Despite a Historic 64-Win Season, the 2021-2022 Phoenix Suns Fell Short Again and Left Only Devin Booker Standing

The 2021-2022 NBA season was supposed to be the Phoenix Suns’ year. After reaching the NBA Finals in 2021 and coming just two wins short of their first championship in franchise history, the team came back with renewed fire and unmatched chemistry. That campaign had ended in heartbreak as Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to win four straight games, extinguishing Phoenix’s hopes. But instead of dwelling on defeat, the Suns stormed into the new season with vengeance on their minds, determined to take what they believed was rightfully theirs.

Phoenix didn’t just play well in the 2021-2022 regular season—they dominated it. Posting a franchise-best 64-18 record, the Suns were not just the best team in the Western Conference but the best team in the league by a wide margin. Their performance was defined by balance, poise, and the surgical leadership of Chris Paul. Monty Williams’ squad was deep, disciplined, and devastatingly efficient. Devin Booker continued to blossom into a true superstar, while Paul orchestrated the offense like a seasoned maestro. The bench was dependable, the defense tight, and the offense beautifully fluid. Every piece seemed to be in place.

Chris Paul was especially motivated. At age 36, he understood the window for a championship was narrowing. The 2021 Finals loss had stung badly. He’d played through injury, and despite his own brilliance, couldn’t quite push the team over the top. The 2022 season offered perhaps his best—and maybe last—realistic shot at an NBA title. Through the ups and downs of his Hall of Fame career, Paul had faced criticism for his playoff shortcomings, despite being one of the most brilliant point guards the league had ever seen. That year, everything was aligned for him to finally rewrite that narrative.

And for a while, it looked like they might just do it. The Suns swept through stretches of the regular season with ruthless consistency. They avoided major injuries, won both blowouts and close games, and displayed a chemistry most teams can only hope for. Monty Williams won NBA Coach of the Year. Devin Booker made the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. And Chris Paul, despite being in the twilight of his career, led the league in assists. The team finished eight games ahead of the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. They looked every bit like the title favorite heading into the postseason.

The first round of the playoffs offered the first signs of concern. Matched up against the eighth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans, the Suns were expected to cruise. But the Pelicans didn’t go quietly. Devin Booker suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for multiple games, and the Suns were suddenly in a fight. They ultimately closed out the series in six games, but it wasn’t the dominant performance most had expected. Still, they moved on, and the expectation was that the wake-up call might actually help them lock in for the tougher matchups ahead.

Then came the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Semifinals. Led by the 23-year-old Luka Dončić, Dallas was a talented but seemingly overmatched team. The Suns took a 2-0 lead in the series with two strong wins at home. But something shifted in Games 3 and 4 in Dallas. The Mavericks found their rhythm, and Luka began to assert himself in ways few young stars ever have in playoff basketball. The series became chippy, personal, and unpredictable. Suddenly, Phoenix looked rattled. They managed to win Game 5 at home to take a 3-2 series lead, but the momentum had clearly begun to tilt.

Game 6 in Dallas was a blowout. The Suns never found their footing, and Dončić’s confidence soared. That set the stage for a Game 7 in Phoenix—a moment that should have been a coronation of the league’s best team on their home floor. But instead, the Suns delivered one of the most shocking collapses in recent NBA memory. From the opening tip, they looked completely out of sorts. They scored just 27 points in the first half, and Luka Dončić alone matched that by halftime. The final score was 123-90, but the game wasn’t even that close. The Suns were booed off their home floor. Their championship aspirations, so carefully built over 82 games, disintegrated in a single humiliating night.

The aftermath was brutal. Questions swirled about Chris Paul’s age, Deandre Ayton’s effort and fit, Monty Williams’ adjustments, and the team’s overall mental toughness. Ayton, who had been a critical part of their Finals run a year earlier, played only 17 minutes in Game 7 and was benched for much of the second half amid reports of a disconnect with the coaching staff. The image of Booker, Paul, and Ayton sitting dejected on the bench, unable to answer Dončić’s dominance or their own collapse, became the defining snapshot of their season.

That playoff flameout marked the end of an era in Phoenix. Ownership changes followed. Deandre Ayton would be traded a year later. Chris Paul, the floor general who had helped elevate the Suns to elite status, was moved as well—eventually landing with the Golden State Warriors. Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, two of the team’s defensive linchpins and beloved glue guys, were sent to Brooklyn in the blockbuster Kevin Durant trade that reshaped the roster but also fractured the soul of what made that Suns team special. Monty Williams was fired after another playoff disappointment in 2023. A once-cohesive, joyful unit had been dismantled in the aftermath of failure.

Now, just a few seasons removed from their historic run, only Devin Booker remains from that 64-win team. The Suns are still contenders on paper, thanks to their superstar trio of Booker, Durant, and Bradley Beal. But it’s a different team entirely—built less on the organic chemistry and development that defined the 2021-2022 squad, and more on star power and immediate results. Booker has become the face of the franchise, but the roster around him continues to evolve. The team’s identity is in flux, and while they remain talented, the magic that made them so uniquely dominant just a few years ago has dissipated.

Looking back, the 2021-2022 Phoenix Suns are a cautionary tale of how fleeting success can be in the NBA. They had all the ingredients: veteran leadership, young talent, excellent coaching, and the hunger born from a near-miss. They did everything right in the regular season and appeared poised to finish the job. But the playoffs are a different beast, and for all their strengths, the Suns couldn’t summon their best when it mattered most. Whether it was fatigue, injury, hubris, or just the greatness of Luka Dončić, they collapsed under the weight of expectation.

For Chris Paul, that season will always be viewed as the best shot he had at winning the elusive championship. For Devin Booker, it was the year he proved he belonged among the league’s elite. For Suns fans, it was a dream turned nightmare, a campaign that promised redemption and instead delivered regret. And for the league, it was a reminder that nothing is guaranteed, not even for the most dominant team in the regular season.

Time will tell whether Phoenix can capture that magic again. But the story of the 2021-2022 Suns will endure—a testament to potential unfulfilled, a brilliant season that ended in stunning disappointment, and a reminder of how quickly everything can change in the pursuit of a title.