Phoenix Suns Stomped By Sacramento As Khaman Maluach Looks Like a Boy Among Men

Phoenix Suns Stomped By Sacramento As Khaman Maluach Looks Like a Boy Among Men

Today on Locked on Phoenix Suns, wampwamp, a loss to the Kings in Las Vegas in epic fashion. It’s not even over. We’re already hitting record. 24-point loss, but a lot to break down. Common Mawatch, Ryan Dunn, and more. The debut of Rashir Fleming. We’ll get to all of it. 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 in to 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 Ons your first listen here on this Tuesday. Don’t forget Locked on Suns free and available on all platforms including YouTube. Click that follow subscribe button. Do it. thousands of other Suns fans have already done. Become an everyday. Get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by the FanDuel sports book. Right now, new customers can get 150 bucks in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Breaking down game number three at the NBA Summer League, a loss for the Phoenix Suns and some Bradley Beal news. Joining me to do it as always from the wonderful West Valley, my fellow Suns Credential media member, how we feeling, Ben Garcia. I haven’t had a loss that is so bad that didn’t hurt at all. Now it’s summer league. Like, who cares? I thought you’re perfect and like not analogy, but saying wamp wamp was like the perfect way to put it. Not great. Not what I wanted to see. Man, that team Clifford Carter and company. I kind of was hoping to see a little bit of Maxine Reo. Um, damn, that team is swarming defensively. They were just pushing guys around. Uh, so not not the way you not the way you wanted to see it go. That’s for sure. Not at all. And I think the being pushed around. I I want to just say a little bit of vindication for uh for your boy here because I I mentioned liking Devin Carter and like, oh, I’d trade for him in the at the drop of a hat if I were the Suns, whatever. And somebody was like, what are you even talking about? This guy’s does what? Just just saying watch the game. He was pretty great. He he just had a big injury last year. He was a guy a lot of people like for the Suns before he ended up going all the way to 13 last year. So, a little bit of uh you know, payback I guess for or showing why he should have been there and the Suns were on the wrong side of that. But, but getting pushed around by him and everybody else. I think number one candidate for that was Common Mawatch. Um, yeah, just not a great runner up or, you know, second game up performance for him. Three of nine from the field, 0 of two from three, two of six from free throw, and I think three fouls, four or four fouls, three turnovers, I should say. Kind of those rookie stats, those young guy stats you try to keep an eye on with the with the rookies and everything. And and that is seven of those together for him. Not great, Ben. So, I just felt like, you know, Mason Jones ends up getting hurt on that drive to the basket by Ryan Dunn or Rashir Fleming, I should say, in the second half. But I thought that was a pretty tough matchup for Malawatch even in a way that Sar wasn’t just with Jones’s physicality. They were crowding him on his drives and his catches and rolls to the basket. And you know, not to get too far ahead. I I’ll let you answer on the offense, but I actually thought the defense might have been the worst the worst side of the ball for him tonight. Oh, well then we’ll disagree there. Nothing was good like really for Malawatch at all. It felt like his clock got sped up a lot offensively and the physicality really threw him off. That was that was a real wakeup call for me of, oh, this is why they got Mark Williams and Nick Richards because it’s going to take a little bit of time for this kid who was 18 years old who needs to seriously bulk up a little bit because he was thrown off his spots pretty quickly, especially down low. And when he was bringing the ball up, first off, he needs to keep that ball high, especially down low. It’s kind of wild to me that that is, but again, he’s only been playing for a couple years. That was I think the turnovers are probably the biggest problem with in his game point right now. Yeah. When he would bring it up, it’s like a common like this is a common thing in basketball is like if you if you are have a big man on you and they got the ball down here, you’re trying to swipe that ball down before he brings it up because then you’re cooked. Uh he needs to hold that ball way up higher in those instances. And he I the one instinctively I was thinking of is early in that game when he had it up here and as he’s bringing up someone swipes it down. They’re going the other direction. They’re scoring. That fast break stuff cannot happen. Um, offensively just felt like he just pushed around. You kind of mentioned it already. And it led me to believe, okay, pump the brakes a little bit. Nick Richards, Mark Williams, they’re going to handle most of the duties. Yes, Malawatch is going to play significant minutes, but he’s got to learn to a play with a little bit more physicality because the NBA is a lot tougher than it is in the summer league, and b he’s going to have to put on a little bit more mass. I’ll let you take over the defensive things. Well, I just think, you know, honestly, it’s I I don’t even This is going to sound more uh mean to Mark Williams because