EAST LANSING, Mich. – The NBA general managers picked the Phoenix Suns to finish fifth in the Western Conference in NBA.com ’s annual survey of the league’s general managers going into the 2024-25 season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are favored to win the West with 80% of the first-place votes, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks and Suns in the top five.
The Nuggets, Mavericks and Suns each received 7% of the first-place votes.
The GMs also selected Devin Booker as the second-best shooting guard in the league.
The Suns were predicted to finish second in last year’s survey in their first year with the Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal under Frank Vogel, who replaced Monty Williams.
They ended the 2023-24 regular season sixth and were swept in the first round by Minnesota. They enter this season with new head coach Mike Budenholzer, who won an NBA championship coaching the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020-21 season.
The Suns open the 2024-25 season on Oct. 23 at the Los Angeles Clippers. The NBA GMs voted Phoenix as one of the toughest teams to predict how they’ll fare this season.
The GMs voted the Los Angeles Lakers first with 17% of the votes followed by the Houston Rockets and Pelicans tied at 13% and the Suns at 10%.
Boston received an overwhelming 97% of the votes to win the East. The Celtics are picked to repeat as NBA champions by an 83% vote.
Booker was voted the NBA’s second-best shooting guard behind T-Wolves star Anthony Edwards after being ranked the league’s best shooting guard in last year’s survey.
Edwards received 33% of the votes to Booker’s 23%. Last year, Booker garnered 63% of the votes for NBA’s best shooting guard. Booker started at shooting guard for Team USA in winning Olympic gold in Paris while Edwards came off the bench.
Kevin Durant finished second behind Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry for the guy you want to take the shot with the game on the line. Once teammates at Golden State where they won back-to-back NBA titles together, Curry generated 40% of the vote while Durant received 23%.
Curry was voted first in this category last year as well at 37%.
Durant finished in a tie for second for NBA’s best small forward with the Lakers' LeBron James and the Mavericks' superstar Luka Doncic, who is known as a point guard, behind Jayson Tatum of the Celtics.
Tatum received 47% of the vote as he did last year for NBA’s top small forward. Durant, James and Doncic each gathered 17% of the votes. Durant also ranked second for NBA’s top power forward behind Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo, who received 77% of the votes.
Durant managed seven percent of the votes for top power forward. He and Tatum each received 10% of the vote from the NBA GMs for most versatile NBA player behind Antetokounmpo at 30% and James at 20%. Antetokounmpo also finished first in this category last year at 45%.
Doncic was voted the top point guard at 37% of the vote followed by Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who received the highest percentage of votes for NBA MVP at 40%.
Doncic landed second in the GM MVP vote at 30% Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic finished 2-3 in last season’s MVP voting behind now three-time league MVP, Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic.
Tyus Jones joining Phoenix finished third for the league’s most underrated player acquisition, along with the Thunder getting Isaiah Hartenstein, at 13%. The GMs voted OKC picking up Alex Caruso No. 1, at 23% followed by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope going to Orlando at 17%.
Suns' coach Mike Budenholzer received votes for the NBA’s best head coach. Miami's Erik Spoelstra was voted best overall coach.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin .
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Anthony Edwards best shooting guard over Devin Booker? NBA GMs think so in survey
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