Phoenix Suns Pursuing ANOTHER Coach with Ties To KD Plus Suns SUED Over Security

Phoenix Suns Pursuing ANOTHER Coach with Ties To KD Plus Suns SUED Over Security

Today, unlocked on Phoenix Suns, a new name in the Suns head coaching search and it points in one big direction. We’ll break it down. Let’s go. You are Locked On Suns, your daily Phoenix Suns podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back into Locked on Phoenix Suns. I’m Brendan Clean, a staff writer at a announcing and a credentialed Suns media member. Thank you for making Locked on Suns first listen here on this Friday to close out your week. Don’t forget Locked on Suns free and available on all platforms including YouTube. Just click that follow or subscribe button. Do what thousands of other Suns fans have already done. Become an everydayer and get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Today’s episode, folks, brought to you by Prize Picks. Download the app today. Use the code locked on NBA and get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks run your game. Joining me to break down two different bits of KD related news and a very shocking lawsuit that the Suns just got hit with from the Wild West Valley. My fellow Suns Credential media member, how are we feeling, Ben Garcia? Um, uh, I’m okay. I it just depends on the day, man, with the news we’re getting. And, you know, we’ll get into it with the head coaching target and we’ll get into it with the new Suns, you know, legal issues, but it just it depends on the day. I’m happy that you asked that. Allows me to initially start the show on where we’re going. Well, yeah, this team is just I’ve said it for years at this point, almost the whole time I’ve been doing this show, they do not keep us uh on our toes at all when it comes to news. There is always something. And we’ll start with the most pertinent news for where this basketball team is going, which is a new name courtesy of Mike Scott of Hoops Hype, who has been probably the guy most on the names here in this coaching search all throughout it. Ben, uh, he reported this morning that the Suns are looking at Josh Long staff for their opening at head coach. Now, that’s not a name a lot of people will know, but before we get to the elephant in the room about Mr. Longstaff, Ben, this is a guy it’s about as much experience as you could possibly ask for given that he’s only 42 years old. Like, it is to me basically exactly the type of newcomer, fresh blood type of coach that we’ve been hoping the Suns would pursue. He was an assistant right out of high school or right out of uh college pretty much. Uh five years after he graduated college, he was already with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was there for four years, then with the Knicks, bounced around as a G-League head coach, then actually coached under Bud in Milwaukee, right up until the finals year, which is bad timing for him. Then the Bulls and now the Hornets. But that’s head coach, high level assistant, a bunch of different teams, a bunch of different good head coaches. he’s worked for. Like this is pretty promising type of guy, right? I don’t see anything in here that says Detroit, Michigan State or I guess Michigan State’s East Lancing. I see nothing in here about East Lancing. What I really like about him in terms of like what you said like promising candidate originally when I saw it, you know, there’s there’s the things that we can get into that kind of bothered me about potentially this hire, but man, this guy’s got some battle scars. It wasn’t even it wasn’t just like he got straight to the NBA. Like he he paid his dues for five years. He was a head co he was an assistant coach for three years in the high school level then a head coach for three years at the high school level and then over to the Thunder, the Knicks, Bucks, Bulls, Hornets. So like he has paid his dues. That is one thing I really like about him. The one thing that kind of bothers me and this is just a me issue is and this you know this is like nothing in terms like the Brian Gregory thing where he had no qualifications. I just have never heard of this guy before outside of very few instances it bothers me and even the research that I’ve done with this I’m like it feels like if he was a guy that was up and coming and watch out for the rest league I would have at least heard of him before. So that’s where I go with it. What about you? Yeah, it feels like his his experience lately has just pushed him onto worse teams, right? Um, and that’s that’s just a bad sign. But at the same time, like Billy Donovan’s very well respected in Chicago and the Hornets, like there is something to be said that Charles Lee just went over there and to be a guy that he trusted to come help him as a first-time head coach, like that’s not a a super bad spot. But it definitely feels like with Long Staff his experience, like the the biggest part of his experience, the most prominent things he was doing were