How The Phoenix Suns Were Destined To Fail

How The Phoenix Suns Were Destined To Fail

The Phoenix Suns with this big three should be the favorite of coming out of the West and winning next year’s title. This is a big all bet. This is the best team in basketball. The Suns made big moves a few years ago when it looked like they’re on to bigger things. The Suns are 6 to1 to win the title, placing them fourth behind the Celtics, Bucks, and Nuggets. Their odds were plus 900 before the Beal trade and now plus 650. Devin Booker, he finally has a super team. almost like he predicted this would happen in 2018. He literally said, and I quote, “I’d like to build a super team. I’d like the super team to come to me.” And he got his wish. Wow. I am running out of ways to describe what the big three of the Suns is doing. After that tough year in 2021 where you’re at the mountain top but just cannot reach the summit. Wholesale changes were made to our Booker now was the only player left from that Sun’s 2021 finals team after a trade that sent DeAndre Aiden to Portland. I love it for Phoenix. And all of a sudden you get a veteran center that’s going to play his role. But I don’t get it. Wasn’t this supposed to work? I mean you have such lethal weapons on this team offensively. I mean this is just hard to stop. I mean, saying it respectfully, I don’t I don’t know how teams are going to guard us. Like, bro, you can’t guard all of us at once. For what? Come on. This is going to be a fun one today. We’re trying to win. We’re trying to win the championships. The goal of today’s video is to talk about how this was meant to fail. Hayden or love it, there were signs that from the very beginning that this was destined to fail. Embarrassing season, right? Disappointed, awful. I watch every game like all of you guys do. No one’s proud of it. No one’s happy with it. From me to the front office to the coaches to the players to the marketing executive to the security guards. Everyone’s disappointed. Uh embarrassed and it was a failure, right? We Now, how did we get here? So, I do quickly want to summarize some key points, you know, leading up to the trade that landed Kevin Durant to Phoenix. And a historic night for the Suns, Devin Booker, 70 points. And what better way to start talking about this Suns team than to talk about Devin Booker himself. And of course, him coming out of Kentucky. He was a bench player. And the Suns picking him with the 13th pick. I mean, he was an afterthought. He can stroke it. Probably shouldn’t play more NCAA clips. They’ll probably claim this one. Oh boy. And the first couple years with Deon Booker and others, it was pretty rough. In his rookie year, there were some cool moments like Kobe Bryant during his farewell tour playing against a player that was basically born the same year he was drafted. and he got to share a wonderful moment with the mamba. And when he did this move on Kobe, I mean, Kobe just couldn’t help but smile. Playing against Booker tonight. I mean, he he went straight to my move. The first time he caught it, dude. Yeah, you’re not going to beat me on my move, man. A Kobe Bryant stamp as a rookie in a 70point game as the second year. Yeah, Booker’s career was already looking like it would be a fruitful one. I don’t know why I’m showing Eric Bled so Mary’s Chris highlights right now. Yeah, I won’t lie to you, bro. This Sun’s team was just not good. Is that Bread and Knight? Somehow this is a real team that had this many guards. Name me the guy on the left, the very left, and you’ll win a cookie. 95% of people can’t do it. Yeah, it was safe to say the GM of the Suns at the time, Rank McNunnel, got fired quickly. Someone that was key in Booker’s development earlier in his career was Earl Watson, the development coach of the Suns at the time cuz they had just paid Eric Bledo and Brandon Knight 140 million combined to start in the back court. He saw a clear problem with the team and the clear limitations that the back court of Eric Bledo and Brendon Knight had and he had to do something. So by me starting Devin Booker was like, whoa, what are you doing? Mhm. I’m not paying him 70 million. Brandon Knight 70 million come off the bench, but I just saw in the back court when you have Brandon Knight and Eric Bledo, you had two pattern players. The game was changing and I knew the game was changing because for my AAOU teams, I seen what was coming. That’s not going to be sustainable. In the playoffs, you can’t have a pattern player with the ball. Yep. You’re not going to win. Yeah. Now, people were calling him crazy for thinking about starting Deon Booker. When he did it, I mean, he started a guy that was benched in college. I mean, what made him think that this was a good idea? Well, him explaining it made even more sense. And what made even more sense was actually seeing the fruits of his labor and seeing Booker actually thrive out there up ahead to Booker. Booker turns, fires, got it. All right, let’s look at the standings uh for the Suns teams that Booker was part of in the first three seasons. Let’s see here. You can’t even see them in the standings right now. Yeah, they’re 14th with a record of 23 and 59. All right, following year. Let’s do this. Uh you can’t even see them. They’re dead last. You can’t even see. There you go. It takes a lot of time to process that. They’re the worst team in the West here. All right, let’s try this one more time for 2018. And you you can’t see them yet again. and they have a 21 and 61 record with the worst record in the Western Conference yet again. In fact, this season they had the worst record in the NBA. So basically, uh they had the best odds to get the number one pick. Yorgos Papayanis, Josh Jackson. The very next two lottery picks after Devin Booker, Papayianis, and Josh Jackson. Now, the Suns, fortunately for them, actually ended up getting the number one pick. And I’ll be honest, it should be a no-brainer, right? You got the number one pick, you get the best player available. And there is the man that everyone expects that the Suns will draft number one overall. I mean, he’s a center with a 75 wingspan. Best player in college, apparently. Uh, best player available in the draft, right? I mean, there’s also this player that was in Europe. I mean, his name, I think, was something like Luca Donuch, another player that maybe, you know, the the Suns could have considered here. What’s crazy is during the same summer, the Suns hired Igor Kakoskov. He was Lucas uh national team coach in Slovenia. Was also an assistant with the Jazz before getting hired for this job. You’d think they’d pick Luca Donic number one, right? Oh, and they also fired him one season after he was hired in 2018. Not that it would matter cuz the Suns were still a pretty bad team. As a matter of fact, they had uh the worst record uh in the Booker era up to this point, 1963. But hey, man, at least they didn’t have the very worst record in the NBA. They’re tied second to last with the Cavaliers, too. Does that mean the Suns don’t have the best odds for them one pick anymore? And this being during a Zion Williamson draft, oh boy. And they did have the best odds. Fortunately for them, the first season in which the lottery odds were flattened and where in which the top three worst teams in the league would have the, you know, the same odds to get number one pick. Pick number six goes to the Phoenix Suns. So, the Phoenix Suns have dropped out of the top of the lottery. Oh my goodness. This is sad but very very unsurprising. Honestly, their their luck is just not on their side. And in the draft that featured the most hyped prospect since LeBron James, the Suns will be stuck with some guy named, let’s see here, Jared Culver. I won’t lie to you, I don’t know how things can get better from here. Everybody want to blame coaches in this league and sometime it’s just players and bad general managers who get to fire several coaches before they realize that the general manager is the problem. Well, after firing Ryan McDonald, uh they got a new GM in town, James Jones. And as that lower third on ESPN says here, yeah, he went to seven straight finals appearances because, you know, he teamed up with LeBron James both in Miami and Cleveland. And they also chose a new coach in Monty Williams who’s well respected around the league and has been coaching for a while now. I’m done with not making the playoffs. I’m serious. This is probably my last year not ever not making the playoffs. So that Well, this will not be Devin Booker’s fifth coach uh in as many years as he’s played in his career so far. Now, he’s also playing with a player that was promising in his rookie season. Uh very interesting stuff here. Despite there being some good pros, uh there are some cons to this coaching job, uh that obviously has scared a lot of other coaches potentially from even being a candidate for the Sun’s coaching job. What has scared everybody about this Phoenix job owner Robert Sar. He interferes in basketball decisions. He has involved himself in decisions that frankly he doesn’t have the expertise to make decisions on. But unlike those other years, it seems like Robert Sarver, I mean, he’s saying things will be different with Monty Williams as coach and with James Jones as general manager. But what Robert Sarver has told Monty Williams he’s going to do is partner with him, is support him, is to let Monty Williams coach this team, let his staff try to develop these younger players, and that he has promised to stay out of the way and allow a coach to do that. Now, the Suns, they added some veteran pieces in Ricky Rubio, namely, and it seemed like things were on the up and up for the Phoenix Suns team. Aaron Baines is balling. Oh, the Suns are balling. Is balling. The Suns are balling. They beat the Clippers. They were right up with the Nuggets. The team started 3 and 0 and you could tell there’s something different about this team instantly. You got Ricky Rubio’s playmaking, Aaron Baines as a center shooting the long ball. Now, things did come back to reality where the Suns started losing more games later in the season uh to where they were out of the playoff picture for a short while, but after the in 2020 happened, uh the playoffs were played in a bubble in Orlando and the Suns had a chance to qualify for it uh if they won enough games. The Suns of course were one of 22 teams invited to play in Orlando. And let’s just say this year around there’s a playing system to where the Suns would have to win a lot of games and you they have to pray that other teams lose games for them to even qualify not just to make the playoffs but have a chance at playing in this playin game between the ninth and eighth seed which the Trailblazers currently held that position. Now not only were the Suns thriving in the bubble but they were winning in big ways. They went a surprising 8 and0 in the bubble. Booker, this is for the win. Got it. Wow. It felt like something was brewing in Phoenix that could really pan out here in the next couple years. And despite having one of the best bubble runs during that time, the Suns were tied with the Grizzlies to get that ninth seed that was needed to make the playin. And unfortunately, the Grizzlies had the tiebreaker over them. And so, their season ended despite going undefeated, being the only team to do so during that year. It’s great to see Book playing well and Phoenix playing well, but get my man out of Phoenix. It’s not good for him. It’s not good for his career. Sorry, Chuck, but uh they got to get Book out of Phoenix. Now, obviously Draymond got fined $50,000 for saying this. The thing is though, Draymond might have a point in terms of, you know, how Robert Sarver carries himself and how he manages things for Phoenix. He always stepped in and made things hard for this franchise cuz, you know, he just thought he knew too much. He thought he had the pulse on the team and what needed to be done. But, but Phoenix says that was then, this is now. Things are changing now in Phoenix. Deon Booker is going to lead them somewhere promising. they don’t make it to the playing game or they make it and they don’t make it into the actual playoffs. I I I don’t think that matters that much. This is a huge win for Devin Booker, for DeAndre Eaton, for everyone’s confidence, for Monty Williams. And we had DeAndre Aton on the show last week talking about just the relationship that they all formed during the shutdown, how Monty Williams was able to keep them together even when they were in all kinds of different places. It’s showing up now, and I think that is going to carry over into next season. And we had some breaking news during the off season. Chris Paul is headed to the Phoenix Suns. Oklahoma City officially beginning their rebuild up to this point. Chris Paul traded away. And Phoenix, man, they might have they might have made a move here that could really put them over the map. And because of the sad news of Klay tearing his Achilles, the Warriors traded for Kelly Ubé, who was of course traded in the Chris Paul deal. Why am I reporting this? I have no idea. What what were sort of the factors that made Phoenix specifically such an attractive trade destination for you? Um, obviously Book had a lot to do with it, you know what I mean? Book and uh the Young Pieces, obviously DeAndre Aton. Um, but then M, you know what I mean? Uh, Devin Booker had everything to do with why I came to Phoenix, you know, and just knowing the way that he plays the game, plays the right way. Coach Monte Williams, Willie Green. We got an amazing staff. And you had players like Mac Bridges who were, you know, looking like they were going to be one of the premier wing defenders that also would be good on offense. A two-way player of sorts. This season, he’s defended Kawhai, Jamal Murray, J Luca, Ingram Mitchell, and so many other stars. He gets some of the toughest assignments in the league. And in the great video that Kevin O’Connor made for the Ringer, I mean, this guy is also pretty good with the ball in his hands. And let’s just say this team led by Chris Paul was actually winning more games than you would expect. I I got to confess, I I slept a little bit on the Phoenix Suns. I I I I didn’t know, CP3. I didn’t know. I’m looking at a Phoenix Suns team that is like 33 and 14 that’s won seven of their last eight games. That’s the second seed in the Western Conference. And Chris Paul, he made history during the season after he be beat the Bucks in overtime. He passed Magic Johnson to become fifth all time in assists. And now he’s hawking down the next two players up in that list. Mark Jackson and Steve Nash. Hold on. I’m not done. Yes, sir. Here it is, y’all. It’s going on eBay for a million. You hear me? It’s going on eBay for a million. CP wasn’t only get Whoa. Chris Paul wasn’t only getting top five PG shouts during this season. Yeah, man. Hey, listen. Guns and Blazer. I’m sick of this Chris Paul hating. He should be in the MVP conversation. He should be in the Yes, he was getting MVP shouts from some people like Charles Barkley here. Well, look, it doesn’t matter either way. Whoever wins MVP, the Phoenix Suns are going to be a top two seed in the Western Conference. And that’s saying a lot. This team came and they didn’t make the playoffs the previous year. This team just a shy away from a fight and this city is ready. It’s playoff time for Phoenix and they would face the Lakers in a round one matchup. But unfortunately for Chris Paul earlier in the game, you could see it here. He bumps into his teammate here and then holds his neck area, shoulder area, and he would obviously have to go to the locker room to attend for that injury. Now, you could see here he did return the game later on, but you could tell that it was still bothering him. Devin Booker, 34 points, eight assists. Suns take game one. A lot of the pointing of the fingers were at AD. I mean, he just had a terrible game in the postseason. I mean, he’s shooting a midMay tour date in late May. I mean, this guy is just insane. LeBron can’t do it alone. I mean, he did win finals MVP the last season in the bubble, but AD, you got to chip in. LeBron, look at this split. Now, I will say he did have one of the more shameless flopping session here in the game. And let’s just say in game two, the Lakers adjusted. Shot clock at eight. Davis a screen. Wide open three. Good. And Phoenix, hey, that they stole a home game. The series is now tied one apiece. Take a look. Devin Booker running. Oh, Anthony Davis getting back on D. But hold on, watch closely as he lands awkwardly. That looks scary. But now AD, despite the injury, stay in the game. And not just that, he took over in this third quarter here. LeBron and AD combining for 28 points in this quarter alone. 18 for AD, 10 for LeBron. The most points scored in the quarter for these guys as a teammates. And of course, the Lakers winning this one now up 2-1 against the number two seed Suns. Sounds like Phoenix is in trouble to me. I mean, they got to do something about these two. Chris Paul went off 18 points and nine assists, playing like a warrior through that shoulder injury. Now, the Suns in this game four, they came right. They took care of business late to tie the series back to a piece. But unfortunately, the injury woes that would make the Lakers be a seventh seed uh came back biting. Uh, even harder for AD here. Right here, AD goes for layup and then you could see here holding his thigh, hamstring area, non-cont injury. Those are the worst kinds. And you could tell this was more serious than initially thought. Anthony Davis did suffer a groin injury in the second quarter. He didn’t return in the second half. In game five, Chris Paul would reagravate his shoulder again, and it looked really bad for him. But for the Suns, the scoreboard looked very good. It looked like they were going to take care of this at home. And all AD can do now is watch as the Phoenix Suns would blow this team out the next two games that he was not able to play in. And Booker Booker, sticks it for the exclamation point. And Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns knock out LeBron James and the Lakers. First time LeBron’s ever been knocked out in a first round. Now AD, he tried playing earlier in the game, but he just couldn’t do it. That groin was still bothering him, and so he had to sit and watch this team lose. Well, now the Suns advance. First time they win a playoff series since, let’s see here, 2010, where they beat the Trailblazers in six games as the number three seed in the Western Conference. Next game, it’s going to be over in five. All right, I’m calling you right now. That’s the deal right now. Phoenix has come out on fire. They have been sensational. And that is all she worked in game one. Well, perhaps that dude was being uh way too generous because this series looked like it was going to end in three. I mean, this Denver team doesn’t have, you know, Jamal Murray playing for them. And so, you’re missing your second best player. Yeah. This series is not going to take a long to finish here. Yeah, this one Suns fan just beating up on Nuggets fans and he proclaimed Suns and four in this series. Oh boy. And he turned out to be correct. A sweep that would end with the MVP committing frustration foul here and getting ejected for it. Brous Brous. His brothers proclaim they want to fight these dudes. Look at him so pissed. I’m telling you, those dudes, they look taller than Joker himself, dog. Well, Chris Paul, he’d finally be back in the conference finals since that 2018 season with the Rockets. And this will be the Sun’s first conference finals appearance since that 2010 year where they made it all the way, but lost to the Lakers in six. Cameron Payne will get the start. No Chris Paul. Chris Paul