Phoenix Suns Move CLOSER To Next Head Coach With 9 Finalists

Phoenix Suns Move CLOSER To Next Head Coach With 9 Finalists

Today on Locked on Phoenix Suns, that finalist list that I’ve been begging for. Well, it’s out. Nine people we believe the Suns are homing in on to be their next head coach. We’ll break them all 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 Suns. I’m Brendan Clean, a staff writer at Off Announcing and a Credential Suns media member. Thank you for making Locked on Suns first listen here on this Monday, kicking off your week. We appreciate it. Don’t forget Locked On Suns free and available on all platforms including YouTube. So, 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. Hey, today’s episode brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances right now with MonarchMoney. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. We got a lot of news to get to. Durant Beal and the head coach search in its final days. Joining me to break it all down as always from the wonderful West Valley, my fellow Suns Credential media member. How are we feeling, Ben Garcia? Good. Good. I’m happy we finally got a list, a bunch of guys that we were able to uh decipher. One of them who I thought was kind of interesting. Um, but yeah, lot of things. Some new names. Some new names that we didn’t even know were on the first list are somehow suddenly on the second list. So, let’s just dive right into it. This news is from a few different places. Uh Chris Haynes, Jake Fischer, Mark Stein, and John Gamidoro here locally all on Sunday afternoon as this thing appears to be going into phase two. Uh we should say that there is going to be probably a list of a final three that I don’t know if that means, hey, they’re all flying out to Phoenix and whatever. I you never know exactly what all these steps and layers and rounds necessarily mean, but this is round two. Nine names, and I’ll just read them off. Uh, it’s Sean Sweeney, James Burggo, Johnny Bryant, Jordan, and Dave Bliss. Ben, those are the names we knew. The new names on this list, Chris Quinn of the Miami Heat. Micah Nory, who was is the lead assistant in Minnesota. Of course, he ended up being kind of the acting head coach last year. People will remember that when uh Finch tore up his knee. and Steve Hetszel who has been in Brooklyn and Charlotte and Portland and I don’t believe we had ever talked about him before. Uh, and then one other wild card here, Ben James, oh, sorry, David Fisdale, who we all know who that is. He’s of course been an assistant now for two different Suns staffs. They convinced him to leave the front office in Utah to be a coach again for Frank Vogle. They had the Lakers connection. Then the Suns convinced him to stick around to be on Bud’s staff and now at long last he is a head coaching candidate for the Suns. So where do you want to start? What jumps out to you most from this whittleled down group? Well, I I want to get back to Fsdale in just a second, but because that one is interesting and I would like to decipher with you like why he’s getting maybe maybe it just feels like out of respect or to get him to stick around, but I thought this list as a whole was a very mature list. I think where you and I have thrown some arrows at Brian Gregory and the hire of him and the way that Ishbia has conducted some of the front office moves. I think it’s important to point out the wins and like forget like whoever gets this job, whoever gets this job. I don’t think there’s anyone on here that if they got the job I would lose my marbles or talk about them being unqualified. Those are the types of things that just like have like just have to happen. But the Suns weren’t doing that before. So, it’s nice to see that they have gotten a list of guys who I think are all at least qualified to get an interview. And if you’re qualified to get an interview, I’m not in there. You might be wowing uh uh uh Ishpia and and Gregory. And that might be the case while you get the job. So, that’s great. But, I want to I want to circle in on Fsdale really quickly. Well, I I’ll I’ll com comment on the list, too. I mean, yeah, the process is much better, right? Like, you cannot argue that versus the way that they handled the GM search, if there even is one, where the Bob Myers thing leaks and then all of a sudden they’re going internal, not even for a guy who was an assistant GM or anything else, but somebody who was uh an obscure lower level like player development guy out of college. that that’s not what anyone wanted to see and that’s why the reaction was so bad. This is all the names you would expect. Like this is a real coaching search. James Bgo was a finalist before JJ Reddic got the Lakers job. Sean Sweeny’s been the number two for a finals team in Dallas. Uh you know Johnny Bryant the best team in