probably earliest in his career. Which brings us to how I did actually recognize his name. For whatever reason, it was buried deep in my mind. This is a very uh you know, sicko type of thing that I don’t know why I remembered it, but I was like, I think that sounds familiar. And so I went over to Google and was like Josh Longstaff Kevin Durant. Like there has to be something here because if he’s related to the the Thunder in some kind of way, like there has to be something there. And lo and behold, there’s so many different articles that basically draw this connection, Ben. So when uh when Long Staff was a college player, he went to Bryant University, not not some kind of huge university, but a division one school in the AEC. I don’t even know what that is, but probably some people have heard of it. They’ve made the tournament from time to time. He was coached by Brian Keefe, and that name should be a little more familiar if you’re an NBA fan because he’s the head coach of the Washington Wizards right now. And before that, he was kind of Keith’s right-hand man. That’s how he got the job in Oklahoma City. They both went to the Knicks together and everything else. And those two guys were were like the player development guys during KD and Russ’s buildup as players with those Thunder teams in the early 2010s. There’s and then when they went to New York, that was a big thing you would see in a lot of the articles of when the the Knicks were allegedly trying to pursue Kevin Durant. So that connection is very well established and of course I think that raised both of our eyebrows. Yes. And the reasoning for that would be because we just talked about this yesterday. We revisited the topic of like where are we at? Do we still want to move Durant? What happens if they don’t? We’ll get deeper to that a different day if the Suns come out and just say yeah we’re going to keep KD. I will stick with the positive side of it and this is maybe it’s just a coincidence. I mean, Kevin Durant is a basketball savant. I don’t question his acumen for the game. Maybe Kevin Durant is, you know, there’s references in every job. I get references all the time for potential jobs. And Mike Benholster is probably not the best person to have on his resume, but Kevin Durant is. And if that’s a guy where Kevin Durant’s in the year of like, hey, listen, I know you guys might have to get rid of me, but this guy was really instrumental in my player growth early on. The only thing that worries me is that this is this is setting up because the trades potentially aren’t there for Kevin Durant just to potentially run it back next year. And I just don’t see how that is a plausible thing to do and to set your team up for success in the long run or between Go ahead. I was just gonna say or it could be the Suns could be hitting two birds with one stone. It could be the Suns are saying, “Hey everyone, you want Kevin Durant, you better up your offers because we just might hire this guy and because he’s got a great uh relationship with KD, we just might run it back with him.” It is smokec screen season. This could be that as well. So, that’s where I went with it. Yeah, it’s it’s funny. I mean, between Royale Ivy and Dave Bliss and now this guy, that’s three coaches who had pretty direct relationships. And I would say with with Long Staff and Ivy, like very close relationships with Durant. Maybe the Suns are just sort of having in their back pocket that they’re going to have some options of where they might want to go if they choose to keep Durant. But at the same time, like they’re going to make this decision before they can really fully know about the Durant trade options, right? Like we were just talking Yes, two days ago about saying, “Hey, well, like the Rockets, the Wolves, the Knicks, those are trades that they probably can’t even do until the new league year starts.” But they’re going to hire their coach probably this month. So, I don’t really know which one comes first, like chicken and egg here. I don’t know if it’s the coaching search tells us something about Durant or vice versa. But of course, there’s also just like the most maybe basic possibility here, like you said, that well, Kevin Durant’s been in the NBA for almost 20 years. It’s hard to find coaches he hasn’t connected with. This could just be somewhat of a coincidence that he’s played for four teams all these years. Some of the best coaching candidates may have just happened to pass cross paths with him and that’s all there is to it. Well, it could also be the Suns potentially doing Katie a favor. Maybe Katie’s just trying to get his guy a head coaching interview and that happens all the time and it doesn’t mean they have to hire him. The difference is I’ve heard of Ivy before and last year it feels like he really potentially got a chance to become a head coach of a team because he almost beat the US basketball in an exhibition game. No, I mean sure, but in a game where they almost beat USA with guys who I had