But the roster that went 64-18 last season is still mostly intact, with the top four players—Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Devin Booker, and Chris Paul—all in place, plus sharpshooter Cam Johnson ready to take Crowder’s place in the starting lineup. History is in the Suns’ favor, after they became the 32nd team in NBA history to lose fewer than 20 games in an 82-game schedule—because those 31 previous teams won, on average, 59.3 games in the next season.
In fact, not a single one of those teams that went 63-19 or better declined even to mediocrity the following year, as the worst of the bunch still won 51 games the following season. So if the Suns win 50 or fewer games this season, that will represent an unprecedented collapse—and even 50-32 is good enough to compete for a top-four seed.