the East. He was the lead assistant there. Mic Nori led a team to the conference finals as kind of like a co-head coach and on down the list. These are all guys you would expect to see. So that’s absolutely good. Um, but yeah, what do you got on Fsdale? What what do you think? Um, well, if you know, you you were the one that sent me the Stein newsletter and one of the reasons why he’s getting I think he’s getting an interview is because they want him to stick around as a head coach or sorry, as an assistant coach on that son’s bench. But it did I I wouldn’t be upset if Fdale got the job. He’s clearly has a great relationship with the players. I know Booker likes him. I know that he has that relationship with players, not just with Booker, but guys around the league. But it is interesting to me that he Do we know Booker likes him? I mean, I don’t know. He’s stuck around. They know each other very obviously. If I’m not mistaken, if I’m not mistaken, I have seen reports before where him and Booker do get along. But even if that’s not the case, maybe I’m making stuff up out of thin air and I don’t I’m not just calling that out. I’m just saying I would I wouldn’t be so excited as you on that one. That that would feel I feel like he he had his shot. He had two different head coaching opportunities and he seemed to even be sort of bidding farewell to that part of his career going to the front office in Utah and then all of a sudden he’s back as an assistant totally fine. But for him to get another shot when already like 10 years ago his offensive philosophies and things were pretty outdated and not really up competitive with what was working in the league. I I’ll just get out in front of it and say that would worry me if he became the head coach. I I the only thing that that I don’t think he’ll become the head coach, but the only thing that made me raise my eyebrows is like if they came out with the first list and it’s like 16 people and he was on that list, I’d be like, “Okay, you give him an interview.” The fact that he’s on the second list is a little concerning. Like a little concerning. Yeah. But everyone else, I think, is is totally fair. Um but that one was just interesting to me. Yeah, it’s it’s going to be I I don’t really know how much it matters. I guess if he sticks around as an assistant for a third new staff, it would be very unorthodox. That doesn’t really happen. But I guess if the new head coach if as long as the new head catch head coach is okay with it, then I don’t really care. It’s I was just going to say it’s not absurdly rare that someone sticks around for the second head coach, but it is really strange if they stick around for a third one because then it feels more of like a front office thing than it feels like a coach thing and then it’s like, well, maybe he should just be the head coach if he’s if he’s that much in favor with the front office. But here’s the thing that I wanted to point out that we haven’t discussed here. Um cuz I agree like we’ve talked about a lot of these names individually. I think we’re on the same page that it’s the right types of people. Some some sleuths online, Ben, have noticed Jordan Yep. went to graduate school at Michigan State University and was, I believe, a graduate assistant and then a video guy. Uh he worked there for 5 years before he finally made his way into the NBA with the Hawks and the Nets and the Lakers and now the Cavs. Is that where this is going? Is this just going straight back to Michigan State University again? Well, it wasn’t just him. I’m assuming you’re going to get to the the other guy as well, but Steve Hzel, uh he is he went to Michigan State, so didn’t he never coached there. That’s not listed on his wiki page, but his college, he did go to Michigan State. Um, he’s from Michigan, like as far as his heritage. Yeah. Allen Park, Michigan. Um, I I don’t really care that much because I think both guys are qualified for the position. The thing that really frustrated me is we desperately wanted to see real change at the general manager position, and this one felt like he had nothing. no no uh acumen to be able to or the accomplishments to be able to be a general manager and it feels like he just got that because of Michigan State. It doesn’t feel like this like people people hire people that they know all the time. It’s are you qualified for the position and I don’t find it to be that much of an issue especially since it’s two guys. Um although I would much rather than than Hetsel if I was Exactly. Exactly. I I I don’t I mean we don’t really know when you’re picking it’s between guys who’s more qualified. Like that is a word when it’s somebody like Brian Gregory. I think we feel comfortable definitively saying like he wasn’t qualified for this particular job that he got between coaches. It’s like as long