never heard of before. And that’s them even making the Olympics was pretty impressive. Exactly. Exactly. So, there’s something the Eerie Bay Hawks. That’s a different kind of head coaching experience. So, I’m gonna be honest with you, I had never heard of them before. Well, I don’t How many G-League teams can you name? I mean, me I I You know what’s funny? I figured it was a G-League a G-League team, but I didn’t want to know that until I told you. I was like, I’ve never heard of this team before. This could be a That wouldn’t make sense, but this could be an outof country team. There’s no other sounded like a G- League. Well, no, no, no. Like, no. like a team out in the in different countries is what I was thinking. Oh, gotcha. Um, yeah. Look, I think uh we don’t know what this says, but it’s definitely a pattern at this point to have those three guys on the radar of the Suns with such extensive histories with Durant and having that Durant question lingering over the off season. It’s impossible not to draw the connection, but we’ve got a ways to go to get any sort of clarity on either one of these things because last we’ve heard the Suns still had like 15 guys they were considering. Could be that none of these three dudes is even in the finalists and it’s just a very different conversation by Monday. Let’s get to a very strange, even stranger than hiring somebody who’s friends with the player you’re about to trade. a lawsuit having to do with security concerns at the Suns Arena. Next, first, today’s show is brought to you by Prize Picks. Basketball season’s at its peak, and with the playoffs heating up, now’s the time to put your sports knowledge to work with Prize Picks, the top platform for daily fantasy sports. Prize Pick makes it easy. You just pick more or less on at least two player projections and you’re in. Whether it’s points, rebounds, or assists, you’ve got a shot to win up to 2,000 times your entry this week. Keep it simple. Basketball has been awesome. We talked about how the Suns can learn from the playoffs this week on the show, but that is also uh not really important right now because if you’re on prize picks, you can just say, “Hey, Shay Gildus Alexander and Nicole Yokic are the top two MVP guys. I’m just going to hit more on their points every single night until I’m proven wrong.” And that will most likely pay off. Maybe you say, “Hey, Jaylen Brown’s got to pick it up with Tatamount.” That’s it. There you go. You just do points on three guys who are really good. And that can be your whole entire card at prize picks. Quick payouts, easy to understand, and it’s just you versus those projections. So download the app today. Use the code locked on NBA. Get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked on NBA for $50 instantly after that first $5 lineup. Prize picks run your game. All right, we’re keeping it rolling here. My headphones may die. We may have to pause, but we’re we’re pushing through. Uh Backaxter Holmes, Ben, has been on top of all of the bad stuff the Suns don’t want out there for the better part of four years now. He was the guy who, of course, broke the Robert Sarver news that led to him selling the Suns. and he’s been on top of a a series of lawsuits uh by represented by the same lawyer all related to the past few years mostly from Ishbia’s tenure of disgruntled former employees who were um they accuse being mistreated or underpaid or a variety of different things. We haven’t really covered them on the podcast cuz you know we’re not a legal show. We don’t know what we’re talking about and they haven’t really broken through in a way that matters to us frankly that much or the fans who listen, our everydayers here, Ben. But this one did because it accuses the Suns from their their direct their former director of safety, security, and risk management. The lawsuit alleges that the Suns have failed three different tests by local police and the NBA of security measures where these people who do these tests were able to get weapons into the building. Now, there’s more like labor and whatever type stuff from the man who who’s suing, but for our purposes, this is pretty insane to see. two handguns and a knife. That’s what they were that’s what the private investigation guys who were obviously not there to cause any malice or harm harm doing of the of the Suns arena. So, it’s not like Yeah. PL plain clothes officers, cops who just wear jeans and a t-shirt and try to get a gun in to see if they can and then leave. And and they did. They they got they they got two in and a knife. that is. Now, listen, I know people will immediately point to Ishbia and be like, “Oh, this is an Ishbia thing.” No, man. This is I I I’m sure like maybe some of it is, but a lot of this has to do with the guys underneath like this is just malpractice. And to go even further into that story, these this is like I’m assuming public information. The Suns failed these tests and they came out and just said, “Nope, never happened. We