Suns won't set if they never rose
A disastrous finish to a fretful season in Phoenix.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Landscape With Windmill and Rainbow; J.M.W. Turner; 1795-1800
The Phoenix Suns indeed became the first team to be eliminated in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, getting swept out of the first round by the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves. The Suns only clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season (ironically, by beating the Wolves), and then lasted only eight days in the postseason from first tip. So much for the hopes of a long playoff run at worst, the franchise’s first championship at best.
It just wasn’t in the cards. Any cards. They could have had 10 decks and a not a single championship card among them.
Bradley Beal, on paper, could have been great in this context as a third option who could re-dedicate himself to high-efficiency shooting, supplemental creation and defense. Bradley Beal, in three dimensions, spent the season injured, surly and out-of-sync with the rest of the stars on the team.