as you’ve been doing the job a while. What am I going to say? You’re not qualified. But his his track record in terms of the teams that he’s been around with, which I know you’ve, you know, focused on a lot, is that these different guys have come up like it’s Detroit, it’s Charlotte, it’s the Magic before they got really good, the Portland Trailblazers the past three years like in this post Dame phase and now Brooklyn in the first year of them really, you know, blowing it up. So, I just that one would be a little more like he probably just got hired because of the Michigan roots, whereas a we already liked him before we necessarily realized that he had that connection. So, I’m not going to go back on that one now. But, I don’t know. I would like for them to just go in a different direction and we don’t even have to have that conversation. I I I don’t know if um Well, yeah, I would as well. Like that’s a good that’s a good way to kind of move over to that to that next part really quickly is uh still a big fan of Johnny Bryant. If Jordan not got the job that’d be okay with me too. Uh any anyone on this list to you that sticks out more than others? Chris Quinn I still think is is interesting. Longtime Miami Heat assistant head coach. Um anything change? Quinn is Quinn would be a great one just in terms of I think the team really needs a culture and player development mindset. So Miami would be an awesome place to steal somebody from. They don’t lose coaches often and so be a really great thing to be able to do. Um I would say him, Nory, those are the two new guys, but those might be the two most accomplished guys. I mean, those are people who have coached deep into the playoffs. And for that same reason, I probably honestly would say Sweeney. Like I just kind of value the people who seem to be most ready. High ranking coaches on staffs that have been really deep in the playoffs recently who have not yet been head coaches and gotten to really make their imprint on a team. That’s what I’m looking for. And those three all check that those boxes. So I’m hop like if that if those three were the finalists like in an ideal world I’d be thrilled. But we’ll see how it goes. I mean we talked about Fdale and the MSU stuff like this could go anywhere. It how frustrated. So here’s again just doubling down and tripling down on the Michigan State thing. I wouldn’t be thrilled if both Hetszel and Aught made it to the top three that Gambo’s reporting that we should get sometime next week. That would raise some eyebrows for me. Oh yeah. But if one of them gets in, even if like if gets in, I’m not even going to talk about the Michigan State thing. I don’t really care. Well, the thing is like we can talk about the search and the finalist all we want. what what really matters is who they hire and why% and what and what that person is is supposed you know what he’s kind of tasked with what what they view as his strengths and what he’s really supposed to be doing with his his candidacy and and and again like what’s the next Suns team under that person going to look like and so the search feels good now but you know who it ends up being obviously tells us the most you think we’ll get you think you you think we’ll get a coach before June It’s getting close at this point. I think so. If Gambo’s saying finalist end of this week, that’ll be, you know, still kind of mid June. We still got a week left. I think so. Or midMay. I think we do. Let’s get to two recently ousted former champions in the NBA postseason. Which one’s most likely to make a run at Kevin Durant? First, today’s show brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go? Well, we all do. Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it’s easy to lose track. And that’s where Monarch Money comes in. It’s your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app. It’s complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth. I am moving this summer. My wife got a job uh upgrade last year. Uh we’re trying to probably move again in the not too distant future. After that, it can get hectic, just living life, making changes, and it’s good to keep track of it all in one place in addition to your future goals. Are you going to invest? Are you going to save towards some other type of goal or big purchase or some magic number you want to have? Take control of all your finances. Get all of that done in one place with Monarch Money. