Game Day (Playoffs Round 1, Game 3): Thunder (2-0) @ Suns (0-2), Sat 4/25/26

[Kryptonic]

We would come to refer to that as the "malaise" era.

No…. I’d rather have a bunch of scrappy youth with potential than a bunch of has beens and a first round exit. The point is to grow each year, not be content with “malaise”.

[Superbone]

I'll never understand this "ride or die" with Book attitude... This fan base evidently would rather have a "cool guy" than a freaking championship. Stop treating this like a city league team with all your buds and we might get somewhere.

Tell em

You guys... It doesn't matter what the fan base wants. The only thing that matters is what the Front Office wants. You are farting up the wrong tree.

[Superbone]

And please tell me who's going to trade for Booker at his contract cost after seeing his production and performance in the playoffs? Like you all say, he's a 2nd or 3rd banana at best. Who in their right mind would pay $316 MILLION DOLLARS <\Dr Evil> for that? Maybe a reality check is in order for the fan base.

[Mori Chu]

I think in retrospect we'll wish we had traded Book to Houston for all our draft picks back, rather than KD. Yes KD sucks and is a cancer, but we could have traded him somewhere else other than Houston. Trading both Book and KD to get all our picks back and maybe some young talent and non-Suns picks would have been a great start to a rebuild.

[The Bobster]

The NBA is a league where if you don't have exceptional top end stars or a hopeless front office your team is drawn towards mediocrity. The cap eventually forces teams to make tough decisions as their young talent get older and their salaries rise, with the good ones falling to mediocrity and the poorly-managed ones becoming the teams tanking in hopes of stumbling across generational talent to carry them up to the top.

Some of the top teams may be able to lean on their stars longer than others, but eventually age and the cap takes them all down (even you Spurs!)

The worst places to be are the teams trapped in the lottery every year because of bad luck and bad decisions (like drafting Dragan Bender, Josh Jackson and Alex Len) or teams that are trapped in the middle, winning 35-45 games a year, with no cap space and no obvious way to get better.

If you're trapped in the middle like the Suns, your best bet is trades. Either by trading your top talent for multiple players and picks and hoping they work out for you (Like Larry Nance and Mike Sanders for Kevin Johnson, Mark West, Ty Corbin and the pick for Dan Majerle) or deals for smaller pieces that fit together better or end up exceeding expectations. Sure, you can add an occasional MLE free agent, but those usually aren't guys who will move the needle much. And you can wait around for a Ricky Rubio/Ty Jerome for Chris Paul deal to present itself, but those are few and far between.

[The Bobster]

And please tell me who's going to trade for Booker at his contract cost after seeing his production and performance in the playoffs? Like you all say, he's a 2nd or 3rd banana at best. Who in their right mind would pay $316 MILLION DOLLARS <\Dr Evil> for that? Maybe a reality check is in order for the fan base.

Detroit?

I thought it was a bad deal when they signed him to it and it's only gotten worse since then and will continue to get worse as he gets older.

They're going to need a team who thinks they're a player away making a trade where they trade some attractive pieces and salary filler to us much like Houston did for Durant.

Brooks and Green certainly have to be considered available in the right deals too.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Year one on a reset movement and people is freaking out because the team is struggling and calling for more heads.

Booker have a lot of gravity, as we could see on every game he didn’t play, the constant struggle to generate a single shot even for Jalen Green. It’s clear that every team plans for Booker, and now they know, that pressure him and trapping him early is a very effective way to disrupt his rhythm. But the coaching staff insists on putting the ball on his hand as initiator.

The guy is acting like a Pro through his prime with a hopeless team so no, it’s not a ride or die for me, it’s just correspondence to his team first attitude, instead of a Giannis-LeBron-Butler like approach.

As much as some people dismiss his importance to the team and how far they got, they still are thinking that teams are lining up to offer multiple firsts and youth and the Crown Jewels for him. But that’s not true either, maybe some sucker will, but most likely this is going to be a very disappointing trade, so I’m better with keeping him and developing a team that outgrow him.

The malaise years didn’t include a Fleming or Maluach watch and the front office didn’t had the guts to end it, it’s ending came on the back of the French fries incident.

The coaching staff, the FO, the players and the fans took too much kool aid with the early success riding under the radar on a supposedly lost season. Once the league adjusted, scouted properly and take the court knowing it wasn’t a night off playing the Suns, the cracks showed up and the team was unable to get by on effort only anymore. Ott was exhibited as a one trick pony and the effort on defense faded as well.

Early 2026 we were talking about a 4th or 5th seed, but the reality is that we overachieved at 7th, and without further development from the players but specially from the coaching staff, we will regress next year at this same level.

Stop asking for a Booker’s rescue, even as a our highest paid player, and start asking more for everyone around him. But even with this painful closure, it was a great year considering what I think was coming. I’m ok with it, but I know we can’t move forward without fundamental changes, let’s not repeat the mistake we make at the trade line, when everybody was asking to keep the team together to avoid disrupting their chemistry.

[Superbone]

In hindsight, getting Kuminga would have been the right move. He would have addressed our starting PF needs.

[ShelC]

Nah Kuminga wasn't it either.

[Superbone]

Nah Kuminga wasn't it either.

You'd rather go without a starting PF? What was a better alternative that was available?

[ShelC]

We could've played Fleming or Dunn more. I don't want a band-aid stop gap on a new contract who's not moving the needle for us and keeps us in the middle of the pack for the next 2-3 years. Develop the young talent or try and get a difference maker. Kuminga isn't a difference maker and he's a SF playing PF anyway.

[wpmiller42]

In hindsight, getting Kuminga would have been the right move. He would have addressed our starting PF needs.

I was hoping we would get Kuminga, but everything I read online was that GS's asking price was too high. I feel like I read it was Grayson, Maluach, and a pick? So I'm glad we didn't do that.

[Superbone]

In hindsight, getting Kuminga would have been the right move. He would have addressed our starting PF needs.

I was hoping we would get Kuminga, but everything I read online was that GS's asking price was too high. I feel like I read it was Grayson, Maluach, and a pick? So I'm glad we didn't do that.

Yeah, no way. Not worth Maluach and we can't afford to give any picks away at this point. In fact, we need to acquire some.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Nah Kuminga wasn't it either.

You'd rather go without a starting PF? What was a better alternative that was available?

I would have asked Indiana about Obi Toppin