The December 10th loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder was not fun. It was a 49-point blowout, and the good guys couldn’t even crack 90 on the scoreboard. But when there is an all-time great team in the league, rarely does anyone else get to have fun.
When your team is in the middle of one of the worst decades in franchise history, it is not fun to watch a team that just won 73 games add Kevin Durant.
When you are watching the last years of Steve Nash in the purple and orange, it is not fun to watch LeBron
James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh team up in Miami.
Most of all, it is never fun to watch the Lakers’ three-peat.
However, all three of these examples have something in common. All three dynasties were defeated by an unlikely foe. In 2019, the three-time champion Golden State Warriors lost to the Toronto Raptors. In 2011, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Heatles during the trio’s first playoff run together. In 2004, the Detroit Pistons effectively ended the Shaq and Kobe era Lakers during the duo’s last trip to the Finals.
What did these teams have in common? Is there a formula the Suns can follow to be the next great dynasty buster? Or should Phoenix simply bend the knee, trade Devin Booker, and hit the reset button?
2019: Toronto Raptors
Going into the 2019 season, the Toronto Raptors had finished five straight seasons with a winning record, finishing as a top-four seed each year.
They had just brought in new head coach Nick Nurse. Before him, Dwane Casey had led the team and helped build the culture for seven years.
For each of those seasons from 2014-2018, the team revolved around a core group of guys. That core consisted of Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valančiūnas, and DeMar DeRozan. Eventually, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby were added to that list.
For those five years, the Raptors fought hard and competed every night. Unfortunately for them, they never made it past LeBron in the DeMar DeRozan/Dwane Casey era. Among those five playoff appearances, Toronto lost to LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers three times, giving them the viral nickname “LeBronto”.
Yet, in these seasons, the same ones that saw the rise of the Golden Dynasty and possibly the greatest team in NBA history, the Raptors decided to try to win it all rather than sell and rebuild.
Going into the 2019 season, Toronto traded a package that included franchise cornerstone DeRozan to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard. Leonard would go on to hit the greatest shot in franchise history to win Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, en route to Toronto’s first NBA title. A title they won, many would say, because Kevin Durant tore his Achilles during the second round of the playoffs against Houston.
What lesson can the Suns learn from Toronto’s 2019 championship? Stay prepared and build a winning culture. Patiently wait, but when the perfect trade arises, be fearless. You never know when the right moment might suddenly open a championship window.
2011: Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs won 57 games in 2011, which shouldn’t have been a surprise. Dallas won at least 50 games every single year from 2001 through 2010.
In 2006, Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals for the first time in his career, winning 60 games along the way. They would lose in six games to the Miami Heat, led by young superstar Dwyane Wade and old Western Conference rival, Shaquille O’Neal.
The following year ended in disaster. After winning 67 games and claiming the first seed in the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks would lose to the “We Believe” Warriors. In doing so, they became just the third one seed to lose to an eight seed in NBA history and the first to do so in a seven-game series.
The season after losing in six in the NBA finals, this Western Conference contender lost a playoff series in embarrassing fashion to a team they should have beaten.
Does that sound familiar?
Would it sound more familiar if I told you that the following season they traded for a 34-year-old superstar in Jason Kidd at the trade deadline?
Over the next few years, the Mavericks picked up a center who had dealt with injuries in the previous couple of seasons, and a certain defensive-minded wing that was now in his thirties but could still surprise you with a bucket. The entire time, never losing faith and trading their franchise cornerstone.
Eventually, they broke through. The Mavericks defeated the defending back-to-back champion Lakers, the up-and-coming Oklahoma City Thunder, and a Miami Heat superteam to win their only title to date. A title they won, many would say, because LeBron James underperformed in the 2011 Finals.
What lesson can the Suns learn from Dallas’ 2011 championship? Stay prepared and build a winning culture. Patiently wait, but when the perfect trade arises, be fearless. You never know when the right moment might suddenly open a championship window.
2004: Detroit Pistons
Detroit has a different story from Toronto and Dallas. There was no long-standing culture or coach. The Pistons had just two consecutive winning seasons headed into 2004, both under Rick Carlisle, who had since been replaced by Larry Brown.
The two leading scorers for the Pistons, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups, both arrived in 2003. Ben Wallace was traded to Detroit in the offseason leading into the 2001 season.
Rasheed Wallace is the strangest case. He was traded twice in a ten-day span during the 2004 season. Over the course of two weeks, he played for the Portland Trailblazers, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Detroit Pistons.
No, Detroit had not been waiting in the wings, prepared to pounce when the giant stumbled. They were still beginning to figure out who they were and what they were building.
But they did know what they wanted. Phoenix now wants the same thing.
This Detroit team was known as the “Goin’ to Work” Pistons. They were known for their grit and tenacity, not their flash. Every team they played in the playoffs had a 20-point-per-game scorer except the Nets. The Lakers had two. Rip Hamilton led the ‘04 Pistons with 17.6 ppg.
The Pistons led the league in blocks and were tied for first in defense, allowing just 84.3 points per game. That tie was with the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. On the offensive end, the Pistons scored just 90.1 points, the 24th-best offense in basketball that year.
We enjoy a different NBA than what we had in 2004. I won’t pretend that the Suns, or any team, is capable of those kinds of defensive numbers. But what I can believe is that this Suns team has made solid defensive additions. With one or two more savvy trades to further improve the defense surrounding Devin Booker, this team could resemble a modern version of that Pistons team.
The comparison to this Detroit team is less about lessons the Suns can learn than it is about the realization of what the Suns could become. The Pistons were not a team built on the back of successful draft after successful draft. They were a team built through smart trades and a ruthless style of play. An important detail given Phoenix’s complete lack of draft capital moving forward.
2026: Phoenix Suns
The Thunder are probably going to win the title this year. The Thunder are probably going to win it next year, too. But the reality is that no team has won four straight titles since the Boston Celtics won eight straight from 1959-1966. In case you are wondering, that doesn’t just predate the NBA/ABA merger; that predates the ABA entirely.
Oklahoma City might go on to win three straight, but the odds are against them to win four in a row. It doesn’t matter how many picks they have or how young they are; no one has done it since the Vietnam War.
Injuries happen. The salary cap, luxury tax, and second apron happen. Regardless of how dominant the Thunder are now, someone is going to take their place. Someone is going to bust that dynasty. Why not the Suns?
They have the beginnings of a winning roster. Gillespie, Brooks, and Williams have all been perfect additions around Booker. The Suns have found great rotational depth in Oso, Dunn, and Bouyea. The offseason retool in the post-Durant era has landed the Suns in a situation where they can afford to bring rookies Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koby Brea along slowly while still winning games.
But if Phoenix wants to be the next Pistons, Mavericks, or Raptors, the formula has been laid out by those who came before them:
Stay prepared and build a winning culture. Patiently wait, but when the perfect trade arises, be fearless. You never know when the right moment might suddenly open a championship window.
It is better to be ready when that window opens than watch another team seize the opportunity.