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code lockdown NBA for half off your first year. All right, Ben, we got two new additions to the potential Kevin Durant suitors and we’re going to sort out if they’re real Kevin Durant suitors here. the 2023 and 2024 NBA champions. We know we’ll get a new champion in the league this year, which is uh Adam Silver’s dream coming true. Thank you, Adam. It sucked to have good teams. That was really awful. Thank you for taking those away from us. The Nuggets uh and the Celtics. So, I’ll just give it to you open-ended. Which of those teams do you actually think is the most likely to really be in on Kevin Durant? had Sam Ach throw the Nuggets out there in a podcast appearance at the Ringer this week. He’s an insider over at the Athletic. He was kind of spilling his notebook. Obviously, the Boston thing’s kind of been out there because they want to make some moves and maybe, you know, shuffle their roster from a money standpoint. So, which one of those teams do you actually think might get in on this if if one were going to? Yeah, before before uh um the Jason Tatum injury, I would say it was it was pretty I think I think it’d be pretty likely that the Celtics would at least check in on Kevin Durant. Saying that either one would do it, uh I think is like a little too far-fetched until we actually get concrete names, but I thought the Celtics were much more likely to. that Tatum injury. I I wonder how much that really does affect their plans in the offseason because I know they’re gonna have to shed some cap, but are you really going to trade Jaylen Brown? I I I don’t see that. So, before the show and then I, you know, kind of put some thought into it. I thought it would have been still the Celtics. I don’t think either team is super likely, but the Denver Nuggets do make sense for Kevin Durant because I think I mean Kevin Durant fits in a lot of places, but him and Nicole Joic, especially with his passing ability, being able to get the ball in into Kevin Durant’s hands, I would that is interesting. I just don’t know if they have the assets to make it happen. Forget the the picks, right? What about the contracts? You’re getting back Michael Porter Jr. And then either picks, I mean, I mentioned to you maybe a Christian Brown. You were like, “Yeah, that’s never happening.” I said, “Okay, that’s fair.” So, it would have to be a a a pretty a pretty big trade, I think, to make that happen. But out of those two, I think it would be the Nuggets. What about you? Agreed. I’m gonna be honest with you, the Boston thing never made sense to me with or without the Jason Tatum injury because their goal, the only reason I think they’re making any roster moves this summer. Otherwise, even if you know, they were on track to lose the Knicks series before the Tatum injury. So, even if they just lost the series and Tatum was on the totally fine, I still would be thinking their only real reason to make roster moves is to save money. I don’t understand how you’re saving money and acquiring Kevin Durant because Jaylen Brown I I just that would be a pretty I don’t know short-sighted move. You already got a title. Why would you trade a guy who’s about 30 for somebody who is 37? Um regardless of the disappointment of a postseason loss, that’s the only one where maybe you save a little bit of money. anything else you’re having to stack up uh you know Porzingis and Holiday in order to get to a point where you’re saving money because then you’re sending out what 60 or so million you’re getting back 50 or so for KD you’re saving a little money but you’re losing two guys I don’t think you’re a better team so it just never really shook out in a way that made sense so I agree to me to me it’s Denver um their pick situation is the main problem with that one I mean you your mileage is going to vary everybody can have their opinion on the Michael Porter contract. The reality to me is he’s at least a starting caliber NBA player when he’s healthy and he only has $78 million left on his contract. It’s a it’s a lot less ugly than it was when he signed it. Two years left. That’s manageable. It’s probably less than you were going to pay Durant to Rant. So, you know, um but their picks, they owe tons of different picks to the Thunder 2026. they owe to the Magic and they don’t have their own pick until 2031 and then of course once this summer hits on draft night they’ll have access to the 2032 pick. So either one of those I don’t know if they would be willing to part with that. Maybe they maybe they would if they’re really blowing things up here. And then beyond that it’s like you know Porter and Zeke Naji’s contract plus one young guy I think gets you close enough that the money’s the money is doable. Um, they have Daario Charich they could trade if they really needed to make the math work. But if it’s not Brown, it’s one of these other guys who really just hasn’t been able to break through the rotation. Straather, Payton Watson, Jaylen Picket, Hunter Tyson, all those first and early second round picks who Michael Malone got fired basically because he didn’t really develop them. And then the interesting wild card, Ben, is another guy we’ve been talking about, KL Wear in