Nobody ever expected Jusuf Nurkic to be a star for the Phoenix Suns.
The 29-year-old Bosnian big man came to the Suns as part of a deal to essentially replace one of the most polarizing players in franchise history, former #1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton. But whereas Ayton was projected as a generational talent expected to star for the Suns, Nurkic is viewed as a role player only rarely asked to be even a tertiary scoring option.
That said...Nurkic isn’t exactly killing it this season, even by his more modest standards.
There’s a fairly strong statistical case to be made that he’s having his worst season since the 2016-17 campaign, which saw him traded mid-season from Denver to Portland.