didn’t fail any tests. We’re doing amazing.” Yeah. That’s what’s so fascinating. Yeah, it’s crazy. So, they they they lost they they they failed, sorry. One in 2023 that was conducted by the Phoenix Police Department’s Homeland Defense Bureau. They came back that same local police group and did another test a year later almost exactly, which was just this past December, and that was the one where they So, the first one they brought two different officers were able to get a knife in in 20 in 2024. Um the total was two handguns and a knife. So that’s two handguns, three knives that made it through security if anyone’s counting. And then uh unrelated, I guess the league didn’t necessarily know about any of that, but the league also conducts its own tests like this and they conducted one in February 2025 allegedly and they also were able to get through. doesn’t say what, but they were able to get something through and the Suns failed that test. And B back Baxter Holmes added that since 2024, the team has failed multiple other security audits on top of that. Three team according to three team sources. And then as you said, the next line in the story says the Suns dispute this allegation saying they have never failed a security audit. So he Baxter says he has reports from these tests. It’s probably not too hard to get the cops to confirm that that happened and the league would probably have evidence of this as well. It’s not like hearsay. This these are like documented things that are conducted for exactly this reason, which is if you fail, you got to fix it. And that’s the part that’s the probably the worst is this has now been almost a year and a half of these things happening and they’re still failing. That that’s a huge problem. Like you got to feel safe going to a freaking game. I’m going to be honest with you, like one of the reasons why I enjoy going to games, I I’m someone that deals with like all sorts of like paranoia at times, like wondering what the heck what the heck’s going to happen next. Like I’m a constant overinker. One of the things I really like about going to the Diamondbacks Suns Cardinals games is it’s an enclosed place and they’re usually pretty good. Now, I didn’t go to one Suns game this year as a fan. I went as a media member, so I don’t know what it was like, but I’ve never felt unsafe at games. Like immediately as I was reading this, I was like, “Oh my god, man.” Like I mean I sometimes I would just walk the lower bowl because I just wanted to stretch my legs. Like not saying like anything ever came close to happening, but it’s like you need to be able to feel safe to take your kids to a game. This is just malpractice, man. Oh yeah. It It’s one of the things about going to a game. It’s just like this is just the joy that I can have for the next two and a half hours. I don’t have to worry about anything. And for the large part, I’ve never felt unsafe at games. And now I’m like, God, do I want to seriously I’m I’m like, I don’t know if I’m going to walk the lower concourse again because that’s not where I’m at. I’m up with the media members. I don’t have to worry about anyone being crazy up there. But like, imagine if something did happen, dude, and these reports came out like later on. They failed all these things. Could you imagine how how much worse even if someone This is awful. Like this is terrible. But imagine if someone just like got stabbed. Like I’m not even talking about like something that could really like just get after everyone. Like that’s crazy, man. Yeah. So to to to give the Sun’s side of it a little bit, they responded. They did give a statement on Thursday. They said, uh, “Guest safety is our top priority. We continue to meet and exceed safety expectations. We regularly conduct security tests, which is standard across the industry. We have used these proactive measures to ensure we are operating at the highest level of safety and preparedness. I mean, to me, I don’t really understand them denying that they failed these. That just feels like either they’re kind of trying to just, you know, be overly technical and it’s like, oh, we never failed. We just got some docked marks, but we passed it techn. Uh but if this is true that they’re passing their own internal test, then they should improve their internal tests because you if you’re if the cops and the league, who I frankly trust more than a smaller company like a team, oh yeah, are are failing you, then your internal stuff’s got to improve to be at the par of those those people because otherwise it doesn’t matter. The other thing is they have denied this because uh a lot of these allegations because they are accusing the lawyer who has represented many I think all of the accusers at this point. Um they’re they’re pointing out that she has been disciplined by the Supreme Court of Arizona and she’s on a two-year probation with the State Bar, which is obviously the group that manages and handles the licensing of lawyers in any state and