Miami as, oh, the Suns could have drafted him and maybe there’s still a chance they could go get him. We know they liked him. Dron Holmes, if we remember that name from draft season last year, he was had like the best summer league performance of the first weekend in Vegas last summer and then tore his ACL and didn’t play all season. But, you know, it’s just an ACL. Guys come back and he’s still only 22 and a player we we know the Suns had on their radar as a toolsy big man. That could be an interesting part of the package. So, I don’t think it’s a a non-starter here. Like I think especially if they were to put their far out picks on the table, I I think that there is a trade to be done if if if the Nuggets are interested. So 2032 MPJ, let’s say, who do you like better, P Watson or or Strawther? Uh Watson. Okay. Me, too. Watson, especially for what the Suns need. Watson. MPJ Holmes 2032 first round pick. What does that do for you? That’d be awesome. That’d be really high on my list. But I don’t know if the Suns are getting all that stuff. But you have to remember you have to remember this isn’t like the Paul George thing. Like you’re not taking a very high pick from them. You’re just taking Michael Porter Jr.’s contract who’s not good and was very like 50 50/50. He’s putting it kindly was like 6040 in this playoffs of if he was going to show up or not. 40% being he was going to show up. and you get Kevin Durant and if you’re trying and like you have to ask yourself this too, man. What other options does Denver have but to push those guys into the middle of the table? Because Nicole Joic is 32 if I’m not mistaken and you don’t have anything else to make. Their problem is not top end talent. So their other option is to finally get some depth. That’s what they need. Again, it’s the distinction I always make between team who needs to get better versus Kevin Durant is the answer, right? I agree. The Nuggets are pretty pretty in in dire straits to go out and and shake things up. They their owner literally or one of the people maybe the interim GM at one point said this idea that Michael Porter is untouchable is not true. Like get off our back about that. Everybody we we understand the the pressure on us to keep winning championships. Everybody is going to be looked at. Obviously, we know Joker won’t. So, I think they will make moves. I I think they kind of have to try something, but that doesn’t mean the answer is Kevin Durant. I I think that’s the distinction that I would make. Um, also, I think you’re not getting like you’re not getting an immediately high pick. I get your point like it’s not like the Paul George godsend of a deal or um, you know, Shay or whatever, but as far as the draft pick goes, Nicole Jokic would be 37 when that draft pick conveys. So, 2032 pick is is pretty val. It’s a long way off. Maybe the Suns don’t actually make that pick, but it becomes a nice trade piece to flip to somebody else in the future if need be. So, I don’t know. I think that package is extremely aggressive. And this is the franchise that notoriously did not trade Jamal Murray for Kyrie Irving when that was on the table for them. They’re patient. They they they’ve always been patient. So, this would be a big a big change and this would be a really aggressive offer. But if they’re willing to do it, I think it’s up there as one of the more competitive ones like we’ve talked about with Miami and some of the others. Yeah, I find that one interesting as well because I I like Watson, although you’re right, he didn’t really crack the starting rotation. Strawther is notable to Suns fans because he has played well against the Suns before, but Holmes from Dayton, good player, big uh liked him in the tournament a couple years ago. And then uh that 2032 pick, like I think that’s like that is the blue chip. It’s just hard because if you’re a Suns fan, you don’t want something so far out. And then yeah, MPJ, just so like we’re clear, I do think MPJ works here. Not as a championship team. I have to continue to say that, but as someone that can just get the ball in the basket from the wings. I mean, he’s got one of the prettiest shots in the NBA. So, that’d be an interesting piece to bring to the Suns while also getting other pieces as well, like Holmes and and first round picks. or a first round pick. So, that one is interesting. Also, he was a local kid. I didn’t we didn’t mention that, but that was part of the thing with him last year. He born in Goodyear and went to Compass, the prep school in Phoenix. So, do do you think um do you think the Nuggets will call in Katie or do you think they will likely explore elsewhere MPJ and a pick to go get a couple of young guys? Yeah, I think that that probably will be their priority. And I don’t I wouldn’t expect them to call at the price we just laid out. I I