apparently entering health and safety protocols. Oh boy. So in a game with no Chris Paul, it would be up to Devin Booker to lead them to a win here. And lead them he did. Splash right here from three. This is just beautiful offense though. He always seems to find that open spot. Mid-range again from Deon Buckard putting on a clinic. Running pick and roll. Snake in the bat, getting to a spot. A little fade. Now Booker with a chance to put on the finishing touches of a brilliant performance and 40 points. You heard it here first. A 40point triple double. First Suns player since Steve Nash to even do that in the playoffs. Get the triple double. But I mean not the not the 40 points. Cameron Payne up top. Bridges three-pointer. Bridges. Bang. Bridges coming off the down screen of just his second field goal. George looks to answer. It’s good. Paul George drills his and with little time left. The Phoenix Suns are down one and they pull off something amazing. Crowder looking. Throws it ali. Aiden puts it down. He puts it down. And with that puts the Suns up 200 in such a crucial series. And if you’re wondering why Booker’s wearing a face mask, well, he collided head first onto Pat Bev’s forehead and both of these guys were bleeding. So that’s just rough. And that intensity would follow suit in game three where both of them would get at each other. Paul George gets it off in time. Oh, he banks it in. It’s good. And now of course the Clippers, they don’t have Kawhi Leonard fortunately, but Paul George would lead them 27 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, and take game three to make this a series. Double figures and rebounds once again. Drives on Booker and a foul on Booker. That’s going to be his fourth. So Booker and Chris Paul each with four for the Suns. Terrence Manor and more technical fouls being handed out. This series just getting chippy. I mean, just look at Booker here shoving Paul George. You have to get this rebound and that’s a violation. I don’t cousins probably didn’t know the rule of now. This game would end in free throws with the Suns taking it home and them up now 3-1. Oh boy. It looked like the series was going to be theirs. Be given a flagrant one. Suns make it a five-point possession, but Paul George n plus. Oh, PG. What the he dropped this dude Chris Paul made him look like he was bowing to Paul God. I mean, just look at this, man. I mean, just look at this, man. Chris Paul. No. No. They got you in 4K HD ultra. Now, it was the Paul George game. He would score. Let’s see here. 41 points to beat the Suns at Phoenix. And man, this team, the comeback kings, apparently, seven wins when trailing in the series in this playoffs. most in a single postseason in NBA history. Chris Paul. There’s the screen set by Eightton Paul. Pull up jumper. Puts it in. Chris Paul does it again. Chris Paul responded here. Gets right to his spot. Little fade mid-range. Paul step back three-pointer puts it in and the foul. Paul said what? 41 points from PG. Let me respond back in kind. He would score exactly 41 points to take this series and win it for Chris Paul on the night. And then look at the end. Look at the cheap shot from Pat Beverly right there. The biggest rat, the biggest loser ever does the biggest loser thing that we know he’s capable of doing. Patrick Beverly. And now the Suns, they win the entire Western Conference Championships in our first playoff appearance since 2010. And this is Chris Paul’s first ever NBA Finals appearance. Oh, this is big. This is a big deal. Paul on the drive, draws the contact. Count it and one. Chris Paul putting on a show. Having home court and not just that, winning at home in the finals. Game one was theirs and game two looked like much more of the same. Crowder Bucker for three. DeAndre Aton the rebound. Paul for three. Bang. Final seconds. The Phoenix Suns are now two wins away from their first NBA championship. We have a real team. You can’t just key on one guy or two guys. Everybody on our team is capable of having a big game. The Phoenix Suns, they came in, they were locked in. They looked like they were together. And Monty Williams motivating his guys even more. This is the deal. One, you’re getting back in transition. You don’t have Giannis find a man and be a guard. Two, look at me. You set a high level for yourself. That’s why you’re down. That’s great. Now go reach that level. Okay? And you can reach it with force. Doesn’t have to be stats all the time. Go dominate the game with force. Okay? Because you set a high level for yourself. Go dominate the game with force. You could just tell a guy like Marley Williams, he was built for moments like these. and eight. He’s taking it all in. And the Suns doing a fairly decent job despite having to face the behemoth that is Giannis. I mean, are you seeing the company that he’s in in this one? 30.10 rebounds, five assists for three quarters. One of four players in the last 25 NBA finals. You know, all these dudes by one name. I mean, this is just insane. And let’s just say game three was not going to Phoenix Sunside. But that’s okay. You’re still up in game four with closing moments left here. But you got numbers. Yiannis kicks it out. Conatin for three. Bang. Okay, not anymore. But like the game’s not over. Booker the drive. Booker the pull up and he banks it home to tie the game. 40 points for Booker. It’s only the third team foul. Middleton finding some space. Jump. Shot is good. Middleton fakes now. Dribbles. Foul line jumper. Shot. It’s good. Now Booker with Tucker on him. Throws it up for Aton. Shot blocked by Antenna Koopo. What a block from Giannis. Chris Paul folds down and lost the ball. And you’ve got numbers right now if you’re the Bucks. Holiday Middleton inside. He banks it home. Time out. Phoenix. And that’ll do it. The NBA Finals are tied at two games a piece. What’s even worse in this game is that Booker had committed his sixth foul right here. The refs didn’t call it, so he was still playing even though he should have been fouled out. And they still lost. I won’t lie to you. It’s not looking good. the game. Five. You’re down. Paul makes his move. Gets inside. The running layup is good. The drive gets inside. Leans in. Back away. It’s stolen by Holiday. Phoenix has the foul and a pillow. Throws it down. The series is slipping by them just like the right here. The ball slips out of Booker’s hands. Holiday gets it. And we all know what comes next. The Giannis dunk with Chris Paul pushing him as he’s in midair. What a dirty play, but nobody cares too much about that cuz Jiannis still dunks it in and one. And look at that stare. Just a legendary moment right here. The Bucks now one game away from winning a championship. Wow. Almighty Williams as Muel Bridges running the floor. Shot blocked by Antenna. I’ll save Phoenix Suns fans the trouble of going through this one. Uh Giannis 50 points in this game. One of the best closeout games in finals history. And yes, they of course win this one, which is what makes it even better. And the championship is crowned in Milwaukee. And Phoenix still has ways to go to get back here. Booker, I mean, let’s be honest, he could have played better. And me showing these low lightss isn’t indicative of Booker just being completely terrible. The whole team could have stepped up as a whole, but you know, Booker, he’s one of their main pieces. And in an elimination game like this, this is something that’s going to, you know, come back to haunt you if you never get back here ultimately because many can argue it should have been Phoenix winning this championship. You’re they’re up to Wo. Yeah, they faced a better player in Giannis, but as a team, the Phoenix Suns should they should have been able to take care of business, but that’s just how it ends. Well, it’s the following season and uh Landry Shamid is a son. I promise you there’s no reason that I’m mentioning this other than the fact that he is a son. Okay, moving on. Christopher Emanuel Paul just got a big contract. 120 million for 4 years to be a Phoenix son. There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Chris Paul. We all know this. He was pivotal in the Suns making the final. I don’t know why I’m repeating this. L script writers, bro, they got to come up with something better. Let’s see here. The Suns got a new practice facility. Bro, that nothing happened this off seasonason for me to note. Like, what the hell? We’re talking about a practice faces. The big question obviously going into next season is could the Suns repeat that magic they had in 2021 from Devin Booker because Deon Booker had himself a game last night. Yeah, that [ __ ] says 10 consecutive wins. They’ve been rolling this season and they faced a Warriors team that looked looks way better than they did last season and they will go on to beat them even with Booker leaving the game early due to a hamstring injury and that’s now win 17 straight for the Phoenix Suns. And Curry, he got shut down this game with only 12 points on four of 21 shooting. Oh my gosh. And I’m watching the Phoenix Suns last night. They would sweep the Lakers in four games if all four games were played in Los Angeles. The Lakers will not catch the Phoenix Suns for the next half decade. It’s over. Okay, that’s crazy. That is insanity, bro. Whatever juice Monty Williams got, bro, give it to me. I need it. I need this [ __ ] bro. [ __ ] it. Whatever juice the whole team got, cuz apparently they’re all drinking it. The Suns have the best record in the NBA. They look even better than they did in 2021. This is insanity. Chris Paul’s leading the league in assists yet again. Malikica is leading the league in heartthrobings. So my Deon Booker, he’s been averaging crazy amounts of points, but shout out to DPI, the Raptor himself. He’s just doing it all on both ends, but especially on the defensive edges. Look at him. What a nice contest right here. And he misses a free throw. No, he makes it, but Booker reacts. That’s how you know, bro. We got a DOI in Toronto for real. Okay, on to real matters now. The Suns are are rolling through the entire NBA now. Just dancing their way as being the best team. This is the brightest star in the NBA. No pun intended. The whole league revolves around them. It’s as if we’re just orbiting around their Oh my god. Okay, you guys see that? I’m trying to make puns here. The sun solar system. I might legit be more corny than Jaylen Brown, bro. I’m not going to lie, bro. They’ve also been so good in the clutch, this Phoenix Suns team. And even with Chris Paul having an injury in the middle of the season where, you know, he would have to miss six to eight weeks with a thumb injury. And obviously without Chris Paul, that means Devin Booker is basically the primary target for defenses. And let’s just say defenses are contesting almost every shot that he’s taking. The Suns, they’ve been rolling. Uh best team in the NBA. The Suns in the clutch this season. Number one in offensive efficiency. Number one in defensive efficiency. Number one in net rating. Uh number one in clutch time record. Number one in clutch field goal percentage. Number two in clutch free percentage. Number one in opponent clutch field goal percentage. Number two in opponent points per game in the clutch. These guys are just dominating teams in the clutch. Booker out high finds Bridges in the paint with that little turnaround again. gets. This was yet another clutch win, but this was also a game Booker scored 49 points in uh to really just provide a boost for the Suns here without Chris Paul. Devin Booker is the best player on the best team and that means he deserves the MVP. So, does he have a point, Ramona? He has a point. I think Devin Booker should absolutely be in the top five of your MVP ballot. Historically speaking, when you’re the number one team in the Western Conference, your best player gets rewarded with the MVP. But we live in a different era now. And during this season, it was the three bigs, the behemoths of the NBA, Giannis and Been Yokic that were the top three in MVP. Now, it would be the playoffs. And in game two, unfortunately, Booker here, you can see him contesting. Uh, but he ends up hurting his hamstring here to where he couldn’t play. But who cares? Even after that, they still have the best odds to win a championship. They look like the favorites to win it all. And despite the series being tied 1-1, the Suns could still take this series home. Now Booker, he would practice and be able to return in game six with the Suns up 3-2 in the series. Stand by Paul and that’s it. Game series. The Phoenix Suns have survived. And now with both Chris Paul and Booker back healthy. I mean, this team is just fully loaded and will take on anybody at this point. And they’re taking on a fourth seed Mavs team. Let’s just say they’re doing a good job at winning these games now. They’re up 200 on the Mavs here already. Chris, when you’re playing a guy like Luca Donuch, and how important is it to make him work defensively as far as running him through a lot of actions, especially late in a game when he’s logged heavy minutes like that? Uh, we just try to play um take what the defense gives us. Yeah, it looked like these dudes just knew that they were the better team. It’s over, man. The series going to end soon. We don’t got to worry about Luca really. And better yet, CP was turning. Whoa. Chris Paul was turning 37. Happy birthday to you. Okay, that might get claimed. I’m stop. Almost turned it over. Got it back with a fortunate bounce. Bullop the dagger. Okay, so Dallas wins game three. You know what, man? Let them have one game, right? But this series is over. Oh, wait. Hold up. Wait a minute. Chris Paul insensed as some Mavs fans are harassing several members of his family that are attending the game. Turns it over and Chris Paul got run over and that’s going to be a foul. No, an offensive foul. That’s five against CP3. Picks up his fifth. Chris Paul as soon as he’s turned 37 forgets how to play the sport. He fouls out here early in the game. Vinnie Smith, one more to Bullock. Finny Smith for three. Dallas heat check. Finny Smith fire. Finny Smith fire. Pretty points don’t count. Luca with the layup. Working against Aaron Holiday. Little machine gun dribble. A pass. A bullet to Cleveland. And that’s it. Uh what’s happening here? Uh Dallas ties the series back to a piece. This dude, Chris Paul, not to mention, is a shell of himself on the road. I don’t know what’s going on with the dude. All of a sudden, it feels like he’s just not good anymore. If the se if the Suns want to win this series, they’re going to need Chris Paul to play the way he’s been playing earlier in this playoffs. And in game five, well, he didn’t play that good. The Suns, they’re back. The vibe seems to be at an all-time high. Booker having fun here during the game, but the Mavs, they could not substain the Suns as Devin Booker would lead them with 28 points and just beat the team that quite frankly, the Mavs team really didn’t have much from anybody not named Luca and Jaylen Brunson. And so, okay, finally the Suns get this game back. They get the series back in control. Game five, pivotal win here. And oh boy, the Mavs might be in trouble here. They’re heading home for a game six, but they’re down 23 and it might be over for the Mavs. Oh, the Cinderella run. It’s over. But they are. Donic with the steel and they’ve got numbers. Luca inside like a layup drill. Goes the screen. Luca with a step back. Got it. And I suppose Luca being down to three took it as an onus to himself to take over the this game six cuz indeed he did and the Mavs would win and make this a sevengame [Applause] series and drives with their patented sp and the ball’s going to be in Lucas 80 to 85% of the time. Here’s the step up by Luca and Amy’s out there and Luca trains it. Bro, why does it look like he’s already thinking about all the shots he’s about to make on this game? Why is he cooking already? This dude is just torching them. Don’t tell me we’re about to see a whooping like no other. Look at this guy. He He’s pissed. Oh, he sees food when he sees the suns guarding him. Look at this guy fading away. Yo, this game is nuts. I think everybody who watched this game live knew where they were. They can tell me. They can tell me in the comments right now, where were you when this game was happening? Because oh my goodness, it was historical. This team was getting [ __ ] down by one man and his name is the Luca Don. We know him. Go left and just picking apart every single thing about his game that gives him comfort. What a hard shot. Stunning 27point lead. Down goes Johnson. Three. Oh no, they’re shredding him. Oh no, he didn’t. How do I say good? Let me Let me stop. Let me stop. Trailed by as many as 46 points in this game seven. They got embarrassed at their home court. Aptly named the Footprint Center cuz they got stepped all over. They got walked down by this dude Luca Danchic who scored 27 of his 35 points in the first half where the Suns also scored 27 points but as a team in the first half. The butt whooping was so bad the Suns had to issue an apology to the fans. Okay, that just tells you everything you need to know. Okay, this this team knew that it this was embarrassing. This is so embarrassing and we all know Luke is a legend. We all know about this, right? He’s like just insane for a player that’s 23 years old. So, Chris Paul and Deon Booker, you can see them both here. I’ll highlight them. Uh 11 points for Devin Booker on three or 14 shooting. Uh 10 points on four of eight shooting. By the way, if we look at these numbers and really contextualize them and we look at the first half, Devin Booker has two points on 0 of seven shooting. Chris Paul one point on all of four shooting. Their only points came from the three-f line. They both combined went all of 11, all of four from deep in the first half, which is when the game was really, you know, meaningful. The second half was basically a wash. A historic meltdown of epic proportions that just puts Luca in a into a stratosphere that we haven’t seen in a long time. And I will keep referencing this stat that Jimmy Hyroller posted on his video because it’s insane. He had Luca did more points in the series than Deon Booker. He had more assists in the series than Chris Paul, more rebounds in the series than DeAndre, more steals in the series than Muel Bridges. Like, I’m sorry. Is it even possible for a franchise to recover from an ass whooping like this? So, in game seven Sunday night, DeAndre Aton, he played only 17 minutes. That’s the fewest in any postseason game of his career. for any this guy Aiden scored five points in this game his playoff worst and got benched by Monty Williams. Okay, this guy got benched early in the third quarter and basically didn’t play again after that. DA only played 17 minutes tonight and so he didn’t play most of the fourth quarter. Is there any reason why is he hurt or sounds like things aren’t going well over there in Phoenix? Oh boy. Now this seems to be contract related. uh he didn’t get to an agreement with the franchise on a rookie scale extension and he’s owe a max this summer as a restricted free agent. Obviously Phoenix can match whatever offer another team puts up. The Indiana Pacers have shown probably of the teams outside of Phoenix, the Indiana Pacers have shown a lot of interest in DeAndre A. Now the month of July there was obviously free agency talks Kevin Durant being the biggest story where he requested out of Brooklyn. So, a lot of teams are looking at that and they’re thinking, “Oh, interesting. There’s this hypothetical trade being thrown around with DeAndre Aiden involved to where Phoenix could get Kevin Durant potentially.” The restricted free agent center DeAndre Aton has agreed to a 4year $133 million