2022–23 Phoenix Suns season

The 2022–23 Phoenix Suns season was their 55th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as their 30th season at the Footprint Center.^[1] It was also the last season under Robert Sarver's ownership tenure, as he was suspended from league-wide activities on September 13, 2022 due to an independent investigation on Sarver that began the season prior revealing inappropriate behaviors he had throughout his tenure as franchise owner of the Suns.^[2][3] He later announced in that same month that minority team owner and vice chairman of the Suns, Sam Garvin, would take over the majority of team duties for the rest of this season until new ownership bought out Sarver as the new majority team owners going forward.^[4][5] Sarver eventually accepted a deal to sell his ownership rights to both the Suns and Phoenix Mercury to an ownership group led by United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia and his older brother Justin Ishbia for an asking price of $4 billion on December 20, 2022,^[6] with the NBA approving of the new ownership on February 6, 2023 and an official announcement confirming the deal coming a day later on February 7, 2023.^{[7][8][9][10]}

During that same period of time, forward Jae Crowder agreed to sit out the rest of the season with the Suns until a potential trade was announced, which occurred on the February 9, 2023 trade deadline. Crowder was ultimately involved in a four-way trade where he got sent to the Milwaukee Bucks while they sent their own assets to the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets. Nearing the trade deadline of the 2022–23 season, the Suns were involved in a blockbuster transaction, where they traded away Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, four unprotected first round picks, and the right to swap first round picks with the Suns in 2028 to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for 13-time NBA All-Star and 2-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant and the re-acquisition of T.J. Warren.^[11][12]

The Suns failed to improve upon their 64–18 record from the previous season after a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 4, 2023. However, despite dealing with multiple injuries throughout the season, including injuries to Devin Booker in December and Kevin Durant in March, the Suns clinched their third straight winning season on March 31, 2023 with a win over the Denver Nuggets. They later secured their third straight playoff berth on April 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, with the #4 seed in the Western Conference being set two days later against the Nuggets.

In the playoffs, the Suns defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round in a rematch of 2021's Conference finals in which the Suns won in six games. The Suns won in five games, winning the last four games of the series after losing the first game at home. In the conference semifinals, they faced the top-seeded Denver Nuggets, a rematch of 2021's Semifinals in which the Suns swept the Nuggets. However, the Suns lost in six games to the eventual champion, suffering a blowout loss on home court in the Semifinals for the second straight year.

The Suns fired head coach Monty Williams two days following their postseason exit after four seasons with the team.^[13] This season also became the last for long-time Suns broadcaster Al McCoy, who announced his retirement from broadcasting duties near the end of this season after serving the role for the Suns since the 1972–73 season. It also became the final season where Suns games were broadcast through Bally Sports Arizona (previously Fox Sports Arizona & FSN Arizona), as Mat Ishbia announced they would move their services onto more channels in the state of Arizona for a more widespread view after their regular season concluded. While Bally Sports tried to fight back against Ishbia's move by claiming a breach of contract happened, Bally Sports ultimately declined matching Gray Television's offer for the Suns, which later caused a chain reaction that led to Bally Sports Arizona losing broadcasting rights to other professional sports teams in Arizona before being shut down for good on October 21, 2023.

Draft

The Suns did not hold any picks in the 2022 NBA draft.^[14]

Roster

Standings

Division

Conference

Game log

Preseason

Regular season

Playoffs

Transactions

Trades

July 6, 2022[15]	To Phoenix Suns Jock Landale	To Atlanta Hawks Cash considerations
February 9, 2023[16][17]	Four-team trade
	To Phoenix Suns Kevin Durant (from Brooklyn) T.J. Warren (from Brooklyn)	To Milwaukee Bucks Jae Crowder (from Phoenix)
	To Brooklyn Nets Mikal Bridges (from Phoenix) Cameron Johnson (from Phoenix) Draft rights to Juan Pablo Vaulet (2015 No. 39) (from Indiana) 2023 first-round pick (from Phoenix) 2025 first-round pick (from Phoenix) 2027 first-round pick (from Phoenix) 2028 right to swap first-round picks (from Phoenix) 2028 second-round pick (from Milwaukee) 2029 first-round pick (from Phoenix) 2029 second-round pick (from Milwaukee)	To Indiana Pacers George Hill (from Milwaukee) / Serge Ibaka (from Milwaukee) / Jordan Nwora (from Milwaukee) 2023 second-round pick (from Milwaukee) 2024 second-round pick (from Milwaukee) 2025 second-round pick (from Indiana via Milwaukee) Cash considerations (from Brooklyn)
February 9, 2023[18][19]	To Phoenix Suns Darius Bazley	To Oklahoma City Thunder Dario Šarić 2029 second-round pick Cash considerations

Free agency

Re-signed

Additions

Subtractions

Player	Reason left	New team(s)	Ref.
Aaron Holiday	Free agent	Atlanta Hawks	[24]
JaVale McGee	Free agent	Dallas Mavericks	[25]
Gabriel Lundberg	Free agent	Virtus Bologna	[26]
Elfrid Payton	Free agent	Fort Wayne Mad Ants / Osos de Manatí
Duane Washington Jr.	Waived two-way contract	New York Knicks / Westchester Knicks
Mikal Bridges	Traded	Brooklyn Nets
Cameron Johnson	Traded	Brooklyn Nets
Jae Crowder	Traded	Milwaukee Bucks
Dario Šarić	Traded	Oklahoma City Thunder

References

This page was last edited on 17 March 2024, at 13:06