don’t think they would do the trade we just talked about. Um but if the price came down and they could do hey maybe no pick maybe you know MPJ and no Holmes like it’s MPJ Zeke Naji’s contract Watson and Strather or something. I’m sure they would be interested at that price. I don’t know if the Suns would be right. So like I think that’s kind of the give and take of where we’re at. But they’re at least a team I think has the pieces to be in the mix would be how I would put it. Uh let’s get to Bradley Beal. We mentioned Sam Amix reporting notebook dump over the athletic. He had some thoughts on Beal in addition to the head coach and Durant things we’ve already discussed. We’ll get there next. All right, Ben. Sam Ach, longtime insider over at the Athletic. To be clear, like I I don’t want to make it seem like Sam Ach was saying any sort of prediction about the Suns off seasonason or going crazy there, but he he did say that Bradley Beal and his wife really like living in Phoenix. So, I don’t think that that’s changing as part of some overall comments about why he feels the Suns may be in a position where they have to run it back. Now, you and I have come back to the KD thing plenty of times. I don’t think it’s the way that AIC put it, unless the Nuggets come calling. There’s no landing spot. That feels like an exaggeration, but we haven’t talked about Beal in a while. And Ach is a pretty plugged in guy and he made the comment that basically if you read between the lines of what he said, the stance on Beiel’s side when it comes to the no trade clause has not changed from November through February when we were all talking about Jimmy Butler. And honestly, I’ll add something in here that we didn’t even talk about before the show, Ben, but Pat Riley, I don’t know if you saw his comments with the Heat post end of season media availability where he said they were locked in with one team until the very end on the Jimmy Butler trade and that really affected their season because they got held up with not getting the Jimmy thing done as quickly as they wanted it to. And I think that just reinforces this whole thing that Bradley Beal got a no trade clause for a reason. And I just don’t see him giving that up. Yeah. I mean, this is kind of a non-starter for me in terms of a conversation because I’m just not buying into Bradley Beiel getting traded. Um, unless it’s for like you trade him back to the Wizards and the Wizards give you back like Marcus Smart and Chris Middleton, like just two, as funny as it sounds. They have all they have so many of veteran, you know, bad veteran contracts that they somehow are actually the one team that makes sense even though that’s of course where the Suns got him from. Yeah. Chris Middleton is broken. Marcus Smart is hasn’t been great ever since he left Boston. So neither of those contracts are great. So the Jordan pool I think it’s like one after the next. I think the only way that you do a deal is like something like that where you break up his contract and maybe into different players and then maybe you move those players for to to get off those deals or whatever. Um I think it’s I mean it’s a buyout situation, man. They’re going to have to buy this guy out into the things that you have pointed out, not me, of they’re going to ask to get money back from wherever he signs. And I think that’s the best way this is going to go. Um, it doesn’t shock me that he likes living in Phoenix. Everyone likes living in Phoenix, especially during the winter years. Like, do you think Bradley Bill and his kids are living here right now? No. They’re going back somewhere else and living where the weather’s nicer and during the basketball St. Louis or wherever he’s from. Yeah. Or even him. I mean, he goes back to Washington. I don’t know. We also know he just loves stability, right? I mean, he held on in Washington way too long. I mean, yeah, he got a supermax in a no clause out of it. So that was a pretty nice reason to to hang on. But he he he wants to be comfortable. Like that’s that’s the just a fact of how Beal has handled his business as an NBA athlete. So yeah, and I I won’t even take credit for the buyout thing. This was Bobby Marks and Gerald did someh reporting on it and everything. And you know, it’s the same type of thing we always talk about with guys who get bought out in season ahead of the deadline for, you know, like Ben Simmons this past year. for players like that, but it’s just on a much much bigger scale. So with that, typically you see players get bought out and then they give back the minimum, right? Because they’re only going to go sign on a minimum on the buyout market for whatever the rest of the season is. Or sometimes guys get bought out before the last season of their contract and they get, you know, 3 million for the full season of the minimum