obviously at the national level they have one and everything else. You know, I don’t know about any of that. I don’t really feel like we have anywhere near the amount of info to comment on it, but I just wanted to state it. The other thing that I’ll just close with because you mentioned Ishbia. Yeah, he’s not. Of course, nothing like this is ever necessarily a CEO’s fault directly or an owner’s fault directly, but the buck stops with them and the responsibility falls on them. Now, people will look at this and say, well, you know, nothing why didn’t why hasn’t more changed under him? And I think that that’s the big question that I’m left kind of asking, right? Is like these are the types of things that we thought were going to be put into the to the background and into the past when Sarver took over or when Sarver left, I should say. And you could look at this and say like maybe there’s some people, disgruntled employees, who see an opportunity because of the reputation the Suns had under Sarver. And maybe the lawyer is getting a little greedy. And I don’t know. I I would hate to accuse these people of that because the accusations are very seriously, but things happen like that. It’s not like you’re playing both sides. Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn’t be a possible that the Suns are right here and it’s a it’s a game that being played against them and everything else. But if any of this is true and the security stuff seems pretty hard to deny, it just really it’s upsetting to see that the culture of the Suns like hasn’t fully evolved past what it was with Sarver. And it makes you wonder like what has to change, right? If this stuff is true, it’s like how many people have to be fired? So many of the people who are here under Sarver don’t even work here anymore. And yet this stuff’s still coming out. It’s just it it’s like I don’t makes me wonder if there is an answer to it. This is something that like this is this is my closing remarks to it. Like they need to fix this fast, like fast, immediately, quickly. And I’d fire every security guard that you hired to I’d set up some real standards, man. Because now that this is out there, the freaking psychos out there that that know that this is a thing now that might try some funny business, like god, dude. The early parts of the season, like it wouldn’t shock me if not only because the team sucks potentially, but attendance is down because people don’t feel safe. Like that’s stuff that has to change immediately. This is this is so beyond like roster and coaching. Like you don’t have a game without fans. And cool for making the games free, but like the number one thing should be people are safe when they go to your games, which is crazy, man. Like this is when crazy. It’s nuts. It just makes it just makes me feel like if they’re denying that they’ve failed these tests, then they’re not going to necessarily I mean, we’ll see where this goes, but that doesn’t sound like the type of team that is then going to come out in in September, October as the season gets closer and say, “Here’s what we’ve done to improve security because they’re in denial that there that there is a problem.” So, exactly. I just I hope that they at least sort some things out and that they can maybe they don’t of course they’re not going to reference the lawsuit and say hey we got scared into ch you know what I mean but they could at least just say apppropo of nothing this is totally random nothing to see here but here’s some new stuff we’re doing for security this year and I do think that would go a long way let’s get to Kevin Durant’s big award from the media yeah we’ll get into it next show brought to you by game time there’s nothing like the NBA playoffs the intensity, the buzzer beaters, the fans losing their minds. It’s the kind of atmosphere you’ve just got to experience live, and this year’s matchups are already delivering. If you want in, Game Time makes it fast and easy to get seats, even for the biggest playoff games. Prices on the app actually drop closer to tip. And with killer last minute deals, panoramic seat views, and no surprise fees, Game Time is a total gamecher. 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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, Ben, let’s close it out. So, I actually wrote about this at my day job at a announcing because it’s media based. The Pro Basketball Writers Association has rewarded Kevin Durant with the 2024-25 Magic Johnson award. That goes to the player in the league who best combines excellence on the court with cooperation and grace in dealing with media and fans. Ben, now let’s just get the elephant out of the room away. We both have been, you know, mocked by Katie, so think about that what you will. Maybe we are haters. Maybe we are. It’s all just sour grapes. But what did you think when you saw this? Um, I I just I mean I’m I’m sure you’re the same way, but like I think it is absolutely welld deserved. I don’t mind that