maximum offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers. This is a big yikes for Phoenix. Oh boy. They got two days, 48 hours to match the offer sheets. Uh, unless they do that, and if they don’t, well, Aiden’s going to walk for nothing. And as it says here, the Suns have 48 hours to match that offer, which is the largest that we’ve seen in NBA history. Uh, if they don’t, well, he’s just going to walk for nothing and go to Indiana as a free agent. And now because of this uh the Kevin Durant trade to Phoenix that people were hypothesizing can can’t even happen this year. How does the eight news affect the Kevin Durant trade market? Well for Phoenix it really uh leaves them probably without the assets to be competitive uh for a Kevin Durant trade. Again DeAndre Aon can’t be traded until January 15th and again not without his consent. The belief in the league is that the Suns will indeed match this offer sheet. Yeah, this is a big yikes. A Suns team that clearly didn’t want to pay Aiden that type of money. Uh is now having to do so because they’re basically put in a position to be forcibly having to do it. Uh uh unless they want to see him just leave for nothing. They don’t want to see that happen. So they have to pay him. So, not only can the Suns not even go and trade Kevin Durant without giving up other pieces, well, now they’re in the luxury task for the first time in 12 years, and we know and we all know how cheap the Robert Sarver is. Oh boy, this might not end well. Wait, hold on. An allegations of wow, an article came out, scathing article talking about Robert Sarver and the allegations surrounding him and his organization. And these allegations are so bad. Robert Sarver uh has basically said he will sell the team that he’s owning that he will sell the both the Suns and Mercury after these allegations surfaced. You and Monty kind of been able to move on. You haven’t spoken at all ever since. Bro, what? This guy hasn’t spoken to the coach since that game seven where he got benched. Oh. Oh. Oh boy. So, not not even not even a hoping that changes here eventually soon. You happy? I’m all right. The vibes are at an all-time low. It seems since obviously Chris Paul came on the team. This is not good. I haven’t talked to a bunch of our guys. Um, as I said earlier this summer, like they they needed a break from me, the gym. um unless you were in the gym like every day. I’ve had interactions with everybody, but talking to guys about deep stuff. There’s a number of guys I haven’t talked to. Even when guys are in the gym, I wouldn’t come downstairs just cuz I wanted them to get a break from from me. Hey, that’s W damage control for money. But the room still stinks. I’ll tell you what. And that will do it. What the hell is this? The Suns lost to who? A Australian NBL team called the Adelaide 36ers. Wowers, man. And as of things can get worse for this franchise, I mean, players are starting the season hurt just like Aton. You got Cam Johnson now in contract negotiations. Uh and al obviously he’s also returning from an injury that he’s obstained in the offseason. It doesn’t seem to be bad blood between him and the franchise, but you know, something to keep tabs on. News and it’s not good for the Phoenix Suns. They’re going to be without Cam Johnson for the foreseeable future. Reports tonight say that Johnson has a torn meniscus in his knee and he will be sidelined for the time being. And he’s going to be out for one to two months after getting that surgery. Oh boy. It’s already been a tough night from an injury standpoint for the Suns. This is Aidan come down awkwardly on that left ankle. This was a just seconds ago. They might be cooked. Booker with nine. Booker blocked by Butler. Taken back by Booker. 3 seconds left for the win. He missed it. I mean, at least James Jones is going to be promoted to president of basketball operations, right? That’s good news, right? I think it is. Right. Look, I’ll be honest. There are some bright moments during this stretch here. Booker with 51 points in three quarters against the Bulls. And in other news, some guy named Matt Ishbia uh has agreed to buy the Suns for a record $4 billion. So, a little bit of drama in Phoenix last night. So, we’re going to pick it up. Suns Wizards. Just over a minute left here. Wizards up by five. Denny Odia is at the free throw line, but watch DeAndre Aton and Male Bridges here. They’re they’re going at it a little bit. Even the opponent’s confused, bro. They was like, “Yo, bro, what’s going on? Hey, keep it going. Hey, I want to hear some more of this.” And then you have Monty Williams and DeAndre Aiden going at it. Oh my goodness. This is getting nuts. Yeah, this season is not looking so good anymore. Was the whole team in those moments. wasn’t just DeAndre, it was the whole group out there not executing properly and it was a bit of frustration, but that that happens. That was not an isolated one person or one player thing. And this is definitely not the news you want to see around this time of the season. Devin Booker out for at least four weeks with a groin strain. All three been losses and I know at a record of 2020 20 and 21 where they’re tied for ninth and 10th right now in the Western Conference. They dropped their 10th game in their last 12. They got blown out by the Nuggets. They fall back below 500. Yes, they’re battling injuries, right? No. Deon Booker, Chris Paul, DeAndre Aton, Cam Johnson. I think people are, especially the players, you can sense they’re getting to the point where it’s frustration really starting to mount and being over the fact that they’re not winning games at all, no matter how much better they’re playing in the last few games. And worse yet, even if they wanted to make a trade, the Sun situation is very complicated as they’re going through the process of selling the team off to another owner. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right now at this point, Malik, I’m going to chop it because any game where they don’t get a player injured, yes, is a good night. The problem, we know that they’ve got Jay Crowder sitting out. You know, they’re desperate for players. So, you’re saying, why will they not trade Jay Crowder to get help? And the reason is is they’ve got three quasi owners. Like nothing I’ve seen before in my 20 years covering the NBA. They have Sam Garvin, who is the acting owner right now for Robert Sarver, who is in the middle of selling the team because he is suspended. But while Sam Garvin has said he has the authority to make trades, he actually doesn’t because under the rules that the the league put down under the suspension, Robert Sarver is allowed to to say yes or no to any trade for a player that makes over $10 million, which is who Jay Crowder is. Any trade almost certainly has to go on Sarver’s desk. Meanwhile, Matt Ishbia is going to try to take control of this team within the next month. I’m not sure that the league is going to get through with their vetting process, but he’s hoping to get control of the team ahead of the trade deadline so he can have a decision on who the trade is. So the the Phoenix Suns front office, James Jones, is trying to help his team. He’s got different people saying yes or no that he’s got to sign off on. It’s very very difficult for them to get something done. Not to mention the trademark’s tight. So even with them, you know, winning some games here and there, you look at the standings and yeah, the Suns are below the playin right now. They’re 11th in the Western Conference. Now, there seems to be some good news headed Phoenix’s way with Deon Booker. An update, a crucial update about his injury status. Uh Malikica, I’m told that there’s optimism. Devin Booker could be back as soon as Tuesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets. Be clear, this particular franchise was the target, right? This is not a, oh, they they’re for sale. This was, I can’t believe they’re for sale. I’m so excited about the Mercury and the Suns and how can I be involved? Phoenix now has a new owner officially, Matt Ishbia. Uh, this is going to be interesting to watch. So, February 8th, oh wait, wait. February 8th when it was officially announced that he would become the owner of the Phoenix Suns for a record $4 billion officially. And the next day at 1:05 a.m., Adrian Rosanowski tweets something very interesting here. Matt Ishbia, who now owns the team, was very quick and got a trade to be made uh for Kevin Durant. Yes, Kevin Durant will be traded to the Phoenix Suns. And now Phoenix has Kevin Durant on their team with TJ Warren. They had to give up a lot though still to get Kevin Durant. Full details has it here. Macau Bridges was traded. Cam Johnson, Jay Crowder, four unprotected first round picks, plus a 2028 pick swap that’s going to be given to Brooklyn as well. And we know KD, he’s a bucket getter, man. He showed it in Brooklyn and, you know, in the playoffs where he really had some numbers that were quite historic. But unfortunately, obviously, we know about the foot on the line. Many people would say if that didn’t happen, Brooklyn could well be on its way to a championship instead of the Milwaukee Bucks that year. But then over the next two years, a lot of things happened to where it just got harder for the Nets to justify having some of these players on our team. And along the way, trades were made and the Brooklyn Nets had to move off of some players. And KD’s time in Brooklyn, quite frankly, is a big what if. And when he requested a trade in 2022, uh the preferred destinations was the both the number one seed Phoenix Suns, the number one seed Miami Heat that year. And ultimately KD got his way at the end of the day. Jason Bartlestein is going to be the new CEO of the Phoenix Suns. Shout out Brandon Clean from Locked on Suns. uh he basically talked about this where Matt is this was his first hire and the connection here is they both are from Michigan and both played at Michigan State uh basketball as walk-on players. Um he is the son of Mark Bartlestein who you might remember or or know of as an NBA agent. Mark Bartlestein is one of the biggest agents in basketball. He runs Priority Sports. You’ve probably seen him in a Wogege tweet or two. Um, he is the agent for Bradley Beal, Michael Porter Jr., Gordon Hayward. I think some of you are beginning to put the puzzle pieces together. I’m looking at the Phoenix Suns and I believe that the Phoenix Suns are going to the finals because I believe that Kevin Durant will rise and elevate to levels that most people can’t reach. And I think that he will carry Devin Booker and CP3 and DeAndre A with him. And there’s some hype building up for this Phoenix team despite KD having gone down with an injury during his time in Brooklyn shortly before the trade happened. So KD, he had to watch from the bench the first couple games when he was in Phoenix. Man, I missed the game. It’s tough, you know, missing a month of the season, but I’m glad my knees back right. I’m glad I’m just on the road to, you know, playing more and more minutes each game. I’m looking forward to uh what we can do from uh we we can build from this. So yeah, he played his first Suns game against Charlotte and he was not bad. 23 points. Uh he looked pretty good. Six rebounds, two assists, two blocks as well. And then he played against the Chicago Bulls at 20 points. It’s just looking like he’s starting to get the feel again. He’s starting to get back into that KD mode that we know him as, you know, the sniper, the Slim Reaper. So during pregame, this guy Kevin Durant, yeah, you see it there. The ankle gets twisted there and he just falls off and uh you know, he was going to play the OKC Thunder this game and unfortunately he had to be sidelined because of this. Shout outs to him though. He still signed fans autographs, basketballs and stuff. That’s nice to see. And once KD got back on the court, I mean, it just still looked good. like this Phoenix Tons team looked like they could do something in the playoffs this year, right? Strikes again people over Christian Brown. It’s Durant it in a three by KD in this game where they beat the Nuggets. Chris Paul had 25 points and KD well he had 29 points. The Phoenix Suns would play the Clippers in the first round and boy they were in trouble already. Kai Leonard for three. Oh, back to back. Kawhai left. Kawhai looked like a monster. 38 points in this game. And Phoenix, they were trying. Aton with a nice floater right there. Comes in that leaves Gordon open. Another three is good. And in a pivotal game, he would never guess who the X factor was. Game one. Booker taken on Westbrook. And a block by Westbrook. And he throws it off of Booker. It is Clipper ball. Westbrook right there winning them the game with that play. The Clippers already taking the game in Phoenix and oh boy Kawawaii he’s going to be a tough foul in the first round and it’s great to finally see him healthy in the playoffs. A great fourth quarter in crunch time but Booker goes for 38. He went for 25 in the second half and the Phoenix Suns even up this series at one a piece and this series is all square heading back to Los Angeles game. Wait, hold up there. Chris Paul just bumping into him. Oh, interesting. Fings gang spicy. Booker heating up. Oh man, this guy dropped 38 points one game, 31 points another. And walk off the court, looks absolutely fine. And then Ty Lou wakes up the next morning and finds out he can’t go today. So apparently Kawhai sprained his knee in game one and game two. He played through it. Uh but things just looked worse after that and so he missed game three and four. Wow. And no surprise at all, the Clippers won both games. Now Phoenix up 3-1 on the series. So let’s talk to Brian Winhurst about game five in Phoenix again. Kawawaii Paul George listed as out. Clippers face elimination. Wait, now Paul George is also out. Oh yeah. End the series already. This [ __ ] man. This is so stupid. I can’t even lie. That’s disappointing as hell, bro. Oh my goodness. The Phoenix Suns are able to win this series uh thanks in part to injuries. Yeah, I’m going to talk a bit about how this series ended up for the Phoenix Suns, but uh yeah, it was a wash after Kawhai was out. Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard has been diagnosed with a torn meniscus. Okay, it makes sense why he didn’t play those games. And that just puts further into question the Clippers, you know, as a team in the future. Right now, I made a video last summer about this team. Uh I’m going to have an update video coming up uh in a couple weeks probably, but be sure to check the last update up from last summer if you’re interested. This guy Booker dropped 47 in game five. This guy was dropping numbers the whole series with his 47 points tonight. Devin Booker passes Charles Barkley for the most season history. You look at this series. Booker averaged over 37 points per game, shooting over 60% from the field. That is historic, especially for a guard. You look at this, it’s almost a 70% true shooting percentage on this series. That’s just incredible. To put that into context, Booker is the second player in NBA history to put up 35 or more points per game while shooting 60% from the field and 80% from the three-point line in the series. You could guess who the first player was by this picture, obviously. And Booker’s 47 points and 10 assists in this series clinching game was the first time that we’ve ever seen a player score 45 plus whilst having 10 or more assists in a series clinching game. What was it like seeing Devin uh explode in that third quarter? Yeah, it was spiritual. I don’t know how this man Booker did it, but he makes KD feel some type of way about scoring that many points. 23 in the third quarter of that game, too. By the way, [Applause] [Music] somebody [Applause] watch there. [Applause] Shout out Legend Z. I mean, he got this video here. Uh, Booker apparently re arguing with DeAndre Aton about the rebounding. Woo. This is interesting stuff here. Question your motor. Yeah. I don’t know what that is, man. Motor. Come on, bro. I play both ends of the floor. My name is Dominated. I carry uh I anchor the Phoenix Suns on both ends of the floor. Motor? Really? You want to talk about the motor, man? Yeah. People were questioning his motor, unsurprisingly. And in the first round series in the playoffs, this guy said the corniest things I’ve ever heard. And I didn’t want to play the clip further because it got it was just getting worse. But I’ll quote it anyway since you guys probably want to know what he said. He said, “My name is Dominating. I anchor the Phoenix Suns on both fans of the Float.” Motor, man. Really? Nope. I run on Tesla battery. Yeah. Cringe, man. If those Tesla batteries catch on fire, just know it’s going to take a while to take them out. The Suns in the first round would play the Nuggets. And let’s just say game one was not the Suns game. And there was a play in this game where Suns fans were upset at DeAndre Aton. Oh boy. Curling. Here he comes. Left hand. No. Joic. Couple of tries. Misses. Gets it back. Missed again. And Denver somehow comes up empty. Look at Christian Brown. Picks KD’s pocket. But boy, they’re missing all kinds of little bunnies in. Just an alltime bad sequence from DeAndre A. Oh my gosh. And game two, the Suns would look to rebound from that awful game one. Good job defensively. Just nothing easy in this first half. Booker from Booker baseline. Misses offensive rebound. Aiden back to Booker. Splash. This time the Suns were in this game. It was much closer, much more competitive. And it was a Chris Paul show in the third quarter. Oh boy. Paul gets a screen, fakes, just masterful. Booker the jump pass. Good look. KD got it. But they’ve got to settle themselves down and get back to executing. Paul, what a shot. He’s got eight. Largest lead tonight for [Music] Phoenix. Joic with a team high 20. This is Bruce Brown. Short one-handed rebound. Called well. Pope Paul limping into the locker room. If you know anything about Chris Paul in the playoffs, something like this was bound to happen, but this is just the worst timing. He was going off. The Suns looked like they were going to take control of the game and now it seems like his groin area, it’s hurting. He has to go to the locker room and he would not return in the game. And uh the game was Denver’s to win. Oh boy. Chris Paul, his status is in doubt for game three and game four against the Denver Nuggets. That’s due to a left groin strain according to our senior insider Adrian Werowski. What sucks about this is Chris Paul was their best plus minus player in terms of opponents being outscored. When Chris Paul’s on the floor, they were outscored by a team best 39 points in during the seven playoff games he was playing. And now he might not even play again. And just like I said before, the history with Chris Paul’s extensive. This this stuff always seems to rear its ugly head, man. [Music] You can see here DeAndre Aiden visibly upset. Apparently him not shaking hands with Chris Paul. Apparently he’s upset. Uh you see that guy here is shaking Chris’s hand instead. But Aiden, he’s upset that he got pulled early in this game three. Oh boy. What’s going on in Phoenix? Durant finds Warren. He’s had a couple big buckets in the four. Shot clock fading. Durant in the game three that the Phoenix Suns won. Kevin Durant leading them with 39 points. But you see here, no Aton in the paint. It’s Jock Landale, the coach. I mean, he just sees Jock Landale outplaying Aton in in his minutes. And he’s electing to put him in the game in the closing minutes rather than putting DeAndre Aiden in the game. Oh boy. I don’t mean to bury the lead. Dude, I’m not going to lie. I should have said this earlier, but Booker averaging yet again crazy stats