or whatever. But we don’t really talk about that cuz it’s just kind of understood that that’s how it’s going to work cuz the players getting the same amount of cash either way, but it helps the team out just a touch on the 3 million that they don’t have to pay out. It’s going to be the same with the with Beal only the Suns hope will be that he can obviously get more than a minimum. I think we would all agree he’s better than a minimum player even if he’s not nearly valuable enough to be getting his 50 plus million that he’s owed with this contract. So, he has 110 million left on his contract. If he can go out this summer and get even the mid-level, that would be like three years 40 or so million. And the Suns say, “Great. Congrats. Enjoy the rest of your career. Go win a chip or whatever. Give us the 40 million back and we’ll buy you out.” That’s really huge for the Suns because instead of 110 million that they’re going to stretch over two plus two times two plus one seasons. Don’t have to know why that’s the rule. It just is. five seasons 110 it becomes five seasons uh 70 if you’re given 40 back and that’s a lot more manageable in terms of the dead money on the Suns cap because we’ve talked about they they’re not even legally allowed to give him the full 110 it’s not teams aren’t allowed to have that much dead money on their books so he kind of has to do that in order for the Suns even to buy him out I think it makes sense on his end the one thing though Ben that I think we haven’t really addressed we kind of did last week when we were talking about some KD trad is the order of operations here because we sort of talked like with the Houston deal, the Minnesota deal, the Knicks deal, if the Suns traded with those teams and honestly the Nuggets and Celtics who we just talked about are also in this boat where they’re right up against these aprons. You kind of have to get the Suns would be much much better suited to get under the apron, at least the first apron or at least the second apron. I mean, if not both by the time that they’re making these deals in order to get all the way under both of them, they got to do the Beal thing first. But they can’t do the Beal buyout until Beal is able to talk to other teams and survey the market of exactly what he’s going to get in order to know what he can give back. So, I don’t know. Like I at the bare minimum, I’m feeling like nothing’s happening until free agency actually starts. Like I don’t think draft night we’re going to see anything happen with either of the two biggest dominoes on the Sun’s plate this summer. Uh Beal and Durant. I think they have to wait until July. Yeah, I I mean yes. I think that all that is going to be true with Bradley Beal. Um, I I I know that this has been reported that he’s not going to be back next year, but I I do wonder cuz things can change. I wonder if they just bring him back next year, man. I if it’s just too much of a headache, if they don’t see him getting even the mid-level exception on the trading on the market because people don’t want to use their mid-level exceptions on a guy that’s routinely injured. um if he came back to the Suns next year, listen, it could get really gross. But maybe not, man. Maybe there’s a chance that he does find his strike. That’s what he wants, right? So, I I can’t And for him, like Oh, I mean, like with the fan base, it would get ugly. You pointed that out a couple months ago. I don’t know how that like we can only take Yeah, we can only take so many well I’ve got my no trade clause and I’m playing basketball and I’m happy comments before people like start a ruckus. What if the what if the expectations are just lower for the team? Like is it so bad if it’s like you’re holding us back from the thing we we thought was going to be like a championship core versus like hey Jabari Smith’s out here having fun. We got, you know, pick number 29 have, you know, playing better than we thought and some hope for the future. This coach is working out. He’s much better to, you know, hear from than Bud’s grumpy, you know what was and like, hey, this seems pretty cool. Like whatever be I’m not even paying attention to that. Like there maybe that’s possible this upcoming season where there’s just not as much attention on him. But I don’t know. I I don’t think it’s impossible for that to be the case as well. I think you make a good point, but um I think there’s a chance like I I do think he at least gets a mid-level exception, but I do think there’s a chance that people see the way that he dealt in Phoenix and because of his injuries that people are like, “We’re trying to win a championship, man. You’re not worth our mid-level exception.” like we have to I think the part of the part of that that definitely is the biggest holdup of his next contract is getting it getting multiple