he didn’t even play tonight than I mean it to, but it honestly felt like that game that Mark Williams played against the Suns, not the one where he had like 30 points and 20 rebounds, but the other one this year where KD and the Suns were kind of toying with him and exposing him as a, you know, kind of just being out of position on the defensive end. There were a lot of moments like that in this game for common Malawatch where you know he’s helping. There was the one play where OSO ended up being the rim protector because Malawatch just got absolutely caught in no man’s land basically doubling a dude at the free throw line and Oso was split between a guy in the corner who was a spacer and then a dude cutting to the basket and that guy just ended up getting a complete wide open shot at the basket. There were a couple of those. There were times where he did not get matched up correctly coming down in the fast break and ended up, you know, I think uh Nick Clifford got him on a like a a a cheap jumper where he drew a foul just because Malawatch wasn’t even spo of course he’s not supposed to be guarding Nick Clifford in space, but it was just because they didn’t get matched up. um just a lot of those those mental I don’t even want to say errors or mistakes but where his inexperience and youth just kind of showed up. So yeah, you’re you’re right to say that maybe that’s a a a reason a support for why Nick Richards may end up on this roster come October. I still don’t love the idea of him being in the rotation. We’ve got a lot of time to sort that out. But yeah, he’s 18. Malawatch is 18. He’s only been playing basketball for a half decade or so, and there’s going to be nights where he looks raw like this even in summer league. Yeah. And defensively, um I think it was Devin Carter that was toying with him on the right like the the far three-point corner where he kind of toyed with him, put a ball behind his back, kind of put him in a spin cycle, and then drained a shot right over him. Those are the kind of things that if Malawatch is going to separate himself from the standard bigs that when they get switched onto a guard, the guard takes him to the cup fairly easily. I think Steve Nash used to do for a really long time. What’s going to separate him from being an elite level defender is can he get switched out on the perimeter and you’re not super worried about it? I thought he did a really good job of that in the first two games. I don’t even think I Is that really your expectation of him? You think he’s going to like what what like that? I I’m not sure if that’s going to be his role. That’s why I kind of am almost like how much how much do I really want to hit him on it? I think like to me I’m more just hitting him on hey don’t put yourself in a situation where you’re in that position, right? Like that’s where I feel like the mistakes come in. But I I don’t know. I mean Rudy Goar is not exactly defending Devin Carter out there either, right? Like that’s a tough ask for a 72 guy. No, but when it does happen, hold your own. No one is ever asking a center to be able to go out there and stick with guys on the perimeter all the time. The issue is like you had said, don’t put yourself in that position. Um the thing that I think was the huge problem defensively and I don’t want to harp on it again because you did was the the exact one you were talking about when OSO was crashing on someone else and so was come on Malawatch. I think it was like on the right elbow and they just dunked it right past him for an easy layup. I think it was Jones under the middle. Like that’s the stuff right there. know who he was guarding on that play. And his timing I’ve noticed is a just a hair off defensively um down low trying to get blocks like in the in college definitely tonight. Yeah, in college you get away with that a little bit more because again it’s college basketball. These maybe not as much of a quick release under the basket that some of these guys have or don’t need as much touch on it to score. He’s got to speed up that clock a little bit. I don’t think it’s something that’s going to hinder him and he’s never going to be able to figure it out. He just needs to understand, let’s wind up that bad boy a little bit sooner than just go ahead and and uh uh uh whack at it like I used to do in college. I just trust his size more too, right? I feel like there were some where it’s like get a hand up. like you you probably could have at least forced an adjustment by that that driving guard if you tried to, but he just you can tell like you’re saying he’s kind of a step behind the play and he doesn’t even react quickly enough to affect it even though he probably could. Ju and like just so we’re clear, we’re harping on Malawatch or at least I am and I wanted to tonight because he’s the 10th overall pick. Literally everyone tonight, maybe outside of Ryan Dunn was a step behind. Like if we did a segment on OSO, OSO was not good tonight. Step behind mental errors. Like we’re we’re harping on Malawatch because he’s the 10th overall pick and he was a big investment into that Kevin Durant trade for sure. It’s not anything that I see right away. I’m like, oh, alarms are going off. This is a like I know people were talking about Carter Bryant, how great he was the other night. He didn’t make a single basket. He had two points and it was two from the free throw line. So, we’re harping on Malawatch cuz he’s important. Special if I’ve ever heard of it. Some nice defensive highlights and no points. Yeah, exactly. So, like I don’t think it’s anything to condemn Malawatch. Let’s not go to the Suns Reddit boards and freak out. But we saw we saw an 18-year-old who hasn’t been playing basketball for his whole life. That’s what happened. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it’s it’s it’s negative, but it’s what this is for. like I don’t think it’s it’s affecting our long-term view of him necessarily, but Friday was a great example of a lot of the good things about him. Today was a little and and Sacramento like that team they mentioned on the broadcast like they’ve won the G-League title a couple years. Carter was a lottery pick last year. Plowen actually was part of that KD trade, the seven team trade and the Suns ended up cutting him as part of it, but he was on a two-way last year. Like these are and Clifford was a first round pick just a month ago. like these are good players and and they they just had the Suns number tonight. Um and just so we’re clear like because this happened tonight, I thought there was a chance that even if they lost cuz it’s the summer league, who cares? Even if a bunch of guys played well that maybe and they lose that maybe they don’t play on Wednesday. I I think it’s clear like let’s get another run at this. Throw Malawatch out there. You have the off day in between and then you got Wednesday. Let’s see him play. Let’s let him work out the kinks. Let’s see him go on a little bit of a higher note. So, there’s a chance I thought that you wouldn’t see them and you still might not on Wednesday, but let’s uh I would like to see him again one more time. Definitely doesn’t feel like Ryan Dunn’s going to play. Let’s hit on his performance and some of the other guys, mostly low lightss aside from Ryan next. 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Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com to get started. All right, Ben, let’s keep it rolling here. Ryan Dunn probably the sole bright spot in the 9476 loss as the buzzer sounded during our first segment there. Dunn had 18 points on six of eight shooting, six rebounds, and a nice efficient six of eight from the field. And this is a continuation of Friday, whereas Malawatch it was up and then down for done. I I would be surprised if he did play Wednesday. I think he has proven a lot of what he needed to prove. The Suns have now lost a couple of games, so they’re not exactly competing for the championship or anything like that in in Las Vegas. And man, I I just think the offensive development, it’s it’s crazy to think and watch what we’ve seen Dunn do as a rookie, Ben, and then even just in these couple of games showing off the improvements since the season ended. It’s crazy to think this is the same guy we were all watching skeptically these Virginia highlights and everything a couple years back around draft time. It feels like he has just taken off as an offensive product just since he got drafted. He’s gotten so much better and he showed it tonight. Yeah, it’s funny because you say like listen the president of the Ryan Dun fan club is is certainly over here in the West Valley. However, it’s so funny that you’ll say like he’s made these incremental steps to be this effective player with the Suns, right? But there’s still a lot to go. Although what I’ve seen from him in the summer league, I don’t think there’s drastic changes to his shot. It just feels a little bit more consistent. And it’s not just like the three-point shooting, right? He was two for three tonight. Uh four for four from the free throw line. I understand it’s four free throws, but that is something if I’m not mistaken, he shot like sub 40% from free throws this year. So, a guy that’s going to barely ever got to the line, which is another thing that he’s flashed where he can actually like dribble and drive and actually get those opportunities, which is nice to see. It’s exactly what I was going to point out is he has superb athleticism that I obviously knew of before, but something that hasn’t that he hasn’t really used too much to his advantage because I it feels like he’s too scared to go to the line because often times when you’re going to the cup, that’s when you’re going to get fouled. He needs to be able to be someone that gets to the cup along with Jaylen Green on this team. Those are two things that the Suns were missing last year. and then when he’s not converting at the hole, shoot the uh be able to go to the free throw line and knock down a couple of jumpers because when teams know if you have superb athleticism but you can’t hit a free throw, they’re just going to hack you on your way up. So, that is something as well for Ryan where that needs to make drastic improvements. It’s not just the three-point shooting, it’s his free throws tonight. And so, yes, only four free throws, but an inspiring spot. And then defensively, it was kind of nice to see him get the call to go guard Clifford in the second half. Kind of interesting that that’s a Listen, it’s probably the only adjustment Deamari Carroll made all night, but he did throw Nick Clifford on him and he helped slow him down pretty effectively at that point in the second half. So, uh, again, another bright spot for Dunn. Yeah, Don. He talked to Kellen Olsen who wrote about