against the Denver Nuggets in the second round. And in that game three where Durant had 39, Booker had 47 points on 20 of 25 shooting. Exactly 80% from the field. Let’s just say Booker is an elite company. I mean, just look at this that here. Most points through first eight playoff games in a season. This guy by far the most efficient out of everybody on that list. And he’s in a list with Will Chamberlain, Elgen, Baylor, Jerry West, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. These statistics that he’s putting up are out of this world. His delivery and his shooting is as good. I’m being very careful here when I say this. his shooting right now, his jump shooting is the best run we have ever seen in the playoffs. So in this game four, right, the Suns play the Nuggets at home and Devin Bookeroo, the drip is there. Joic had a sensational game. There was an incident where the ball went out of bounds and then you see here Jokic trying to get the ball and some guys holding it away from he pushes the guy. Wait, the guy flopped as well. And upon third of review, who who is that person in green? That’s the owner of the Phoenix Suns. The NBA has to be the most cracked out reality show I’ve ever seen. Matt Ishbia fighting off Joic for the ball. The game came down to the wire. Joic put up 53 points with Durant answering with 11, but it was the Phoenix Suns that ended up winning the game, tying the series back to two. Boker had his six 35 point game during this postseason in game four, most in a single playoffs in Suns history. The last two games against the Nuggets, this guy has just been going off only missing four shots in game four, five shots in game three. This guy went a combined 34 of 43 from the field and shot a combined eight of 12 from deep. Devin Booker is playing out of his mind and he is quite literally doing something that only Michael Jeffrey Jordan has ever done in the first nine games since the merger. Now Matt Ishbia, he addresses the team. He addresses everybody after the game. Doesn’t want any suspensions and he has a lot of respect for Yic. Start with you Devin. You shot 79% from the field in the last two games. Now, when you look at the other side, Joic had a career night. You all weren’t phased by that. You still pulled away with the win. How do you do that? Is that part of your defensive strategy? I mean, it’s a tough matchup. You know, he’s either scoring or he’s getting his teammates involved or he’s doing both. So, you know, every possession just trying to make it hard on him, make it tough on him. I mean, he can have 50 all he wants. As long as we get the win, um, that’s all we’re going for. This is shaping up to be an alltime series. Wow. And Joic, he’s making up with Matt Ishbia, giving him the ball. Hey, they’re friends now. Nice. But it seems like Mike Malone made some adjustments. The Nuggets now are gearing up uh to beat the Suns. Oh boy, a pivotal game five win here. Jokic leveling up just that much more, averaging almost a triple double with 30 points per game in this series. This is going to be a lot to overcome. Sorry, this is for the whole playoff so far. Holy moly. His averages against the Suns in this series are even crazy. basically a 35point triple double. Now, yes, Chris Paul, he did miss this game yet again with the groin injury. H it’s not looking good for the Suns, man. And it looks like Devin Booker in game five. He had 28 points, leading the team in scoring, but again, that’s just not going to be enough to beat the Nuggets, especially with Durant not putting up a fight as well. I mean, this is Oh my goodness. The Athletic reporting that DeAndre Aiden will not play tonight with a rib injury. So, this injury apparently sprung up in game five and you see it here with Bruce Brown. Oh, he’s colliding with Aiden right there and he’s down. The thing where Yeah, it hurt. You know, I had my breath. It just hurt a little bit where I couldn’t even like close out. I just needed a minute or two. But, you know, this the playoffs and you got to get up. You got to get up and do something. But, man, I love this man. Um, they did their job at home and we got to handle ours at home. Like Sham said, this is a seven game series, man. man, may the best team win. I mean, these days it’s looking like Jock Land is a better center. I mean, it’s just quite a shame seeing, you know, DeAndre A not being able to play in game six. They’re going to have to rely even more on Jock Land’s heroics, I guess. And I’ll be honest, Phoenix never had a chance with or without DA. Elimination game. Last year was game seven in the conference semis against Dallas. tonight in game six in the first half against Denver as that one spins around and Suns fan rightfully so booing the team as they’re down 30 in the first half. The Phoenix Suns might as well forfeit this game and just go home and watch and tell everybody to do the same. That’s the most entertainment they going to get in that arena tonight. This is over. It’s embarrassing. I forgot DeAndre was going to be injured, but the bottom line is wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Props to you. An absolutely pathetic awful performance. They’re outclassed. They’re outman. They’re out physical. They’re out game plan. They just don’t have anything going for them right now. Nothing like a Stephen A rant, bro. I’m not gonna lie. I had to play this. It was so gold. That was This was gold, man. And it’s just so funny. You see Chris Paul witnessing this from the bench. DeAndre Aton witnessing this from the bench. And that’s the unofficial Croy. Terrence Ross. Oh, no. But the series was over. Denver wins in six. It’s unfortunate. It’s a shame really. And I can’t even lie. They’re doing KD dirty, showing his low lightss. I mean, quite frankly, he wasn’t that good in this game. And if you look at the numbers, at least he showed up. Deon Booker looked like a shell of himself, even more so in game six. 12 points only. Are we serious? But I’m going to have to expose Kevin Durant here because the only reason he has more points is because he tapped at it in the second half when the game was basically over. He was two of 11 in the first half. By far the worst player out of the two duos. I mean, Devin Booker, he had 11 points, right? He only scored one point in the second half. Let’s be honest, that game was over then, right? At least he scored 11 in the first, but he still wasn’t good. So, [ __ ] it. I take that back. KD, you deserve to get blasted. You deserve to get flamed cuz you’re ass. 23 points in game six are fewest scored in any game this postseason. It should have been 11. You shouldn’t even not played in the second half. Shameful stab padding session. Breaking news into CBS Sports HQ. The Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Marty Williams. Our NBA insider Bill Ryder confirming, “Well, somebody had to go. Somebody had to be scapegoed. It was Monte Williams, the easiest to replace as coach. And after what he did for that franchise, it’s a shame to see him having to get fired. I mean, this guy is just a culture builder. He built his team from the ground up and they became a contending team for years and this is how he gets treated.” It’s just sad. But Sun’s fans, they say he had to go due to how they underachieved in the playoffs, especially in the last two seasons. He’s such a wellrespected coach. What more can you tell us about the whole situation? Greeny, I’m told that Matt Ishbia, the new Phoenix owner, never really took Tamonte Williams from the time uh he was approved as owner uh right away made the Kevin Durant trade with Brooklyn, which he largely negotiated and executed himself. And then after that 30-point loss in game six to Denver, it was Matt Ishbia again who effectively is running overseeing basketball operations. Their general manager, James Jones, his influence has been diminished there. This is a Matt Ishbia production right now. A guy like W saying this, I buy it. I believe it. uh Matt Ishbia seemingly taking more control of the franchise, even taking control of the decisions being made by James Jones, the GM of the team. This is not good. This sounds a lot like Robert Sarver all over again. And now you look at the booksheets, right? financials that are being owed to these players, 146.9 million combined, owed to Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, DeAndre Aiden for the next season alone if every single player returns. Now, Chris Paul’s contract is half fully guaranteed, but would be fully guaranteed after June 28th. So, they do have a decision to make there whether they want to keep Chris Paul and guarantee that contract fully. They only have one pick because the Nets have their first round pick from that KD trade. We’ve illustrated how the draft capital is uh very low now because they owe the Nets unprotected first round picks in the next 3 to 5 years. It’s quite stellar. So, if anything, Monty Williams uh he got he got out before the ship sank. I mean, let’s be honest. I mean, just he he can now get into a better position for himself and, you know, maybe he’ll coach another team into a contender. After one season, the Pistons have fired coach Monty Williams, who leaves with 5 years and 65 million plus left on his deal. So, okay, you know what? Suns may have made a good decision here. Apparently, Monty wasn’t no good. He went to the Pistons the following year on a crazy big contract, and they proceeded to lose a uh record tying 28 straight games uh in the regular season. During this season, the Pistons ranked Oh, where are they? What? Oh, they’re right here. Wait. Oh, 15th with the worst record in the NBA by far. 14 and 68 record. Abysmal. Abysmal record. Oh my gosh. Now, we’ll get to how the Phoenix Suns fared in that season. Uh because it’s interesting. Also, cuz that’s the main point of the damn video. I mean, come on now. So, they hired a new coach. Oh, he looks familiar. Frank Vogle, who won a championship in the bubble in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers. a proven coach uh that is defensive oriented. Uh maybe the Suns can turn it around on that end. This just in on HQ. Bradley Beal picking up some new threads today. Beal being introduced to the Phoenix Suns after a deal with Washington where Wait, hold up. He he he’s a Phoenix Sun. Wait, what? What? What is happening right now? He was traded for Chris Paul. Landry Sheamus. Oh, hold up. Chris Paul got traded. Oh, wow. Interesting. So, the Phoenix Suns got Bradley Bill and they didn’t have to trade any of Booker, Durant, and Aton. Interesting. The Blockbusters deal was announced June 23rd, I think. And this trade comes weeks after the Wizard clean house and hired three new executives, uh, a president, a SVP of player personnel, and a general manager uh, to lead the franchise. And this is the owner, Ted Leon’s cleaning house. And uh right away they they saw that contract that Bradley Bill was signed to and they said they had to get rid of it quick. The Wizards gave him a contract the year before that was quite frankly one of the worst contracts given to out to a player of his caliber. 5 years $251 million max extension. And the worst part wasn’t even the money amount itself. The Wizards also gave him a no trade clause in his contract, making him crazy to say, the only player in the league with a true legit no trade clause. And even at the time, I’m pretty sure it was the consensus, the stats nerds, the itest nerds, everyone in unison saying, “This guy is not a superstar. Why are you paying him like he’s a superstar? Wizards, what are you doing? You’re dumb. You’re stupid.” And kudos to the Wizards. They changed their management and guys that came from the Clippers organization, the OKC organizations, guys that seem to have their heads screwed in, right? Well, they saw that contract and they said, “We got to find a sucker to trade it to and they found it in Phoenix. I wonder how that was possible.” Oh boy. Now, you may think, “Oh, this video was made uh in hindsight. You’re talking about this in hindsight.” Even at the time, I promise you, I had this exact same feeling. I said this is not a good trade. This was one of the stupidest things Phoenix could have done. You basically you basically treat one of your more valuable players. Yes, he’s aging in Chris Paul, but he’s still a very valuable piece at the point guard position for a player that basically does everything that you already have in Deon Booker and Kevin Durant. What the hell? And he’s injuryprone, too. Well, kudos to the Wizards. They got rid of the worst contract in NBA history at that point. And the Phoenix Suns now have to deal with that. And uh let’s see how much do they owe this team now financially cuz Chris Paul was a $30 million deal. I think Bradley Bills is more than that. Durant, Booker, Bill, and Aiden will have a combined salary of $161 million next season. And that’s just 4 million shy of the luxury tax threshold of $165 million. These dudes, These dudes are actually hilarious. And this summer, the NBA and the Players Union negotiated a new CBA that took effect July of 2023, which would add on to the luxury tax with both a first apron and a second apron level, uh, which if the team were to pay above that level, uh, would increase the restrictions and penalties levied at that said team. And we know obviously with the rest of the roster signed, they’re going to pass this $165 million threshold and teams by the way that go $17.5 million over the second tax apron cannot use taxpayer le mid-level exceptions. They can’t sign buyout players and they cannot take back more money in any trades they make. Wow. And for the next season, the tax apron, the second apron would be at $180.31 million. Oh, and there’s also draft pick penalties uh for those over the second apron. Oh no. So in 2024 25 season during that season, if a team is in a second apron, they cannot trade its first round picks 7 years out from that season. And in the next four salary cap years following that, if the team is in the second apron for two of those four years or more, uh, the draft first round pick will be subjected to a penalty that, uh, basically will freeze it. And now, why am I telling you all this? Well, it’s because it’ll matter later in this video. Despite the team having lost depth and basically traded for a guy that’s redundant in terms of positional versatility, you already have players that can do what Bill does. In terms of that, I mean, the Suns apparently their odds to win a championship jumped up after the trade. Uh, I don’t know why. Even funnier is this New York Times article that basically talks about how Chris Paul found out about the trade from his son. Oh, this is embarrassing. Oh, and months later, uh, another trade was made that was big, huge. Damian Lillard to Milwaukee. And why it’s relevant to Phoenix is because they were involved and they traded DeAndre Aton in this deal to get Ysef Nerkage, Grayson Allen, Nir Little, and Keon Johnson on their team. They also traded a second round pick in Tomani Kamara. Uh interesting stuff here. Obviously, Milwaukee was the big winner in this trade uh with obviously Phoenix coming as a facilitator uh to make it easier for both teams to even be able to pull off this trade. Now, Phoenix, so instead of Aiden, you got Ysef Nerkage at center. I wonder how that’s going to look. Oh, boy. And the CEO of Phoenix, he was asked about, you know, how much impact he had in the decision. Well, first, just wanted to ask about the Aiden trade and obviously you had an intricral part in it. Just curious on on your on the role that you played in that and how you’re feeling about it now that the deal’s been done. Yeah, I I think it’s a partnership. I think Matt hit on it. Uh myself, James, Frank, and Matt, we’re constantly canvasing the league and looking at how to improve our team. Uh, and we thought as Matt said, Nerkach is a great fit for this team. His passing ability, how skilled he is offensively, what coach Vogle is going to do with him defensively. Does it take a genius to know that he also had influence in the Bradley Bill trade? Suns, they have gone into this off season and completely reshaped their roster. They now have Frank Vogle leading the way and Devin Booker is the lone player on the squad that was a member of the 2021 NBA Finals team. In a matter of months, Matt Ishbia might have done the impossible. uh trading away so much pieces, building and retooling around Devin Booker to to the extent that the team looks unidentical, unrecognizable from the team that was in the finals in 2021. My goodness. You know, a couple of the role players from Portland, a starting center in Nurkitch, and then a very good rotational guard now in Grayson Allen. It adds, it balances out this roster. It adds to their depth. Bobby, how did you see the Suns get better yesterday? Well, I love it for Phoenix. I think when you have a player that’s earning $33 million and he’s your fourth uh best player on that roster, there’s something that you need to do as far as take that player and chop it up into three or four different players here. When you bring a player back like Joseph Nerkage, who can fit a role in at the center position and then the Nir Little contract, one of the better value contracts, first year of that rookie extension that he signed a year ago and then Grayson Allen in the last year of his contract. gives you some depth, gives you some more tradable pieces that you can move maybe closer to the trade deadline. I think what Phoenix has showed is they are a year ahead of where this new second apron is coming in where next year they wouldn’t be allowed to aggregate contracts. You wouldn’t be able to uh trade Little and Allen for an $18 million player. You can still do that under this collective bargaining agreement. And so it’s good for them to think about the future like this, but again, the ceiling of this team, I just don’t see it being that high. And all of a sudden, you get a veteran center that’s going to play his role. Dominate the glass, be able to guard the pick and roll, pick and roll to the basket, open up lanes, play the dunker spot. And look, they traded a guy Aiden that was getting paid 30 plus million for a guy in Nerkach that’s getting paid what 60 16 mil a year after he signed that fouryear $70 million contract to stay in Portland. I mean, I guess the Suns are actually, you know, trying to shave off money in their books. That’s good. That’s that’s a good move. But you look at this roster here. I mean, how competitive does this make Phoenix? They still are missing a point guard mainly at the starting lineup, right? Oki’s a fine role player to have starting the three, but I’m just concerned of the lack of size here that you’re getting with this team. ESPN having the discussion here. The Suns the team to be in the West with Caesar Sportsbook having the Suns plus 300 to win the West. Second shortest odds behind only the Nuggets. And yeah, you know, we’re trying to win. We’re trying to win the championship. So, we’re if there’s an opportunity to get our team better, make our team better, we’re going to go for it. And is there a method to his madness? Does he know what he’s doing? Is he putting this Suns team in the position to contend and win a championship in the future, or is he putting them in the position to where they’re going to be hampered by these penalties with a team that has a very low ceiling? Really, I mean, saying it respectfully, I don’t I don’t know how teams are going to guard us. You can’t guard all of us at once, you know? So, you know, especially when guys like Book can command a double team, myself, Brad can command double team. It’s going to be tough on the backside. So, um, we play fundamentally sound ball. Don’t turn the ball over rebound. We get in solid shape on offense. A team that was once in the heights in 2021. Now they’re they’ve regressed. And Bradley, I mean, look, man, there’s a lot of pressure, man. There’s a lot of pressure. And now we look at their points per game last season. That’s a lot of points between three guys. And I think this Suns team, they have a chance. They could do something with this. You compare it to previous big threes, right? Celtics, even the Miami Heat Heles. Wow. Even the Golden State big three. Yo, what is this, bro? The Suns might actually have a big three that is, you know, comparable to some of these ones. And obviously, he was hiding the Curry stat, but that I’m just saying, bro, I am running out of ways to describe what the big three of the Suns is doing. The good It’s only preseason, but it’s already looking promising in their minutes together. Look at this. Woo! Look at these plus minuses. And then shorter the odds to win a title, the Suns, plus 550. Wow, they’re up there with the Nuggets, Bucks, and the Celtics. And you look at it, they have better odds than the Lakers who made the conference finals the previous playoffs. Think you’ll be able to go for tomorrow? Hope so. That’s definitely my goal. So, I definitely want to be out there with the guys, but definitely play a smart field tomorrow. after the busy summer for you moving, coming to a new team, new environment, just how excited are you for the regular season to finally be here? It’s it’s crazy. It’s kind of like I didn’t I barely slept last night. Like I was excited just to get on the plane today and get going and be in practice. But, you know, it’s it’s here, you know. I’m definitely super excited. My family is too, but it’s just an awesome opportunity to just, you know, just seize the moment and just embrace it all and and uh just get ready for an awesome year. And I can’t even lie, bro. I feel bad because the year is not starting off on the right foot for him. Bradley Beal load managing the first game. Oh, not load manager. Got a bad lower back. Well, you better get some of that icy hot Ernie. Well, Suns were able to win the opening night game against the Warriors 1 and0 on the season. But as you can see here, Devin Booker and both Bradley Bulan, they will both miss the second game of the season against the Lakers on an injured foot. And that’s what I was saying right there. Yeah, the season just started, bro. is amazing. Wyama catch and shoot. He’s got it. On Halloween night, the Suns played the Spurs. And the Spurs are leaded by a 74 alien. O the guy that just got crossed up right there. Victor Wanyyama. 