years of it. Oh yeah. Because in or right in order to get up to a number that really would help the Suns in terms of guaranteed money you’re talking about the mid-level like I just kind of said oh for example three years of the mid-level. Well like three years of the mid level I mean Beal is 31. He’s already breaking down. What’s he going to be in his age 33 34 season? Are you like are we really going to see him get more like I would even think it might be more likely for a team to give him like one year 18 20 25 million rather than three years of for you know what I mean? So I don’t know uh that that part is definitely not a given that he’s just going to get it. But if the Suns did keep him, you’re talking about uh if you can just make it through one more season at that point, it’s only 57 million left on your books. You still get to stretch it times two plus one. So it’ be $57 million over three seasons. That’s like 19 million per. Plus, you might still get him to agree to a buyout if he can get a little more than the minimum the following summer. And then you’re really like it’s pretty small in terms of a hit you’re taking. So I don’t know. They might have to just bite the bullet on that. Yeah, there’s I will say I don’t think he’s here next year, but I don’t think the Suns are going to get that much relief, man. I just I don’t I think he is he was seen as a question mark when he came to Phoenix, but we took those question marks because we didn’t give up a lot for him and those have only been magnified since he’s been here. I do think he would help some teams that need scoring, but the injury history is just too long and extensive for people to uh turn their heads to. I’m going to be honest with you. Before we started recording, like I thought he’d get the mid-level exception, but I really only thought that that would just be a one-year thing. I didn’t even think about potentially him getting multiple years. I mean, that’d be that’d be like a godsend to the Suns if he got four year three years, $50 million, which really isn’t a lot. in the NBA world for a guy of Bradley Bill’s caliber. Like that’d be a godsend. I just Yeah, I don’t see that happening. The other thing we just have to always come back to is any of these pathways, it’s the same thing we were talking about when he was in the in the headlines during the Butler saga. Teams aren’t interested in doing the Suns a favor. Nope. So, same thing. You know, it’s like we’re talking about it from the Suns standpoint because it’s just we’re doing a Suns podcast and we care about the Suns, but the Wizards trading for him, a team giving him all that guaranteed money for what? Let the Suns deal with their own problem. If Bill’s available next summer and the Suns finally buy him out, all right, if we’re interested as a team, well, maybe I’ll go look into giving him a mid-level for a couple seasons. But I’m not going to do it now just because the Suns need a scratch on the back. That’s why I that’s why I think as well, man, like the Suns should look into keeping him next year because like if he’s a headache, just make up some phantom injury. He’s got his money, he’s got his no trade clause, he doesn’t have to play, I guess, or at least he’ll get his own injury and he won’t play a lot anyways. Like I do think there is a world where the Suns should think about running it back with him. Try to rebuild like who he is. Not necessarily a super max player, but maybe a $75 million player and then you find this out next year because like if we’re not a championship contender next year, what’s the rush? What’s the rush? Might as well figure it out next year and see what you could do then and see if you could get more money back. The rush is where I started, which is why I think the Suns are going to have a bunch of impetus to do it to try to make it happen is yeah, the Durant thing gets a lot easier if you’re under both aprons, which is what’s possible if you can get this Bill situation accounted for. But yeah, a lot of dominoes that are like going in each direction and I don’t know which side’s going to fall first, I guess, is kind of the metaphor for this Sun’s off season. But that’ll wrap us up. Hit follow or subscribe if you haven’t already. become an everyday coach before long. Maybe more KD teams. May maybe there’ll be a 31st team that pops up that wants Kevin Durant. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.

The Phoenix Suns narrowed the field in their head coaching search to nine names, including two with Michigan State ties.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia break down the list, which includes surprises like David Fizdale, Micah Nori and Chris Quinn. Then, is Boston or Denver more likely to pursue Kevin Durant and a Bradley Beal check-in.

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