Kevin Durant goes after media members. If I have an opinion, you’re allowed to have an opinion. And I’m sure you kind of feel that way too. I think it is if honestly for the most part I don’t know of anyone who just writes because the media is not just talking heads like you. It’s guys who write and everyone that I know of that writes and isn’t out there, you know, just talking, everyone seems to have a really at least a good opinion of Kevin Durant, the person and the player. So, I think it’s cool, man. And what I would Sorry, go for it. Before I say my next thing, I just think Yeah, I was writing about it and and kind of trying to get my head around it like, okay, they gave him this award. I mean, obviously it’s not like it’s going to be up there with his MVP trophy or anything, but it’s interesting because, you know, it’s the Pro Basketball Writers Association. It’s like all the big reporters are part of it. It’s like basically it’s not really a union like a labor union, but it’s kind of like a union in terms of like an advocacy group for hey we if if a if a team is breaking a bunch of rules for not making people available that is the body that’s the group that’s the association that is like there to contact the team and maybe like sue the team or if it ever got to that like stuff like that. So they matter you know and I was like okay why would they do this? Like there’s a bunch of people you could probably pick. I think that it is really just because if you think about how many players just hide from this stuff these days and say, “Oh, I’ll go, you know, I have my own podcast or I’ll talk about it in whatever freaking documentary thing’s being shot about me or I’ll just tweet it or something.” Like Katie, I mean, you think back like the deadline, he almost gets traded behind his back and we, you and I weren’t at the practice, but he talked to local media for like 20 minutes at the practice facility the first time that he basically was around because I think he was hurt at that time. The next time he was back at practice, he was an open book on all that and that’s really rare these days. So, I I think it is very well earned that he’s um being appreciated in that way. And then yeah, he uh you know got back to his usual behavior on Twitter shortly thereafter where he went after Emanuel Acho which I pro I probably tend to agree with but what I like about Kevin Durant um like yeah I I I do wish he showed maybe a little bit more leadership during the Sun season that was turbulent but I have been on record a million times that this season is not on him. It was a collective failure. Kevin Durant has a very bright future in media. I really hope he replaces the dummies like Kendrick Ps or Kendrick Per like Kendrick Perkins on ESPN or or dudes that just say things that I don’t think they did any prep for it. Kevin Durant reminds me a lot of Nash where like he’s really smart and a savant of the basketball game like an enthusiast. But Ste Steve Nash sometimes I don’t think will let it rip to the media because I just don’t think he really feels like he needs to. Kevin Durant is raw. He’s authentic. He’s 110% him. And it’s why when he goes after you or he goes after me on social media, I don’t fault him for it. He’s allowed to have that opinion and say exactly how he feels. And in a world where athletes are too scared to go after other athletes, I think Kevin Durant would be awesome in the media field after this and with a understanding of what people like you and I do. I I hope he doesn’t just go away into into the darkness when he’s uh gone and retired. I hope he stays in the NBA eye and gives his actual unfiltered opinion on players because it would be respected and I think it would be actually thought out unlike some of these idiots that we hear. So, that’s where I got from it. Um, and I thought it was I thought it was interesting because it almost feels like as well as it it did kind of feel like to me like other media members were like maybe planting the seeds of trying to get him on this side of it after his playing days are over. But that’s kind of how I thought of it. Maybe I I’d be great. Uh probably if he wanted to do it. I I don’t know though. I don’t think he because that is always a thing, right? Like you want to have people who are willing to actually criticize fellow players. I don’t think he really does that, you know? I he criticizes media, but he doesn’t, which it’s probably even more like taboo or problematic to do it while you’re still a player. So maybe things would change when he becomes uh if he ever were to do media. But he’s that’s the one thing that I think sometimes I do disagree with him on is that I think what he personally doesn’t like in the coverage, not just of himself, but of the league and everything. Stuff like legacy talk and debating and things like that. Um, I don’t think he’s necessarily right that it’s just bad for the league or overtly like some kind of huge problem. I I think like I’m not a huge