74. Look at this guy, man. He’s so tall. Disrupted. Pops up. Mel’s going to have to go on his own. Three-pointer. No good. Wyama. It’s a one-point game. 6.8 to go. might want to call a timeout to advance it. Oh, Johnson. Johnson Hayes. Yes. And the Spurs have the lead. The Suns lose in unbelievable fashion. This is game three of Wimby’s career. San Antonio’s lead is down to one, but Victor Webbyama responds. Look at him get the ball and stuff that one in. Just impossible. Then Webyama pulling up on the three. That’s money. Then when a jumper from just beyond the free throw line he had 38 in just his fifth game of his career he outplays Kevin Durant and Devin Booker 38 and 10. I mean this was just one of those games. He just showed why he’s the future of the NBA. This is against Kevin Durant who’s also a freak. And speaking of Shaq uh he has some interesting takes about this dude WBY. I want to go at Reggie a little bit. He talks about he’s never seen a guy like Wimby on it. Yes you have. His name is Bobbo. You think let me let me let me finish my point. They both black or something. No. No. Let me finish my point. Wim is just way more consistent than Bob. Bo is the first. I’m so sure this dude is serious. I’m so sure this is a real take, bro. But yeah, this doesn’t look good for the Suns. They’ve already lost two games against a lowly team like the Spurs who last year had the worst record in the NBA. Set it. Shoot around. The cat felt good. You were ready to go. How did it feel to get back out there with your team? Uh, I mean, there’s no replacement for this. Um, the hardest thing to do is sit out um and not be there for my team. So, when I’m on the side, I try to be as vocal as I can. Well, he came up big in this game returning against the Timberwolves. And the Timberwolves, they were streaking. They were winning a lot of games during this point of the season. And Devin Booker with his 31 points led the team in scoring. And the Timberwolves snapped their seven-game win streak because of Devin Booker and the Suns, led by both KD and Book scoring an identical 31 points. KD is being way more efficient though on 15 shots. Wow. And Malikica, the Suns have decided, you know, in working with their doctors uh that they’re going to take at least three weeks to allow Bradley Beal uh to rehabilitate uh this lower back strain that now Bradley Beal, he’s missed eight of their 11 games thus far, mid November. We still have yet to see the big three of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Bill play together. I’m not gonna lie, bro. This season, it feels lost almost. And then in a late November game against the Raptors, uh Booker here tweaks his ankle and you could just see him there just struggling to walk, limping with that ankle that’s just tweaked. And then mid December, Booker and Bill were back together, but KD wasn’t back in this game. Seeing that this was Booker and Bill’s first game together, it was promising to see them beat the Warriors with this lineup and had and not having KD yet. Man, I wonder how that’s going to look. the regular season. It came at a strong playoff run as well as gets to the mid range. I mean, you could just see how threatening these guys are. You got Booker and Bill and KD. KD has the four. I mean, he’s chipped in defensively also. I mean, you just look Booker with the ball. KD and Bill on the right side. Oh, that’s scary. Wait, wait, wait, wait. What? Why are they losing this game against Brooklyn? behind the four finds the streaking base. Their first look together and they lose against the Brooklyn Nets in the fourth quarter. That sees them losing by six. So they were leading before the fourth quarter began and they lost the game. That’s tough. An above 500 road record and an under 500 home record as Bradley Beal is hurt. Oh boy. You could see it here the replay. He jumps up and he lands on Dantenzo’s foot and it’s just tweaks his ankle. Oh no. And this is another game the Suns are losing in. Other than Booker and KD, no Sun player scored more than 11 points as the Suns lost their third game to a bottom five team. Yeah, you’ll say they’re missing Beal, but they’re they should still be able to beat the bottom five teams. And clearly what’s wrong with the team isn’t their star players, it’s the rest of the players on that team. They’re just not good enough. They’re barely above 500 on the road, but they’re below 500 at home, losing seven over the last 10 games. That makes them good enough to be 10th in the Western Conference. Now, Beal, he would get scorching hot in LA right here in a blowout win in which he would score 20 points in the third quarter for a season high 37 points in the game. Oh, give me some bobo. Look at that. Come on. Come on, Kenny. Come on, Kenny. You giving a guy prop over a chair? That’s all right. Yeah, he’s about to say some nonsense again about BB. Same thing your boy win do. Your boy, you better quit disrespecting Victor Wyama. Disrespectful. I’m saying Bob Bowl would prefer. Yeah, boy. Wait, you think Bobo good as Wimpyama? Yep, I do. He exploded for six tonight on five shooting one. Bro, this dude got to let this go, bro. This is not good for the brand, bro. I mean, [Laughter] look, watch this. The Sun’s got a better record. cuz they got Kevin and Brad. Why do I even entertain this dude? He’s not serious. He’s just trolling. He’s not real. Um there’s some defensive issues of course and then there’s just some issues about how the offense is functioning right now. A lot of ISO, a lot of standing still, not a lot of movement. Role players outside of Eric Gordon for stretches have not done well. Uhoh. Even JJ Reic is starting to notice. Oh boy. I saw this stat a couple days ago. I’m not sure if it’s changed, but they had a minus 16.1 net rating in the fourth, which was the worst net rating in the fourth quarter since they’ve been tracking this in 1996 or the worst fourth quarter offense since they’ve been tracking this. What is that about? A team that’s expected to win a championship having the worst net rating in the fourth quarter since the stats being tracked. It’s not a good sign. Uh, this big three uh better come prepared uh because it’s not looking good right now. Because I went to the Golden State Warriors. Why shouldn’t I be in that conversation? That’s the question you should ask. Why not? What haven’t I done? They’re having the abysmal season they’re having and Kevin Durant’s out here talking about why isn’t he in the gold conversation? I mean, are we serious? One of the weirder developments of this season was Grayson Allen actually being good for the Suns. A new career mark in this game here because the Heat. He made a careerhigh nine threes. Grayson, you set a new franchise record for the most threes made in a quarter with seven. The worst part of this game was that it happened against my Raptors. Bro, this one of the fakest shooting seasons I’ve ever seen from a player. Like, this is not real. And I think Grayson Allen’s been outstanding. I think Grayson Allen shooting almost what is he 50% from three? Something absurd. Are you hearing these numbers? This is not real, bro. At the deadline, the Suns would trade for a familiar face. Well, at least the KDs, Brooklyn Nets. Uh Royce O’Neal would be part of the Phoenix Suns. Wow. Interesting. A role player that could play the in the front court alongside Kevin Durant and Nerkach. That’s going to help them. I bet it’ll help them on defense, both on offense as well, uh with his corner shooting. Really a prevailing theme of this season is just unlucky breaks, injuries, and quite frankly, just a team not jelling on offense. Now, Frank Vogle, he did get hired to fix up the defense in which, you know, they weren’t doing too bad there, but the offense and especially in the fourth quarter has cratered and late in the season, the Suns had the worst uh toughest stretch of remaining schedules in terms of strength of schedule in the NBA. As of now, the Suns are in the plane with 12 games left, having the toughest schedule. They would have to really make inroads here uh to even be in the playoffs without having to play a single playing game. and you see them losing against the Rockets, you might think, “Oh boy, they’re going to be in the plane, aren’t they?” Are you guys nuts? The Lakers are the most dangerous of these teams. The Suns. Did you see what Deon Booker did last night? The If the Suns are sticking in seventh, if you’re asking me which of these four teams, the Kings are decimated by injuries. The Warriors and the Lakers have been up and down. Lakers trending the right way. Their offense trending the right way. The answer is the Suns, man. With KD and Deon Booker, it’s the Suns. Now, ESPN, they were asking themselves who’s the most dangerous playing team in the Western Conference. Uh, two people voted in saying the Lakers were the more dangerous. Zack Low had a different answer. Now, we look at the Suns strength of schedule, right? They said it was tough. It was going to be a tough one. I mean, you look at the last 12 games. I mean, right here, they win against Philly, they win against Atlanta, San Antonio, they lose here, but then they win again here. They lose They win three in a row here, lose two in a row, but then they win their last three games. And I just want to point out here a win against the Timberwolves and a win again against the Timberwolves in April where both these games, the Suns showing that they they’re the better team both home and away the Suns are just looking like the better team. And what do you know? In the playoffs, the Timberwolves are matched up against the Phoenix Suns. Oh, they might be in trouble. A 3922 advantage on the glass for the Wolves. Edwards test. [Music] Oh, it’s on, ladies and gentlemen. And you’re seeing him and KD exchanging words. And look at this, man. When Ant hits that shot and he talks trash, just look at KD’s face, man. He’s just smiling through it all. It’s beautiful. Loving it. I love the competition. Edwards again. Cash. [Music] It was just game one and already the Timberwolves showing. Oh, this is not the regular season, bro. And at he was doing Michael Jordan things himself. He got to chatting a little bit after one of those threes with you. You’ve been in that before where you know back and forth. Uh how much of that is just playoff basketball? Yeah, just basketball. Not even play, just hoop, you know. Um you get hot, you make shots, make tough shots. you know, you’re going to feel excited about yourself. So, it’s on me to keep coming back and showing him a tough look or whoever’s defending these guys to show him a tough look. If they make shots over us, we move back to the next play. You know, he uh he got it going. He made some tough ones. You got to live with it and be better next game. I think everybody here knows that’s my favorite player of all time. So, that was probably one of the best feelings ever in my whole life for sure. Oh boy. Colin Coward, I remember this day. He said something about Kevin Durant that had a lot of people upset. And frankly, he’s getting lost. Joic looks much better historically. Steph is really the soul of the Warriors, winning titles before him, during, and after. Anthony Davis now is a more consistent player on both ends. Giannis has more regular season MVPs. As I’m watching Phoenix get rolled, Kevin Durant’s becoming increasingly irrelevant. KD is becoming irrelevant. Oh my goodness. And then they swing it. Oh, good. [Applause] And that’s night night. Another L. They’re down 02 now. Oh boy. You can just tell this Phoenix team is getting outclassed by Minnesota in these first two games. Remember that last playoffs where Booker was scoring 30 plus points a game? Well, he only managed to score 18 points in game one and 20 points in game two. And Durant, although he scored 31 in game one, he scored only 18 in game two, whilst Beiel averaging just under 15 points a game in the first two games. as a whole. The team’s offense has underperformed quite frankly in this playoffs compared to the regular season. There are signs of it not being that great in the regular season, but this is just even worse. Well, you might say, “Oh, it’s game three. It’s at home. They’ll have a better chance here to tie the series back, right? Like they did against the Nuggets.” Yeah, think again, buddy. AI’s three off the mark. Edwards the rebound. The leak out. Go Bear lays it in plus the foul and an exclamation point from Rudy Goar. After a great pass to Rudy Goar for the N1, you got Ant. Oh boy. Doing the DMX celebration. This guy is just insane. And I mean, hey, the Wolves are up 3 0 now. There’s no coming back. Wolves getting very close to having their first sweep in the playoffs ever. And they just and they’ve just dominated this series overall in the third quarter. Something that’s very obvious when you look at the stat sheets is that Minnesota’s offense is way more balanced. You got different guys chipping in. Phoenix, not so much. The big three and you’ll have occasionally some other guys scoring. Uh but let’s just say you you’re going to find a hard time seeing somebody else score more than 15 points beside the big three. Oh, and because they’re way smaller, they’re getting outrebounded every time. Points in the paint at a premium for Minnesota. Assist. I mean, let’s be honest, there’s not much playmaking on this team aside from the big three. This team is cooked. A 300 series lead. We put oursel in a hole and we got to dig oursel out of it. The job’s not finished though, man. We know what we came here for. We are where we are and all you can do is face a head on. Edwards cross. Edwards hits it from the outside. And you see this game, the score is actually pretty close in the third quarter for once. Oh, and even in the fourth lane. Okay, this is might be a game. Hooker the drive denied. Neil gets it in. O’Neal lines it up. O’Neal hits. Edwards the jumper. He’s got it. And I mean, this game is looking like an instant classic. Beal goes and passes Goar. Look at that. Connling ball movement, open look. McDaniels splash. But the Timberwolves are just a better team. 10 to shoot. Edwards. Oh, Edwards time out there once again turning the ball over and now he’s going to foul out. That’s it. The quota for Bill. And you see here, Bradley Bill just not good enough. He’s gets fouled out late with only nine points scored. I pull up the stats from this game. Okay, Booker. Look at this. 49 points. Kevin Durant 33 points. They showed up. They played their asses off. Bradley Bill, let’s see here. Where is he? He’s a fourth guy there. Four 13. That’s not good. Nine points, six turnovers, six fouls. This dude, Bradley Bill combined more turnovers plus points than, sorry, combined had more turnovers plus fouls than he had points in the game. This guy sucks at the sport. He’s trash. Excuse me. Down the court. And Anthony Edwards, easy flush. The Timberwolves complete the sweep. By the way, this is their first playoff series win since 2004. Oh my gosh. And Ant with a virtual performance like no other. 40 points, nine rebounds, six assists. This guy Ant is just so good. Ant was saying that he’s looking forward to playing with you at the Olympics. What have you thought about his growth in the leap and his performance in this series? So impressed with Ant. So impressed with Ant. um my favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league at 22. Just his love for the game just shines bright and that’s something that’s probably that’s one of the reasons why I like him the most because he just loves basketball. He’s grateful to be in this position. He’s taking advantage of every opportunity he’s gotten. Um love everything about Ant. That’s nice to hear. That’s nice to hear. But let’s get to the real meats and potatoes of this. Oh boy. This off season’s about to be nice. It’s the end of season press conference. Matt Ishbia doing something not a lot of owners do. Uh straight up talking to the people and but the fourth one is winning. We want to win. We want to win NBA championship. And I love that people are frustrated that we didn’t win NBA championship cuz guess what? So are we. So this better to be some pep talk. This better to be some motiv What is he about to say here? It makes me happy. So I’m actually happy where we’re at from that perspective that people are disappointed because guess what? There’s not someone in the organization that’s more disappointed than me, my GM, my CEO, my players, my coach. Everyone’s disappointed just like the fans. And guess what? I’m gonna own the team for 50 years. And probably 45, 46, 47 of those years, we’ll probably have the same conversation like, “Hey, we didn’t win the championship.” And he’s talking about owning the team for 40, 50 years. So, he’s basically big upping this team despite losing in the first round in the sweep. He He’s trying to make it seem like things are all right. Things are cool and dandy in Phoenix. But, I feel like uh the narrative around the the house is burning, it’s incorrect. The Phoenix Suns are doing great. Excellent. Not as good as we want to be and not as good as we’re going to do next year. And that’s what we’re going to figure out. What do we got to tweak? Modify narrative that the house is burning is incorre at least one series in the playoffs. And like I said, the fans like to like look in the future and say, “Hey, I really like that 2031 draft pick cuz maybe that seventh grader is going to be really good and we’re going to draft him and one day he’s going to be a player. like you ain’t going to like the Phoenix Suns cuz we’re going to say draft picks are to get great players and we by the way narrative out there and I know Gerald you got it right when I read what you wrote today five of the next eight years we have a first round draft pick I know that’s not like a cool thing to say out there because people like to you know say their narratives we have no draft picks but we have five of the next eight years and we can trade two of them next month if we want I think what HBO probably means by this is that they have pick swaps with the Wizards uh in a couple of years so I think he’s basically saying oh we will have a first round pick technically. And he did say, “Oh, there’s only two of them that you could trade this summer.” That’s the point. You don’t have full control of your picks down the line except for this summer’s pick and the 2031 pick that you just are going to throw away, I guess, because the seventh grader is not going to amount to anything according to you. Matt, with the championship expectations kind of put out there, um, can you articulate level of disappointment not getting there and and and do you think this is how fixable do you think this is? Oh, it’s extremely fixable. I mean, let’s let’s just be real. Although this isn’t a cool narrative and the national media really won’t want to play it out there, but like ask the other 29 GMs. 