In the western semi-final of 2022, the sun without Kevin Durant was defeated by the Lone Ranger 90-123 in the seven.

In the western semi-final of 2023, Durant’s Sun didn’t even hit the seven. They were defeated by the Nuggets in the sixth game with 100-125.

In exchange for a super star, the sun made no progress. Of course, there is a factor of injury. After all, Chris Paul and DeAndre Elton didn’t play in 6 games due to injury. But from the playoffs, the top-heavy sun is not as dominant as expected even if all the people are healthy.

Of course, the sun can choose to regroup and come again next season, but like the Bucks who were out in the first round before, they are subject to the team’s salary situation, the reserve of picks and the new labor agreement, on the premise of retaining the core four-person group, it is extremely difficult for the Sun to compete for the Crown. If you want to unbind, the sun can only start with dealing with Paul and Ayton, but even if you unbind, the strength of the sun is difficult to be greatly improved.

8 games, 159 minutes, attack efficiency 122.3 points, defense efficiency 105 points, hundred rounds net win 17.3 points.

This is the data of the regular season of The Sun core four-member group. If the sun is superstitious about this group of data showing dominance, then James Jones, the general manager of the offseason, can retain Paul and Elton. Ayton itself was in the guarantee contract period. The variable was Paul. His contract for the 2023-24 season was partially guaranteed ($15.8 million), while the 2024-25 season was non-guaranteed, sun only needs to convert Paul’s 2023-24 season contract into a guarantee contract.

But the four men Booker, Durant, Paul and Ayton account for 87% of the salary space of the sun, and it is inevitable to pay luxury taxes. Ishbia was willing to throw money when he became the boss of the sun, but the new labor agreement came into effect next season and the play changed. It was not you who was rich and willing to throw money. The total salary of the sun is close to the Super Tyrant line of 0.1795 billion dollars. Once it exceeds, they will not be able to use the mini middle exception.

The sun can leave okogi, Craig and Landale, and then go to the free market to get a basic salary contract to introduce players with high cost performance. The Sun has the early bird clause of Landale and Craig, and it is relatively easy to retain them. Okoji signed a one-year base salary, and the Sun couldn’t get a contract with an annual salary of more than $2.8 million to retain Okoji.

The sun left these players and used the basic salary to recruit them. The deep improvement will not be obvious, which will not help the overall strength of the sun. Okogi and Craig were released into the playoffs, landale is hard-working but has a general talent.

Durant and Paul all had injury risks. Durant played 137 games in the three seasons after his return. The 38-year-old Paul’s playoff injury curse was terrible. Once the core players have injuries, the fault tolerance rate is too low at the depth of the sun.

If the Sun wants to play big, the management can first consider dealing with the non-guaranteed contract between Paul and Cameron Payne. Paul’s competitive state has been declining. Payne signed a contract of $19 million for 3 years after playing an efficient performance in 2020-21. However, Payne’s efficiency has plummeted in the last two seasons and lost his former light.

If the sun gives up Paul and Payne, this operation will not help the boss to save money, but to improve his strength. Because they gave up Paul and Payne, the total salary of the sun still exceeded the salary cap. They could only use the full middle-class exception of 12.2 million dollars and the double-year exception of 4.5 million dollars to reorganize the No. 1 position, you can’t catch up with big names such as James Harden who may jump out of the contract.

The sun can basically skip this solution, and the rest is trading. If the sun explores trading, Paul and Elton are the players most likely to be put on the shelves. They are already the chips that the sun still has trading value. Pure shooters like Shamet with the curse of “second round must be out” may not have a team look at the market unless the sun is upside down.

Paul is still valuable when he is healthy. He assists the fifth in the league this season. His problems lie in his age and attendance. Nowadays, strong teams generally have no shortage of starting point guards. Perhaps the middle game teams waiting for the rise need Paul, but Paul’s high annual salary may deter these teams.

Elton has scored the second highest in his 18-point career this season, and he has captured more than 9 rebounds in five consecutive seasons. Alton’s data seems good, but the problem is obvious. His strength and style of play are problematic. His relationship with manager Monty Williams and management is also a hidden danger, these have directly affected Elton’s enthusiasm on the court.

On the issue of two people staying, Paul may be willing to stay in the team but can’t stay, while Elton may not want to stay at all.

But even if the Sun wants to make a deal, it is not so easy. It is still the problem of the new labor agreement. According to the regulations, the salary that a team like sun can exchange in trading dropped from 125 percent to 110 percent, which directly compressed the trading space of sun.

Want to sign before changing? The operation is also very difficult. ESPN labor agreement expert Bobby Max gave an example: it is rumored that The Lone Ranger is interested in Elton. If The Sun wants to sign with the Lone Ranger first and then change to Carey Owen, the sun sends Paul and Elton, the Lone Ranger sent Owen and Tim Hardaway, and the deal could not be completed because the sun would trigger a hard cap of 0.169 billion dollars.

The current situation of the Sun is that they need to make up for almost every position. The playoff Sun replacement team scored 18.2 points, the second from the bottom, only higher than basketable nets.

But the Sun wants to strengthen, it really has no chips. In Durant’s deal, the sun had already hollowed out the house. They sent out the first round of signing in 2025, 2027 and 2029 and the first round of swap in 2028. At present, the solar energy is only the first round of exchange rights and five rounds of signing in 2024 and 2026.

Under the new labor agreement, Sun’s trading and signing will be greatly restricted. If Terence Ross is signed in the buyout market in the middle, the sun will not be available next season.

I think the sun was exchanged for Durant to raise the team ceiling and break the window paper floor. The offensive fire of Booker and Durant was indeed fierce, but it was like Gai Lou. The Sun Foundation was unstable, and the natural cover collapsed when it was not high. The so-called “lifting upper limit” was impossible to talk about.

There are a lot of decisions to be made by the sun during the off-season this year. The only lucky thing for the sun management than the stag management is that the sun has rarely paid the tax because of the stingy former boss Savall in the past few years, they will not trigger super tax next season.

When the sun management summarizes this failed season, will they regret to exchange Durant who turned 35 in September this year? I don’t know.

Anyway, after fate forks, the Sun has no turning back.