Stephen A. Smith fan. I’m not a huge Skip Bis fan, but I think the idea of like who’s better, LeBron or KD, like that actually is way closer to what I think the reg an average regular person cares about than some of the stuff that he tells us we should care about. You know what I mean? Like, oh, just appreciate hoops and everything else. It’s like, well, we’re not all Yeah. No, people who have dedicated our lives to this. Some of us just turn it on. Not me or you, but like c casual fan. They just turn it on and they just kind of have a passing relationship to it and and they do just want to like bicker with their friends and shoot the you know what and whatever. And so, I wonder if it would be a good fit. But regardless, like he’s made himself available and been a better resource than 99.9% of players in the league. I think Kevin Yes, 100%. I Yeah, I think KD, just like we all are, are a little sensitive to some things in our life that when you point out, we immediately get defensive about it. And I think Kevin Durant’s legacy is great. He’s a Hall of Famer, but it’s I think his legacy should be better because I think he’s a top 10 basketball player of all time, but because he’s had so many stops where it’s failed, whether it was his fault or whether it was not his fault. I think collectively he has played a role in some of those things that uh whenever you bring it up, he gets sensitive by it because when you talk about LeBron James legacy, I never go, “Oh, well, LeBron, he just there just seems to be a little bit of meat left on the bone.” Like he accomplished mostly everything. I think he’s the greatest player of all time and I don’t think you have that with Steph Curry and I think Kevin Durant envies that because he made a couple of wrong decisions like we all have and KD or and Steph and LeBron made a little bit less bad decisions. Um but I agree with you. Everything else I agree with you and I I don’t hold it against him that he gets upset when people talk about Legacy. He’s like I’d be sensitive about it too because pretty much everywhere he’s went he’s went awesome. I just think he followed the wrong people. like leaving Steph for Kyrie was just crazy. He was trying to prove his own man. I have always wondered what would happen if what would have happened if he had still joined the Warriors, but if they had not just played the Warriors the previous playoffs and and lost the 3 to1 lead that they had and everything else because it it is interesting that LeBron also joined a super team. Mhm. and Wade had already won a ring and that was like a much more prestigious franchise and he never he got plenty of flack but not quite in the same way. I think it’s because Durant had just lost. That’s always the part that I think gets maybe glossed over a little bit. Not oh you went to a 73 win team. Well, they lost in the finals. I think the bigger issue is that that he had just lost to them. But anyway, we’re on a little bit of a tangent, but I would just say there’s so many like Anthony Edwards is saying he doesn’t want to be the face of the NBA. He’s telling us to like pay less attention to him and Jason Tatum couldn’t be more boring and all these guys that are so like careful about everything. I I appreciate that KD is at least able to uh to just kind of be and be an He doesn’t hide from it. Yeah, he doesn’t hide from it. Anthony Edwards like, “Okay, man. You don’t want to be the face of the NBA? Maybe don’t crotch chop the Phoenix Suns in.” Well, that’s what’s funny about Ant is like he doesn’t exactly hide from it either. No, he doesn’t hide from any sides of his mouth on that. And and like with Jason Tatum, I think he wants to be, but he is like so boring. And now obviously the injury that obviously is terrible, but yeah, I I mean that’s just that’s a whole different talk. But Katie doesn’t shy away from any of that. He not not at all. And he is I mean outside of LeBron and Steph like the best player like Americanb born player in the last what 25 30 years. So he he is he he is one of a kind and it’s one some things I like about him is he’s always honest. I hate the political answers. It’s so annoying. So I do appreciate that Katie is open and honest. That’ll wrap us up. Hit followers. Subscribe if you have not already. Become an every dare. We will be back next week. Feels like this head coaching search is coming to a close. We’ll have the latest on that and everything else going on. Maybe hopefully not. I mean, are we going to talk about another lawsuit on Monday, Ben? You never know. We’ll talk to you guys next week.

The Phoenix Suns are looking at Josh Longstaff for head coach, another candidate with ties to Kevin Durant.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia discuss Longstaff as an option before breaking down a lawsuit accusing the Suns of failing multiple security tests at PHX Arena. Finally, what does it mean for Durant to win an award from NBA media?

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