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our whole and our draft picks and everything as is. Like the house is not on fire. We’re in great position. It’s not hard to fix. There’s not like we’re like, “Hey, we don’t have enough talent to win a championship. We have enough talent to win a championship, right? Did we do we have enough continuity? Do we have time together?” Like, there’s a lot of things we can look at. I’ll be honest, that sounds like a guy that really can’t do much about the players around the team uh because of how financially screwed the CBA has made the Phoenix Suns be. It’s going to be hard to trade for a big It’s going to be hard to make trades looking It’s going to be way harder making trades moving forward because now you can’t aggregate and and and get more salary for any trade that you make. Now we make a couple tweaks and adjustments. You know, we won 49 games. Think about it. The first 30 games we didn’t really have Brad. I think we played 40 games with our starting five together. You know, man, if we played 50 with it, do we win five more games? And are we all of a sudden a one seed, right? Like it’s not like we’re like inches away from where we need to be, right? And now, by the way, on the flip side, we’re inches away. Other injuries, we could have lost some more games, right? Like, so it’s very uh touchand go all the time. So, we have to put our team in position to be successful. This sounds like a guy that’s coping. I’ll be honest, bro. I I don’t see it, bro. I think he’s puffing his chest. I don’t think he means a lot of what he’s saying. Phoenix Suns fired head coach Frank Vogle Thursday, 11 days after Phoenix was swept out of the postseason. Oh, so the coach gets fired and right away I’m seeing the Suns uh I guess scapegoat their coach right already. Look at this. 49 wins, most wins in the in the only season with team in NBA history amongst coaches. Vogle tied second with Frank Maguire. And you could argue the offense especially in the fourth quarters. I mean that’s a coaching thing, right? These guys are just not able to come up with a better offensive scheme in the clutch and that’s a big problem especially in the postseason. So, their solution is to hire Mike Budenhoer, a former Bucks coach, two-time coach of the year, and uh wow, interesting hire here. A guy whose biggest coaching flaws have been exposed in the playoffs numerous times. I guess Phoenix uh thinks that things will be different with him. And now, something notable that happened this summer was Macau Bridges traded to the Knicks. And let’s just say a lot was traded to get Macau Bridges to the Knicks. six picks notably, five of them being unprotected. And this is not and the reason why this trade is notable is not because of this trade itself. It’s because of what Brooklyn did after the fact. 16 first round picks now in Brooklyn through 2031. They did another deal tonight with the uh Houston Rockets. I’m told they got back their own picks from the James Harden trade and they sent the Rockets uh two of the picks they have from the Phoenix Suns. And now the Nets are in position. Uh look at the 2025 draft which is loaded. There is real star power. Now W said something here uh talking about the trade to get those Suns picks from the new Brooklyn Nets. The Rockets might be targeting somebody in Phoenix. One more thing we saw you post w about the situation with the Rockets and their interest in Kevin Durant. The implications of the Rockets landing the Suns picks. Houston wants to trade for Kevin Durant and that becomes far easier if they can return the Suns picks that they gave up in the Durant deal to the Nets. Suns have said they’re keeping Durant for now, but that could change next season. My goodness. Now, what’s being implied here probably is that the Rockets, they sense that in Phoenix, the house is on fire and they’re waiting for Ishbia to admit as much. Yeah. Listen, now that the Rockets have the Suns first round picks, if there comes a time when Phoenix, you know, can’t go doesn’t go forward with this group, if this group has to disassemble at some point, Houston’s a team now, whether it’s Kevin Durant, but I think even more so a younger uh Devin Booker who whose I think timeline fits with this uh Houston team. The Rockets now in position to acquire one of Phoenix’s stars. should the Phoenix Suns realize like everyone else that the ship is sinking. Oh boy. Rumors have been swirling around Phoenix after the Rocket’s recent moves. But Suns owner Matt Ishbia has doubled down on the franchise’s intention of keeping their core together. And right on Q, Ishbia doubling down, saying, “We’re running it back with the core of KD and Booker.” All right, let’s read this fine piece of coping. NBA draft night is the best. Everyone talking about the drama and storyline. Some were right and some are just wrong. My turn. Phoenix loves Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant loves Phoenix. And we are competing for a championship this year because we have the team to do it. Got to love draft night. Go Suns. I think I know the impression. That was good. The Phoenix Suns select Don Holmes I from the University of Dayton. Nope. That pick got traded to the Nuggets. Suns get both the 28th pick of this season’s draft and the 56th pick overall in the second round and two future second round picks the following years. Interesting interesting stuff. And at 28 they would pick and at 28 they would pick a versatile defender in Ryan Dunn and then the Suns traded with the Portland Trailblazers to get the pick rights to I’m not going to try to pronounce that. I’m sorry. Um, but he’s from the Phoenix area. So, hey, that’s an interesting pick right there. A lot of people were actually very surprised that the Suns were able to pick Ryan Dunn. People expected him to be higher up in the draft. And now that’s an a defender that could actually, if he panned out already in his rookie year, he would be a great piece to add to that core. And the Suns in the offseason addressed their point guard problem and they got Taius Jones. It seems like they’re already beginning to address some of the issues they had last season. That’s two caliber players that can handle the ball and not turn the ball over so much. Best assist to turnover ratio over the last couple of years has been Tai Jones by far. But I want to remind people he was on the market for a long time. He got picked up late in free agency mainly because people just don’t think he impacts the floor nearly as much, especially coming off the bench. And the Suns they they they apparently plan to make him a starter. Now, how’s that going to work? He had a back quarterback, Booker and Beal. Does that mean one of Booker and Beal has to go off the bench or or or worse yet, is Beal or Booker going to have to play the three? Like this is things that the Suns now have to think about if they want Tai Jones to be a starter. In their first game of the season, they played the Clippers at into a dome. Now, the Suns, they were up in this game, but then they were trailing. It was it was a close game, but they did manage to finish it off in overtime, winning in overtime. And KD had a sensational game. six player with 10 career 25 plus points season debuts. Durant and Booker and Beiel combined for 64 points. It was a cool little fun matchup and the Phoenix Suns they did great in this one to start the season. KD has been nothing short of sensational notching 35 points in an gritty win coming back against the 76ers. Phoenix started the season 7 and one tied for their best start through their first eight games in franchise history. KD is the first Suns player in franchise history to score 30 plus in five of his team’s first eight games this season. And not just that, uh this is the best news. They’re 6 and0 in the clutch this season already. The difference already between the Suns last year and the Suns this year. It’s really striking. It’s really great to see. It’s encouraging. Almost like the coaching change and the Ty Jones editions. They they’re paying off already. If things keep up this way, KD’s gonna win a clutch player of the award and he might even win MVP. This guy is just scoring so efficiently from the floor. I mean, this guy is so good, Kevin Durant. And now you may ask yourself, why are they in so many clutch games? Well, they have faced a fair number of good opponents. And but at the same time, you got to give them credit for winning each one of those games already. Six of them. That’s a lot. You got the match up. That’s the matchup right there. Double team runs at him but onelegged now to Durant. KD gets it back. Heistman steps out on him raising up in the face of Heistman. The Suns then went up to Dallas and knobbed another and nabbed another clutch win. And who else? Kevin Durant leading the way in the second half. Clutch buckets and they are now eight and one on the season. Seven straight wins. Just beautiful. Now, one thing that’s concerning about this game is KD’s health moving forward. Uh he was found to have suffered a calf injury and he would be out for two weeks at least two weeks. Oh boy. And just when things are looking great, it’s like the sun just cannot catch a break. The injury bug has bitten them and boy Bradley Bill now exits with a left calf tightness. How do I do all those things? And so I’m all in. And by the way, this isn’t just, hey, he’s only on the team for two years, so you know, this is how it’s going. Like no, no, we’re all in. We’re trying to do this and and have longevity of it, like you said, sustainable. How do we make it sustainable for the long term? Not just in spending, but care and love and and doing the right things for the fans. There’s so many things that we’ve been thinking about and we’re just getting started. Matt is here interviewing with Sham Serana. And you guys are obviously the number one salary cap, you know, team spending right now. Number one in luxury tax by far. What went into that decision? Well, the decision went into what would a fan want me to do? Like I’ve never had a fan come up like, “Hey, Matt, please don’t spend so much on the luxury tax. We want you to keep your money.” Like nobody’s ever said that to you, right? No one ever will cuz they want to win. They want to see the best product on out. Does that mean we’re going to win? Oh, it does not guarantee it. But how do I give us the best chance? So, I think one, he does make a great point, especially the casual fan base that doesn’t care too much about the ins and outs of uh front office management, money, salary. I don’t think they care too much that an owner is spending exorbitant amount of money. That’s his money. That’s not my problem. But him saying that, oh, we wanted him to keep his money. No, no, no. That’s not why the fans are saying don’t spend your money. They’re saying that because they don’t see this team reaching the ceiling that he thinks they’ll reach. He thinks that team’s winning a championship. I beg to differ. And you’re paying how much more dollars? And it’s not just that you’re paying that amount of money. It’s that you’re also hampered by the CBA. That’s another problem that’s going to make it harder for you guys to actually navigate and make the team better cuz clearly the team has flaws. We all know this season alone the Suns are number one in terms of, you know, spending on their players. $220 plus million play payroll and that luxury tax is going to hit them really hard. $188 plus million luxury tax payment, the highest in NBA history, of course. And so Matt HBO is paying off $400 million. Again, it’s not that fans want him to keep his money. It’s that fans want him to have the team be still flexible enough to get themselves out of a situation like they’re in right now where the ceiling is not as high as you would want it to be. And so you want to trade for a star player, you want to, you know, try to retool around Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, good luck. He was extension eligible for the start of the season. You guys didn’t do an extension with him. He is eligible for a two-year deal this off seasonason. He gets asked about the KD’s future in Phoenix. Why didn’t extension happen before the season? Where are you guys at with Kevin Durant now? How do you view the next few months and next offseason with him? Yeah, so I think the most important thing extension, not extension, is that we have a great relationship with Kevin. Kevin Durant is a great guy. He loves being in Phoenix. We love having him. He’s done a great thing. He’s off to an amazing start this season. I think one of the MVP leaders. Um, you know, and we’re off to a very good start. Kevin’s been great. And so, we expect Kevin to sign an extension, be with us for the long term. We hope he finishes his career here in Phoenix. That’s what we expect. And so, you can’t sign a one-year a two-year extension this last summer. And so, how do we finish Kevin Durant’s career based on his age? You can’t do it based on the NBA rules, as you know. And so, we figured, hey, after this season, we’ll talk about it. We’ll take care of it. But Kevin wants to be here. We want Kevin here. There’s been never even one grumbling and anything different. Although some people like to report that never been a situation. Kevin and I have a great relationship. We love his We get along with his agent. He gets along with Devin and and Bud, Coach Bud. Everyone gets along great and we’re excited uh for Kevin. But right now, we’re focused on let’s focus on this year and then we’ll take care of that stuff in the summer. The way he answers this question seems like he’s not so sure, but at the same time, he wants to keep his options open, but at the same time, me and KD, oh, we’re friends. We’re we’re close here in the game. [Music] [Applause] Durant coming off his highest scoring game against Denver. They just carving up in this Laker game. Not only did they won, but they scored a combined 72 points. The big three did. That’s pretty good, right? Not saying there isn’t a remote chance in the world this can pan out, but the chances are still slim. And perhaps the most shocking play of that game was Bradley Bill blocking LeBron James on a chase down. James the other way on two. Uh a chase down block from Bradley. Bill on the fast break on LeBron James. No way. Block by Bill. Block by Bill. Where would you put that chase down block against the best blocks of your career? Not that high. I ain’t going to lie. I know y’all y’all were excited about that, but I’ve had some I’ve thrown some [ __ ] in the stands before. So, I don’t know. I don’t know about that one. It was a good block, but I I think I’ve had some better ones for sure. Okay. Too cool for school. Bradley Bill. Okay, I’ll see how it is, buddy. And I bet you guys weren’t impressed cuz y’all lost to the Brooklyn Nets. The tanking Brooklyn Nets. Oh, boy. Coach saw Bradley Bill. He tweaked his foot a little bit. He had to bench him a little more than he usually did. And now it’s December and now we’re hearing about trade rumors. Miami Heater are open to listening to offers for Jimmy Butler. Okay, I’m going to try to speed through this because I’m not going to lie, this these were some of the worst two months in terms of listening to all these news. Now, the reason why this is relevant for the Suns is because, well, Butler reportedly being linked to the Warriors, Rockets, and Mavs. Well, there seems to be one team that Butler has in mind that he wants to go to. I’m told that Jimmy Butler’s agent has indicated in league circles that he would be open to the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets to the Texas teams, and the Golden State Warriors in a potential trade as the Heat are listening to offers. But another team that Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, has indicated recently that Butler is open to the Phoenix Suns. Sources told me today, and you think about what Jimmy Butler wants, a win now contending situation. There’s been no other win now team more than these Phoenix Suns. You think about their salary cap bill, what they’ve done with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Be going allin. So, keep a very close eye on the Phoenix Suns. Now, a lot of this comes down to the fact that Jimmy Butler has a lot of leverage. And so, with his player option coming up, uh if they don’t trade him before the deadline, well, the Heat are going to have to swallow the bullet that is Butler walking for nothing and signing elsewhere in the summer. Well, to avoid that, uh, they’re going to have to do what Butler says, right? That in theory, that’s what you would think. Speaking of fireworks, because he dared he dyed his hair orange right after the day after Shams connected him in the in the uh, you got to love a guy sub tweeting with his hair like, he said, “No, no, no, no, no.” He said, “I just like orange.” Yeah. In the last month or so, Butler has been teasing hair colors uh, throughout the season. Uh, here he is in red, guys, matching the Miami Heat color. Oh, and there’s some blue. Is he suggesting that he’s interested in Dallas now? Wa orange. Phoenix has orange in their colors. It’s very dumb that this is what the season has come down to. But this is People were so bored around this time. It’s so dumb that this is what the season came down to, bro. Hair color being a speculation being a hint at which team he wants to go. Bro, we were so bored around this time. And I guess a big reason why we’re seeing it boil up to this point is Pat Riley and Dur Butler. Well, there they had some problems um negotiating a contract in the summer. Uh and uh yeah, we’re at the situation where Jimmy might potentially leave for nothing or get traded to a team. And uh wow, this is crazy, guys. Oh my god, I don’t care about this story. Like, this story pissed me off the whole time. Let’s just real quick address the Suns connection. Um Bradley Beal is not playing that well for the Suns. when he does play. He has missed the last two or that often, but yes, he has missed the last two games with a swollen knee, which Mike Benhoer came