The Suns dropped five games below .500 with a loss to the Pelicans on Thursday. Devin Booker expressed his frustration after Phoenix lost for the 10th time in 12 games.
“Skipping over the details and always taking the ‘get ’em next game’ mentality,” Booker said, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “At some point, you got to draw a line and should’ve been drawn a long time ago.”
Kevin Durant was also exasperated but chose his words carefully.
“I don’t want to say the wrong thing and people take it out of context. So I’m just going to agree that we got to be better,” he said.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Stephen Curry had a magical night against the Magic on Thursday, pouring in 56 points, including a dozen 3-pointers. Curry reached the 50-point mark for the 14th time in his career. Warriors coach Steve Kerr feels Curry has been energized by the Jimmy Butler trade, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “He’s the one that keeps using the term ‘meaningful basketball,’” Kerr said. “Which I love. It’s so eloquent and humble. Steph just wants to play meaningful basketball. You can see we’re now in the fight, in the mix. This is what Steph loves. As great a player and shooter as he is, his competitiveness is probably his most underrated quality. He was dying to be back in the mix. Now we’re back in the mix. He’s energized by that.”
- Jonathan Kuminga has gone through three scrimmages, including one full-court scrimmage, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. However, Kuminga’s return isn’t imminent, according to Kerr, as the Warriors are playing it cautious with their young forward. Kuminga hasn’t played since Jan. 4 due to an ankle injury.
- The Clippers are suffering from chemistry issues due to a number of factors, Janis Carr of the Orange County Register writes. They were in a good flow earlier in the season but roster moves and injuries have disrupted the rotation. They are 4-6 this month, with a pair of three-game losing streaks.
The Suns are the biggest disappointment in the NBA. they have very little bench and way over the cap space. they will need to do some drastic trades this offseason. Will the new owner let them is the question.
I disagree mainly because the 76ers exist. But as a Suns fan I don’t understand why we had any expectations with how poorly the team was built. Excited about the future of Dunn and Richards tho
76ers has a great 1st year player to build around and more draft picks. Suns lack of future draft picks is why they are worse. I just wonder how patient Booker will be on a rebuild. If he is available in a trade they can bring back a huge load.
Reading the comment above, I’d say he’s pretty done in phoenix as a whole.
I agree the 76ers have a better outlook or I more so just meant that they are a bigger disappointment due to how bad they have been all year after adding PG and all those veteran role players. I think that Booker will be patient because ownership and management has shown a desire to take swings (albeit ill advised ones in hindsight) which usually gives stars faith in their organization.
Personally, and to a much smaller degree, I feel the KD trade is almost as bad as the clippers Paul George trade. Sure we didn’t give up an SGA but Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are extremely valuable role players and at this rate some of those draft picks are likely to be very high and might end up being a superstar.
Be honest. I compare McCain to rookie Bones Hyland
While Hyland has good instincts and can force steals, he’s generally considered a below-average defender.
He’s not an active help defender, and typically grades out as a negative defensive player.
NightSiggy , the Suns are way more disappointing than the 76ers because they mortgaged their future for this season.
Everybody expects the Suns to be worse in the future because they have the worst draft capital.
This disappointment will last year’s.
Will the CBA or other teams let them, is the question
Hate to say it cuz their fans won’t like it but Suns have to deal Booker. He always looks like he’s going through the motions to me. I imagine he’s got solid value still.
Frank Vogel has failed again and still has a job, and will probably get another one. Meanwhile, Mark Jackson can be heard as part of the broadcast team with the Philadelphia 76ers. The NBA is a goofy place.
My bad …. Forgot they already got Frank.
Ok I am going there. 1 2 …
Durant goes back to the Nets.
Jimmy-KD 1-1 trade is 100% happening. Why would KD go to a worse franchise who is further away from winning?
The only way KD is going to GS is if PHX trades Booker to Houston instead to KD. Houston owns PHX draft picks and they have the assets to make it work. Book is their first choice.
Booker to HOU makes sense.
Davey , 2 weeks ago I’d like your idea of KD over Jimmy.
But I now see that Jimmy has the rare quality of making everyone better, but especially the younger players. Look how relaxed Moody and Podz look. Post also. And I’m counting on him elevating Kuminga in the same way.
KD is also a true team player, but Butler brings something different. Do you agree?
it’s possible
I’ll be interested in what the market for KD in the offseason is. He’s still a knockdown efficient scorer despite having declined as he’s aged, so there should be some interest from certain teams. But I think it’s not going to be a bunch of young players and/or 1st rd picks.
As far as Steph’s carrying GSW last night with 56 pts on 92.5% TS including 12-19 threes, that was an amazing comeback (against a motivated Magic team in danger of dropping to 9th place in the east) with Butler playing like crap.
And with the Twolves loss in LA they’re now in 7th, one half game behind the 6th place Clippers.
With the NBA’s often weird scheduling, the Clippers play their next 2 games tonight and Sunday @ the Lakers, so with a split of those 2 games combined with a GSW win in Philly they would be in 6th by Sunday night.
I love how shook all the Warriors-haters are around here now. Lots of lashing out by the lifetime-loser crowd, Knicks fans and the like…
Be afraid, be very afraid…you are all about to be very, very sad…
I feel like KD gets with a team now, gets over it really quick, and spends a lot of mental energy trying to find greener grass. I don’t know what to think of him anymore other than that he’s one of the most skilled players of all-time.