it at Arizona Sports and the way he described the the little tweaks he’s made to his jumper is he wants to shoot it with a little bit more power is how he described it. And I feel like that’s definitely what you see. And really like if you watch done at Virginia and even last year, the biggest problem is that it it wasn’t consistent. And so to me, it’s one of those things where even just putting in the work and being able to be a pro for a couple years and having the reps and the time to dedicate to it is going to go a long way exact tweaks he makes. It’s just to iron down what my jumper is because we know at Virginia the attempts were so low too that it was hard to glean much from his low percentage because it’s like well I mean he took like 30 or whatever it was, right? So I think that that’s going to be I think it was like 13 gradual 30. Yeah, I think it might have been 30 over the two years or whatever. Yeah, it was it was nothing. So it’s like it’s going to be gradual. And I think the the lower the base the feet I think is what he’s talking about with the power. And you can definitely see that it’s wider base, a little more rotation on the hips, you know, looking more like a guy who actually shoots rather than just somebody who’s chucking him up. And then on the the handle, he just said he wants to get it tighter. I think that the thing with the handle is he he I feel like he’s more comfortable getting down in a into kind of like that driving stance lower to the ground and keeping the dribble alive while doing that and he’s kind of able to get past his man and and kind of slither into the cracks of the defense a little bit better. But he wasn’t the only player we wanted to hit here. Ben Rashir Fleming debuted today. I think that’s the other guy we definitely have to Does he know he debuted? Does he know he debuted today? Yeah, it wasn’t pretty. Minus 12 in 14 minutes. Like I know summer league plus minus is a little goofy to sight here, but it it showed I think in this one where he did produce, you know, seven points, two rebounds, a steal and a block, but he just he kind of looked like a chicken with its head off out there at times. Just sort of not comfortable at all. It’s like everyone else knew the plays and knew the zones. I don’t even think they, you know, whatever. knew the zones, knew the man coverage that they wanted to go off of, and no one told Rasheir Fleming. He looked especially lost for that first quarter. But the positives that I will take from it is there were a couple of moments that I did that I did see him like grab a loose ball or that that three-point shot at the end of the first quarter looked really crisp. He blocked a shot barely, but he blocked a shot down low. You saw some of that athleticism. You saw him shooting the basketball. Um what was the most positive thing for Rashir Fleming that oh uh from Rashir Fleming though is damn that dude is big like that is a big player now and it like it would be really great if Rashier Fleming could find a way uh again one summer league game it doesn’t look great but again listen the dude was dealing with a knee injury again it’s we’re not burying him if he could take over that power forward spot with his size you’re talking about a lineup that you’re like okay Maybe you could send Brooks to the bench if Dunn is ready to be that third guy. But like as of right now, that four position is still a massive question for the Suns if Fleming isn’t ready to step up even in a backup role because you could put Dun there like, okay, who is it going to be? Oso? Okay, those are kind of two drastic players um especially offensively. So, uh Fleming didn’t look great tonight. You saw the athletic moments. again, another guy that I would like to see on Wednesday. Like, okay, you got your feet under you, you had your game, your preseason game. Let’s see how you look on Wednesday. What about you? Yeah, because you’re right. I mean, the injury, we we can’t overlook that. It’s not just that he hasn’t played in the games, but he probably hasn’t been practicing much since that first one where it was his birthday and everything and we got to hear some quotes from him, but I would doubt that they’ve been going crazy with him on practice days or shootarounds or anything either cuz one, it’s summer league and two he was hurt. So, you know, I I get all that, but yeah, it I I didn’t have high expectations for him because summer league isn’t really conducive to the type of player that he is, but this was definitely even worse than that. As far as the rotation, I kind of think Nigel Hayes might be the have the inside track at that some minutes at the four early on in the season because, you know, Fleming is pretty raw already. This this doesn’t make you feel great like he’s about to come in and steal minutes. So, it it might be Hayes. But either way, anyone else you wanted to hit? I’m going to be honest with you, I just kind of forgot Nigel Hayes Davis is on this team. Not to mention that that depth chart they showed on the broadcast, I don’t know if you saw that was absolutely hilarious. Had Ryan done as the third string two guard and then like the third string four, but not he wasn’t listed as a three. So it was he was a backup two guard and a backup four. Not not listed as a three and it had like also like O’Neal was like fourth on the power forwards below the rookies. It was insane. But