out before the game on Sunday and said it’s not an injury. It’s just swelling, which I don’t even know to make from that. So, here’s the thing. The Suns cannot aggregate players, okay? So, the only players that they could trade for Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker. That’s it. There’s no like, well, what about these? No. No. And and two with an asterisk be the asterisk since he does have the technically the no trade clause. Correct. Well, and so that’s the player that you’d want to trade in a vacuum. That no trade clause is a pain in the ass because now Bradley Bill has way more control and o over this whole situation for the Suns and the Heat to make a deal. There’s three negotiations. One is whether Beal would wave his no trade clause to go to Miami, which when he was in Washington, he’s on the record of saying his preference was to go to Miami. Yeah. And when that happened, the Heat didn’t want him. They were not interested in making a deal with the Wizards. The second negotiation is with Beal to retain the no trade clause. I don’t see any team, not just the Heat, I don’t see any team trading for Bradley Beal wanting to let him leave it in place. That’s two negotiations with Beal. I don’t think that’s happening. Mark Bartlestein, who was on this podcast, I don’t think he’s doing that. Number three, the Heat would have to want Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler. And quite frank, first off, number one, I don’t think that they do. Miami Heat don’t want to trade for Bradley Bill uh for multiple reasons. It makes sense. I mean, Jimmy Butler is the better player and they would like to have better pieces in return. Not just that, but Bradley B has a freaking no trick. I actually can’t believe a team actually thought that was a good idea to give him that. What level of impossible is a Jimmy Butler trade to Phoenix on on your scale of of realism, Bobby? Uh, if it’s involving just the two teams, it’s not happening. Um, that’s my level. I mean, I never want to put a 100% no uh just because of the world we live in, but uh I don’t I don’t see a world where it would make sense for the Miami Heat to take back the the $110 million that’s owed to Bradley Beal after this year. I don’t the no trade clause is not a for me it’s not a factor um in you know in all this year. Um I I just think from where Miami is, they would rather just extend Jimmy Butler at that number than take on Bradley Beal number. Yeah. I mean there are rumors swirling all over evidence he would trade Jimmy Butler for Bradley Bill. Basically meaning that if the Suns were to trade for Jimmy Butler, they would need to involve another team so that they can take in Bill’s contract. And of course there’s no trade clause. And of course with all these rumors swirling Bradley Bill a practice uh he’s addressed the media and he addressed all the rumors. How how are you even handling this latest deal as far as your name put in in in the trade talk and how do you deal with it now? Like you gave us the history of how you dealt with it but at this exact moment how you the same thing until one of them come say something to me and talk to me then it’s just out there. So, um, I’m not I’m a Phoenix son and I’m here and I’m in the uniform, but I don’t I don’t pay attention to that, man. Everybody’s everybody’s they did that with me for 10 years. So, what was becoming clear was that Phoenix, if they were to want to trade for Jimmy Butler, they would trade Bradley Bill. Uh, but the problem, of course, is that he has a lot of leverage. And with the rumors swirling basically saying Jimmy Butler’s the most likely star to be traded by the deadline, uh, everyone just kept talking about Jimmy Butler. Which team would he end up with? And around this time, weird stuff was happening with Jimmy Butler apparently being out with a quote unquote illness after twisting his ankle. Then you also had reports of the Suns Ysef Nerkage in discussions for Butler for Bill. Hey, they’re getting desperate, man. Miami Heat saying they’re not trading Jimmy Butler. They released a statement shortly after Christmas uh from Pot Riley himself saying they basically are not trading Jimmy Butler basically making a strong statement that Butler was here to stay. And that’s a big update to this story cuz now people are thinking wait what’s going on with Miami? Wait, wait. They were open to listening to offers. Now they’re not. And what Jimmy Butler did shortly after that is nothing short of tanking uh his talk value since October 25th in Portland. They won a franchise record 28 games on the road last season. In this game against the Pelicans, he was very passive. Uh this was a game played on New Year’s Day. Only had nine points in this one. Very, very low activity from Jimmy. Look at that. N1. What the hell’s going on here? very next day, January 2, and Jimmy Butler is yet again back at it with nine points. Offensive rated team, and they’ve fallen a bit to to 11th this year. But Kimmy missing on Turner. At this point, it was clear he was basically just trying to tank his own value uh to basically make it a point for Miami to actually do something here. And he did as much after the game saying something uh that was very interesting. Coach was in here saying he wants to get you more on the point and get you more activated. So, is that something that you’re immuneable to? And is that something that might be necessary to get you back closer to the top of your game and your form? That ain’t going to fix it. What will fix it? What do you want to see happen to fix it? What do I want to see happen? Um, I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball. And, uh, wherever that may be, um, we’ll we’ll find out here pretty soon. But, I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here, uh, you know, off the court. Um, but I want to be, um, back to somewhat dominant. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win. Right now, I’m not doing that. Can you get your joy back here on the court? Probably not. And that’s where the press conference ends, bro. Like, what? And so, the Heat responding here, suspending Jimmy Butler for seven games and also saying they’re willing to listen to trade offers now. And then there’s one Miami Heat beat reporter saying uh that he will not be back. It doesn’t matter what the length of the suspension is. And apparently the players union might appeal the suspension as well. And then Phoenix, well, the situation with Bradley Beal doesn’t seem to be getting better. Bradley Beal made the most of an unfamiliar role Monday, scoring 25 points in his first game off the bench in nine years. Beal’s move to the bench sparked rumors that the guard could be on the trade block, though no trade clause in his contract means he’d have to sign off on any deal. Well, Melly, let me put those rumors about Beal to rest. Uh, they absolutely are trying to trade Bradley Beal. So, they put him on the bench. Now, you may say, “Why would you do that? If you’re trying to trade a player, why would you put him on the bench?” And that’s because, guys, this situation is bleeped. The only way they can trade him is if he says, “I’m okay to be traded.” So, instead of trying to build him up, they have to violate the cardinal rule and put him on the bench. Now, I know that there was schematic reasons why they did it. Mike Budenhozer tried to explain, but they’re basically trying to make him feel unwelcome in Phoenix so that he will wave that no trade clause. And all of this doesn’t even take into account that Kevin Durant has one year left on his contract. And if they can’t thread that needle, then you have to start worrying about that on the horizon. And Bill, I mean, he took the benching uh very well. Uh he’s he’s, you know, as mature as can be about the whole situation. Coach made his decision. I’m not going to sit here and argue with him. I’m not going to sit here and be a distraction. I’m not going to sit here and be an [ __ ] like he made his decision. And we’re talking about the trade situation that he said something very interesting. Um I was going to say I’m sure you’ve been aware kind of like all the other stuff moving parts around the league Jimmy and all that. Yeah. There’s some speculation around the league that this is related to that. Have you thought about kind of like moving start related to the bigger picture? If so, I need to be addressed because I hold the cards. song. All right, man. See you. Until I’m addressed and somebody says something differently, then it’ll be a song. Damn. He said he has all the cards. He He knows. He knows what he’s doing. He knows. Hey, if he wants to stay in Phoenix, he can. Chris Haynes, another reporter, uh, he wants to give us a briefing on the Jimmy Butler situation. This is your Hannes brief for today. Hey, brief, bro. Stop. Please let this [ __ ] go. Um, league sources just relayed to me that the Memphis Grizzlies along with a few other teams have received word that Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has no interest in being traded there. What does Jimmy have against the Grizzlies? I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t like the situation over there. I don’t know, bro. What probably is happening though is I think Jimmy senses that Memphis, you know, being a cheap team is not going to give him the money that he demands and so he’s going to go to the team that is going to give him that money, which is probably going to be Phoenix. Now, there’s rumors that Bradley Bill could go to another Eastern Conference team. It says here, “Leak sources have confirmed a report from the Athletic Sam Em from earlier this week that Milwaukee, unlike Memphis, has received no whispered messaging intended to discourage the Bucks from training for Butler.” So, that’s a team that you could look at and say, “Oh, they could get Butler.” But the part in bold is what’s more important. The Bucks to this point have been more frequently painted as a team likely to rekindle their previous interest in Phoenix’s Bradley Bill if they attempt to pursue a trade for a player in the $50 million range. Oh my, the Bucks interested in Beal again. Well, apparently they’re not interested. Apparently that was a lie. Chris Haynes with another Hangs brief for you today. Contrary to pop, bro. Give it a break. Please let this [ __ ] go. It’s not going to catch on. Nobody wants to call your [ __ ] the briefs. Nobody wants to tune in to no Hannes brief, bro. I don’t want to be briefed. Are you serious? What briefs do you have for me to be briefed on, bro? Like, come on. Contrary to popular belief, I was just informed that the Milwaukee Bucks have not inquired about Phoenix Suns star Bradley Bill. In fact, it was explained to me that a connection between the two is non-existent. Damn. So, it was going to get even harder for Phoenix to get their guy. Up to this point, you had Twitter accounts buzzing about a potential three to four team trades uh between the Bucks, Heat Suns, and whoever it could be. Maybe the Raptors, maybe the Pistons, and they were talking about Chris Milton could be moved, Bradley Beal, Jimmy Butler. Oh, it’s going to be blockbuster. Now, what is something that’s being reported too is the Bucks are exploring trades for Jimmy Butler, Jack Lavine. Wait, Zack Lavine and Bradley Beal. Whoa. And another report saying uh Jimmy Butler Bradley Bill three team trade involving the Bucks is not out of the realm of possibility. Wow. One report saying that it seems the momentum is gaining towards is geared towards this getting done soon. Perhaps in the next few days narrator checking in here just to say it did not get done in the next few days. Okay. Now B now Bill’s agent recently came out saying that the reports about him waving his no trade clause were created out of thin air. as we know his agent who’s the son of the sons CEO president. So sad. Basically, Bartlestein here saying Brad’s entire focus has been and is on getting healthy with his ankle and helping things and helping turn things around for the Suns. It was shaping up to be one of the best trade deadlines uh in of all time to to be quite frank with you. Dear Fox’s name got brought up cuz he now he’s looking to get traded. Now, the problem here though is that he already has a landing spot in mind. But it didn’t stop some people from thinking, oh, you know, Darren Fox wants to go to San Antonio. Well, how about you add the Suns here trying to get Jimmy Butler so that the trade could be done all in one package. You know, the Bradley Bill can go to Sacramento and Harrison Barnes, Trey Jones, and Trey Ly and could go to Miami and like, oh, two first round picks from the Suns like, oh, it’s going to work. This is going to be the one. At this point, late January, the Suns were all over the news in terms of they’re desperate. They’re trying to get a trade done. They want a trade done because they know this season is lost if they don’t make a trade. That’s the larger implication that I think people need to keep in mind here. The Suns are basically saying we need to make a trade to save the season. But now the Suns apparently, according to Kevin O’ Conor here from Nyahoo Sports, they need to worry about another team potentially getting Jimmy Butler, which is the Golden State Warriors. And he even adds here, the Heat have lowered their asking price. And man, it’s like the Miami Heat know, they must trade him at all cost. They can’t risk losing him for nothing. And so now this late into the deadline, they have to do something. And the general vibe on Twitter and just everywhere was just like people just wanted this deadline to end already. Bradley Beal, I don’t want to hear your name ever again. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had a no trade clause, we wouldn’t be in a situation. A trade would have been done already. The Suns would have had Jimmy Butler and now you have Durant being asked about this whole situation. This has clearly disrupted the team’s flow and whatnot. They are Yeah, they are losing games by the way. I don’t know. I don’t know if you all know that. And now, one trade that the Suns did make before the deadline that uh caught a lot of people’s attention was trading their 2031 unprotected first round pick to the Jazz for more picks. Okay. So, instead of I guess having a seventh grader in mind, uh they would rather have the 11th grader, the ninth grader, and the college student coming up. Okay. No, that’s not really why they want those picks. They want these picks so that they can have more draft capital to issue out in a potential Jimmy Butler deal. So, they’re gearing up for a trade to be made. That’s clearly the intention here. Even though all these picks are going to be very late first round picks, uh they still it’s still three picks over the one pick that they had in 2031. And the Suns, they traded for a center Nick Richards from Charlotte. And the Suns, all they had to do was trade Joshua Ki to get it done. Oh, that seems like a pretty good trade then, except for the fact that they traded away three second round picks as well and received one back. I mean, look, I I mean, at least you got a center that he can play over Ysef Nurkage now. And boy, Nick Richards, he had an incredible debut for the Suns. He looked like their next piece that was going to elevate them. But again, it’s too early to tell if this would pan out. Uh, but you can already see he’s looking much better than Nerkach already. Well, now the bill question is still something that remains unanswered. Seeing KD’s live reaction to when he finds out Luca Donic got traded. Yes, Luca got traded. The tweet heard around the world. This tweet was crazy. I remember where I was. It was 12 a.m. I’m just watching a random game on League Pass and then bam, this tweet just comes out of nowhere just shocking everybody to their core. The Lakers had just beaten the Knicks without AD on the lineup and then AD gets traded for Luca Donic and the trade package is so underwhelming. This trade happening days before the deadline gave us a preview what was to come. That’s what many were saying. This deadline might be the best already all time and it might get even crazier in the last couple days. The Suns might get somebody. Oh, the Suns could do something here. This is a prime chance. And now teams have started getting tired of this whole Jimmy Butler buzz and they’ve just negotiated between each other. Sacramento now trading De’arren Fox to the Spurs and Zack Lavine involved in this deal. Trading him to the Sacramento Kings. This would be a three-team deal between the Spurs Kings and Bulls. Zack Lavine now is traded. The Aaron Fox is now traded. Luca got traded out of nowhere. Like it feels like we’re about to see the last domino fall with the Jimmy Butler trade now. Now, because Bill was a hard player to trade, uh, people were thinking the Suns might be trying to trade one of KD or Devin Booker. Uh, which it’s interesting. I don’t know, are they that desperate to trade a player? Well, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburn and Bobby Marks, uh, they reported that teams inquiring about Kevin Durant and De Booker were rebuffed by the Suns. And so, the Suns, I guess, not interested to trade any of those guys. Uh, their main trade asset, I guess, would be Beal if he were to wave his no trade clause. Of course, Nad’s word that KD might go to the Warriors. Bro, it’s out of it’s it’s all over the place. I just hate this part of the year because there’s way too many swirling rumors and this has been going on for the last two months. And then Brian And then Brian Roor’s tweeting here that Jimmy Butler and his agency has communicated to the Warriors basically saying he’s unwilling to sign an extension there. Therefore, basically ending trade talks between him and the Warriors. So Shams, what are the remaining options for Jimmy at this point around the league? It’s become increasingly clear that where he would want to be longterm and stay longterm and commit long term, that’s the Phoenix Suns from everything I’m told. And over the last several weeks, the the Heat have been engaged in conversations with both the Suns and the Warriors. And in a lot of ways, those two teams have been the leaders for Jimmy Butler here in this last week. The Heat having no choice but to listen to offers. And basically, uh, they’re going to try to take the best offer they got, but because they’ve waited so long, they’ve stalled this long, they’re not going to get that much back for Butler. They’re going to have to settle for a lower package. But out of the two teams, Phoenix and Golden State, who has the better package? Well, Phoenix might have gotten a done a deal done by now if Bradley Bill had a no Trey Claus, but the Warriors now coming in late. Uh because Jimmy Butler has basically told them, “No, I’m not willing to sign an extension.” That makes it easier now for Phoenix to come in and swoop Butler for a very cheap deal, for a very cheap package. But Phoenix would have to trade one of Devin Booker or Kevin Durant to do that most likely because Bill is uh clearly intending to stay in Phoenix. Man, this whole situation is a doozy. And now Phoenix seeing the time tick. Uh they’re apparently listening to offers for Kevin Durant after saying after ESPN claimed they rebuffed the offers. Now they’re listening. And yes, and yes, Kevin Durant is aware of the discussions ha being had with the Suns listening to offers for a trade for a Kevin Durant trade. Now, another angle to this is how much Jimmy Butler has basically stocked his value really to where now a team like the Warriors, I mean, Jimmy, if if the Miami Heat can’t get a deal done with Phoenix, he will have no choice but to settle with the Warriors being his next team. I mean, realistically, the Warriors are