) moves the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Acrisure Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images / David Frerker-Imagn Images
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PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns are considered a good - but not great team - ahead of the 2024-25 season.

The Suns tout a handful of stars in Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker with key role players in Jusuf Nurkic, Tyus Jones, Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale under the new whistle of head coach Mike Budenholzer.

Phoenix crawled their way to 49 regular season wins before being booted out of the playoffs in embarrassing fashion.

Is a turnaround expected for the new year? You could say that.

NBA analyst and former NBA Finals champ Kendrick Perkins is picking the Suns as his "darkhorse" pick to win it all this season.

"They're my darkhorse to win it all," said Perkins.

"We saw a disgruntled, unhappy Kevin Durant average 27 points last year - and he wasn't seeing eye to eye with Frank Vogel. Now he's coming in, fresh start, fresh off winning the Olympic gold medal, we saw the joy that he was playing with.

"Now he's got Mike Budenholzer over there - Mike Budenholzer's coming in with something to prove, felt like he shouldn't have got fired from the Milwaukee Bucks. Bradley Beal's happy, we saw how great Devin Booker looked in the Olympics - and they filled in the pieces.

"This guy (Mason) Plumlee, he is so valuable to this team. Every single team he's been on, he's helped them move the goal post on both ends of the floor."

Perkins didn't mention arguably the biggest addition in point guard Tyus Jones, who has already flashed his value in terms of table-setting and organizing Phoenix's offense through two preseason games.

With an actual point guard running the show, that should help the Suns' efficiency on both ends of the floor.

There's plenty of reason to like Phoenix moving into next season - will it be enough to topple a tough Western Conference?

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Donnie Druin
DONNIE DRUIN

Donnie Druin is the Publisher for All Cardinals and Inside The Suns. Donnie moved to Arizona in 2012 and has been with Fan Nation since 2018. In college he won "Best Sports Column" in the state of Arizona for his section and has previously provided coverage for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona State Sun Devils. Follow Donnie on Twitter @DonnieDruin for more news, updates, analysis and more!

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