clearly intent on trying to trade for Butler. Now, Butler him saying that he won’t sign an extension is him trying to get more leverage to go to Phoenix. But if Phoenix can’t get a deal done regardless, that’s going to force Miami’s hand to deal him to the team that he said he wouldn’t sign an extension with. Cuz the Warriors have no player that has a no trade clause on our team. and they have assets that are movable, easily movable, that they won’t have to give up a Draymond or a Steph Curry. And it’s clear that the media, the teams in the NBA, they’re all monitoring this Jimmy Butler trade. And the reason why Jimmy is still being, you know, pedled as a a player that can make a difference. Clearly, the playoff numbers are pretty good. He’s an elevator. He can rise in the playoffs like no other. And it’s like, you need that on your team if you’re contending or aspiring to contend. I do think if he can Phoenix can pull this off and they’re trying to pull off what I call the triple miracle. Malikica one, find a trade for Bradley Beal. Two, get Bradley Beal to accept that trade cuz he’s out of no trade clause. Three, have what they get back for Bradley Beal be enough to send to Miami. If there’s a point where that dies and that is becomes impossible, I do think Miami could pivot and do another deal that where Jimmy hasn’t committed to stay playing and that team will just take Jimmy Butler and worry about the rest later. But there’s a lot of spaghetti maneuvering that has to happen between now and that possible decision. And again, the biggest issue with a trade not being able to get done is not so much the CBA restrictions, it’s Bradley [ __ ] Bill having a no trade clause. Like that [ __ ] is insane to me, bro. There are talks of Kevin Durant potentially even going to Golden State. Could the Phoenix Suns facilitate a Jimmy Butler trade by sending KD to Golden State? That was the last possible uh hurdle here that could be that was perhaps uh one of the only things that the Phoenix Suns could have done to get Jimmy Butler is to sacrifice KD in the process. Malikica, the Warriors have been seriously pursuing Kevin Durant over the last week, but sources tell me that Durant has no desire in a reunion with the Warriors. He does not want to go back to the Warriors where he won two championships. Oh. Oh my goodness. K a KD to Golden State trade could have happened and KD had to basically come out probably through his agent and say, “I do not want to go to Golden State. I do not want to go back.” A trade could have been done. The Suns could have had Jimmy Butler. The Suns, the Warriors could have had KD back. And it was rebuffed by Kevin Durant’s representation. Wow. Breaking news out of the Miami Heat. Our Sham Sharan reporting that Jimmy Butler is on his way to the Golden State Warriors. Damn. A deal cannot get done for Phoenix to acquire him and so the Warriors swooping in getting him for Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Shruder, Kyle Anderson, and a protected first round pick. Now, the trade was a four team deal. Now, this is not exactly where the the the parties would go. Dennon Shruder, for example, would go to the Pistons. He would get rerouted. PJ Tucker at one point got rerouted to Toronto. And so, that’s another team now part of this trade. So, this will be a five team deal. Actually, wait. Oh, wow. The five team deal now updated here. Uh these are the players and picks that go with their respective teams. KJ Martin and Josh Richardson going to Utah and other picks going to respective teams here. Interesting stuff. Interesting stuff. Yo, Dub Nation, Jimmy Butler here. Just touchdown. Do this physical. Uh, super excited. Ready to win, ready to work. Um, ready to put on a show for y’all. Damn, Phoenix man. They could have had this dude. Oh, but now, uh, many people are saying KD could still get traded during the last moments of the deadline. And the Suns, they were active trading Ysef Nerkage to Hornets for Cody Martin and Vasilei Micheach. Nerkish’s value was so bad that the Suns had to give up a first round pick that it’s just what this is so insane. They had to give up a first round pick to get rid of the get rid of the Nerkage contract. And despite trying their very hardest, Kevin Durant would not be traded before the deadline. The Suns staying pat and only trading Ysef Nurkitch and Joshua Ki and such. Wow. This is this is really something. How did the Suns come back from this KD now knowing that he was being shopped around? Wasn’t Matt HB talking about he’s committed to the future building around KD and book? Story develops. Ramona Shelburn, you’ve been talking with folks around the Phoenix organization. Can you just take us inside the conversations that McMahon is talking about right now? Because this is something that would be incredibly difficult to recover from. Yeah. The word I would use, I mean, he said glum. I’ll use toxic. Wow. Like like that shoot around yesterday I heard was very awkward, very weird in Oklahoma City because everybody was on pins and needles wondering what they were going to do. And I think now you have this reset where how do you how do you move forward as a team when there was a a clear mandate here like they have to do something and if they’re not able to get anything done which is as we say you talked about it in the open there’s aprons there’s all this stuff I mean it’s really hard to do something and the thing they were trying to do did not come to fruition because Kevin Durant said no. Um it’s it’s hard to move forward and that’s where they’re left. I think it’s becoming more clear even to the people at the top in Phoenix, uh, that this big three, this team with this core, they’re not going too far. They’re not going that far. They’re not going to win a championship. And so that’s why they were so desperate to trade for Jimmy Butler. And the fact that they were so desperate to do so and trade KD in the process, that tells you that they don’t even think this whole big three has a ceiling that is able to reach a a championship ceiling. Is able to reach a championship ceiling. Oh, I mean, this is just crazy. We try to get my thoughts on it. Yes. It’s just business, man. It’s just part of the business, you know? Everybody is bought and sold in this league, you know? So, anybody can be up for auction, you know what I mean? So, I understand that. It’s just about getting back on the court, trying to go out there and play the game that I love. You know, that’s a part of the business though, man. We all got to understand that. And and Shane was talking about you being a pro and that you that you’ve heard it before throughout your career. Like, this is nothing new. But on the flip side, also it was out there that they were trying to trade you for Jimmy. So, I’m asking what what do you how do you feel about that? I’ve been I’ve been around noise before where spotlights on your team and People got so much to say about the group. Yeah, I’ve been through that before. Um, and like I said, I understand the business and that’s what we all signed up for. Again, bro, the storyline of this video, I mean, you can just clearly see it, bro. They’re they were destined to fail since day one. Since acquiring Bradley Bill, no, sorry. Since acquiring Kevin Durant, they were destined to fail. It It was just so obvious. It was written in the stars from dead. You can only go so far with an aging star player like Kevin Durant, a player that, you know, he doesn’t have a good team around him built. And now their chances of even making the play are dwindling. Not to mention, they have a 4% chance of making the playoffs all together. Do you want your career to end in Phoenix? Man, I want my career to end on my terms. That’s the only thing. Then got I didn’t want to move. And then as a player like me, I just I cost a lot. I cost I make me going into your team is gonna make just a it’s gonna be a whole new era of your team when I get to your team. I’m still of value. You know what I’m saying? Especially in my contract and just my uh production that me just getting up and moving in the middle of season, it’s going to be a big blow to any team I’m going to. You know what I’m saying? I get why y’all want to trade me and you know y’all looking at it just simple fact that’s just business. But from me looking at, I’m just like, it just don’t make sense for e either side right now to go go through that. You know what I’m saying? When we just play the season out and if that’s the decision you want to make, you know, in the off season, then, you know, you figure it out. KD, I’m pretty sure he’s not dumb. He knows clearly why they were trying to trade him. They knew the Suns did that this team would not amount to much. I know the caliber of player that I am, and it’s never about anything except for winning with me. this summer about anything except for winning with the guys around this locker room um in this organization because they’ve won at a high level before and I’m just holding and praying that I can help them win at a high level again. And Jimmy after getting traded to Golden State and getting the money he wanted. They’re six and one with him with a 17 plus point per game differential. Do you know how crazy that is? What a turnaround for the Warriors. This could have been you Phoenix. The deadline, but you know the off season is a different story. What happens with the Suns this summer, Wendy? Yeah. Well, they’re going to trade him and and he and he knows that and like he’s actually given them, you know, there’s been a couple opportunities where he could have criticized them for trying to trade him. He has not done. It’s very obvious that Kevin’s days in the desert are going to end soon. They’ve been one of the worst teams over the last 13 games. Three and 10 in their last 13. They’ve been terrible. to be quite frank, the player that they could get the most value out of right now that whose value is probably going to drop drastically in the next couple years is Kevin Durant. And so it makes the most sense to trade Kevin Durant this summer. And as for this season, uh the Suns have the toughest remaining strength of schedule this season. Uh which basically probably puts a nail in the coffin for this season. Brian, how devastating would it be for them to miss the playin? I mean, they’re going to miss it. I mean, I don’t I mean, I guess they maybe they can make the play in, but I don’t think they’re making the playoffs because how can I trust that if even if they get to 10? You look at their schedule, there’s just not a lot of games you look at and say they can win. Yeah, bro. The Suns are 11th in the West right now. Portland is actually trailing them by two, one and a half games. Two and a half games. And I think, hey, if they don’t win their games, they could get passed up. They could be 12 in the West as of right now. The first two out are the Suns and the surging trailblazers led by head coach Chanty Bips. And as the season was going on, uh it became more and more clear that the Suns were inevitably going to miss the playin. All the while Jimmy Butler is thriving in Golden State, winning 20 of their last 24 games since he’s be been a warrior. Just incredible turnaround from them. Stones fired head coach Mike Bisenhoer. Uh after just one season with the team, Phoenix, another scapegoat, another day that ends with why the Suns yet again firing a head coach and this time because they missed the plan. And this team is terrible. They’re trash. They This is one of the worst seasons they’ve had in a lot in a while. And it’s pretty obvious looking at how the season went, the trade talks, uh the injuries, the benching of certain players, it was too much to overcome. Uh, this was all just too much for the Suns to overcome this season. And I suppose this whole Phoenix Suns journey that we’ve been through in this video is a cautionary tale. Yes. Uh, for any NBA owner that aspires to manage a team, uh, don’t take too much control over the basketball decisions. And seeing how this season ended and with Ishbia’s end of season press conference this year, uh, the tune has clearly changed from the last year, the house clearly now is on fire. He can smell the smoke. The Suns now are the only team currently not in the postseason uh can they’re not even projected to have a first round pick in 2025 and they haven’t made the plan. They’re the only team with none of those things going for them. This is just sad. go through a couple things and take some questions and go through some process. But, uh, first off, embarrassing season, right? Disappointed, awful. I watch every game like all of you guys do. No one’s proud of it. No one’s happy with it. What we just tried and did over the last two and a half years has not been as successful as we hoped. Um, a lot of people would have seen the things we did and said just like a lot of people picked us to, you know, be third best chance to win the NBA championship this year. So, a lot of people thought it worked. We thought it would work. It didn’t work. There’s a lot of thing people that thought that a couple years ago when we made Kevin Kevin Durant like people like smart people can all think it makes sense and then looking back it’s like it didn’t and it didn’t work. So feels good to be vindicated. Feels good to be right about this team. Uh the smart people actually thought that you guys were going to sink. Uh the smart guys actually thought that you were doing a terrible job running this team. The smart guys told you guys that this would happen, that you would have to blow the team up, that you would have to trade Kevin Durant, and now it’s all happening. It’s very obvious. This was so obvious to everyone that had a sense of what was going on in the NBA. Matt, uh, I I think there’s some confusion within your fan base and in the media about who’s making basketball decisions. Uh, and a lot of time people are pointing the finger at you. Can you just kind of clarify your role in the decision-m process as far as basketball personnel? Yeah. Um, so I don’t watch film. I don’t scout players. We got great scouts, great front office. Um, my role is to enable. So, first off, my role is to put these people in those positions, right? And so, putting the right people in the positions to make the right decisions. Um, and then empowering them. So, when someone comes to me about a trade and says, “Hey, we can do this, but it’s going to put us over the luxury tax,” my job is to say as the owner say, “Hey, if you really believe this guy will fit with our team, let’s do it. What do we got to do to make it happen?” Right? And so if people like like you think I’m watching film, I like let’s give credit to the scouts and like it’s it’s almost disrespectful to give me this credit in some of these things or blame whatever way you want to say it. Like you think I interviewed Ryan Dunn and watched his film and watched 100 hours of work and called his college coach and decided that we wanted Ryan Dunn last year. No. James, Josh, the scouts, they picked Ryan Dunn. Now when it came down to 22 when he was available, they’re like, “Should we take him? We can move back and get him.” Like I’m in that conversation with them. But like I don’t pick Ryan Dun. So give kudos to those guys. And same thing like you think we sign a free agent and like oh this free agent is going to be fit. Like you think Matt Ishbia is watching film and seeing like is this guy going to like I don’t I’m not good enough to do that. I’m not watching film and deciding this guy’s going to be a good fit because his mentality is like that’s not me, right? And so you can blame me. I’m fine taking the blame. Um but my job is to set the tone at the top and I’ve done it. You can blame me for that cuz I’ve done a bad job. I mean, look, at least you know, at least you know you did a bad job. And and look, you did say, “Oh, it’s those people that make the decisions in terms of, you know, who to scout, who to of course that’s them, but you’re the one that makes the final say on all these moves that are made. You’re the one cashing the checks for these dudes.” Come on, man. Yes. I’m glad he’s taking fault. He’s actually taking way more accountability than most owners would ever in a situation like this. So, I’ll give him some grace there. And I I I I will say this, there’s still a chance that things could rebound. I mean I mean I’ll tell you what, when Doc Rivers gets fired this summer and you guys pick him as a co that’s an elevator. He’s going to be great for y’all. Oh my I can already see it. Doc Rvis to Phoenix, it’s going to make you guys so much better. A player coach like him, he’s going to get along well with the guys like Devin Booker and bro, [ __ ] it. Add Darren Ham and Torian Prince, they’ve never lost in the NBA Cup. That’s the type of winning Phoenix needs on their locker room. I mean, that’s going to boost their energy. It’s going to boost their morale. Salute to you guys. Oh, and I’ll tell you what, that signing trade with Julius Randle, KD to the Wolves, you guys are going to love Julius Randle’s energy, his pace in the game. He’s going to be so good alongside Devin Booker. So far in the playoffs, uh these are two different players, their stats. One of them is Julius Randle, the other one is somebody else. I’m not going to say who, but in this series so far, two games played, uh who would you pick? Uh, A is the higher one, B is the lower one. Which one would you take? I I personally would take B. I feel like B is having a bigger impact on the game. He’s more efficient. I feel like B has like a a sense of the game. Let’s see. Yeah, B is Julius Randle. Ace LeBron James. They called him a playoff dropper. Guess why? He’s beating them out like G. Okay, I’m done with this bit. I’m done. Good luck, Phoenix. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m sure you over the last couple days probably saw a national reporter make some, you know, ridiculous statements about you might be being the worst team owner or worst owner in professional sports history. Just kind of wondering what your response is if you have one. Yeah. So, Stephen A. Smith, you know, I don’t take much he says seriously, you know. Um I don’t think many people do to be honest with you. You know, the things he said about Kevin Durant. I mean, yeah, I won’t lie, Stephen A. Smith is wrong. He’s not the worst owner in the league. Achieving plug alert. Uh, two for one made a video. Yes, that’s me. Made a video about Michael Jordan. The tale of two Michael Jordans. Uh, one as a player, successful champions, and one as an owner, very unsuccessful, and quite frankly, one of the worst, if not the worst owner of all time. Uh, it’s really, really funny. It’s It’s a great video. It is very long, I know, and that’s probably why it has only 16K views right now. Uh, it is what it is, though. If you guys want to check that out, it’s right there. End screen. Go check it out because it’s a it’s a really a journey.

The Phoenix Suns have missed the playoffs despite having Kevin Durant, Devin Booker & Bradley Beal on the team. When KD was traded to Phoenix, it was supposed to be for deep playoff runs. Devin Booker looked great in the 2023 playoffs, but has since dwindled alongside Durant. And trading for Bradley Beal might just be the worst thing Phoenix has done. And with all this happening in a span of two years, the Phoenix Suns were destined to fail.

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00:00 – Intro
0:01:58 – Dark Years
0:09:17 – Playoff Suns
0:25:33 – Epic Collapse
0:38:35 – Injury Bug
0:49:34 – New Owner
0:58:30 – Same Ol’ Suns
1:09:12 – Wholesale Moves
1:21:22 – Phoenix Big 3
1:32:17 – Owner Crash Out
1:44:56 – Murky Future
1:56:07 – Jimmy Available
2:07:57 – The Beal Problem
2:17:34 – No Moves Made
2:25:31 – End of an Era