anyway, yeah, it might be Hayes. I didn’t see that. Uh I just for keep on forgetting that Hayes is on the team again because the Suns I don’t I don’t even think have announced that signing yet. If they have I missed the announcement. Um he’s just I’m not worried about Rashir. I think the biggest thing is also like remember it like this. uh everyone on the court presumably has had either a full season to understand the NBA pace in the top 1% of the 1% or most players have had two games in summer league to like okay okay this is a little bit faster. Rashier is stepping into the third game where he hasn’t played yet and he hasn’t understand oh oh crap this is really fast. So what I would like to see from the third game to the fourth game is okay speed’s a little bit faster I’ll figure it out. I can’t be as laxed as maybe I was at St. Joseph. Like again, not condemning the kid, just give him a mulligan, a breakfast ball, if you will. Even Wanyama, Cooper Flag, everybody sucks in their first summer league game, so we’re not going to not going to drag him for it. But Breao, one of nine, OSO one of eight. Like you said in the first segment, it was just it was rough all around. And and I think that this this this game also really highlighted this team’s they don’t have it’s always like the one of the things I look at if the team doesn’t if the summer league team doesn’t have uh one of the premier rookies if that if that’s not a point guard I always want the team to make sure that they have a good point guard and the Suns you know Collins was on a two-way Boogie those guys played well in the first game but I think tonight you really kind of started to see like they’re not breaking down the defense and putting these young forwards and bigs in a good position to succeed. But we’ll see how many of these guys play Wednesday. We’ll obviously have training camp and everything else to continue to monitor the growth of all of this young core. Let’s get to somebody blocking that young core out as it stands right now. That’s Bradley Beiel. We got a little bit more insight and circled Tuesday when many of you will be listening to this as the date that this whole saga may finally come to an end. We’ll tell you why next. First, today’s show is brought to you by Hungry Root. Let’s be honest, meal planning and grocery shopping can be overwhelming. Between busy schedules, picky eaters around the house, and trying to eat healthy, it can be a lot. That’s why we love Hungry Route. Here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, they take the stress out of planning by filling your cart for you with personalized grocery and meal options based on what you like and need. Hungry Root uses their smart cart technology to recommend groceries, recipes, and even supplements tailed to your preferences. So whether you’re dairy free, gluten-free, focused on gut health, or just want to eat healthier meals, Hungry Roots got you covered. So take advantage of this exclusive offer. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box, plus a free item in every box for life at hungryroot.com/lockton NBA. Code lockdown NBA. Remember, based on your specifications, if you have an upset tummy, when you eat certain things, if you don’t like certain types of food, if you have nutrition goals you’re trying to reach, Hungry takes all of that into account, unlike some of their competitors. That’s hungry.com/lockedonba, code locked on NBA to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. All right, Ben, let’s close it out. Bradley Beal, we have been waiting and waiting and waiting talking about, “Hey, this is going to happen soon. This is going to happen soon.” It’s because they’re doing a LeBron trade because he’s going to be traded for LeBron straight up. Brendan, there you go. I wish you I I just Listen, these I’m not going to say that. Never mind. I was going to shade a few reporters, but I didn’t. And I’m just gonna I’m gonna keep it keep it there. Anyways, move on. Move on. Bron saga. I don’t I don’t think there’s no smoke there, but I I don’t Okay. Can you say no smoke to Phoenix? Yes. No smoke to Phoenix. That’s where I was going to go next. I think that that’s why we have not talked about it on the show. I think I have dedicated one segment to it in each of the past like three summers because it keeps coming up and I go, nah, here’s why it doesn’t make sense. In this case, the dude wants to win. I don’t see why playing with Jaylen Green as your third best player is better than Luca and Reeves and their, you know, role player group that just made the playoffs. So, that’s all that I have to say on that. But be Ben is apparently according to Mark Stein owed a 25% advance payment because Mark Bartlesteinstein absolutely fleeced the Washington Wizards. He beal gets 25% of his 202526 salary on July 15th which is about 13 plus million dollars. All right. So it seems like according to Mark Stein there that once this didn’t get wrapped up as quickly as it could have been that the Suns basic or that Beal I should say basically said hey I don’t want anything to be jeopardized as far as whatever this buyout’s going to look like or any of that stuff nullifying my contract and maybe spacing out my payments. This was negotiated in and let’s just wait till the 15th comes and goes. So, Tuesday, Wednesday, th like the end of this week, it feels like we may finally get to say goodbye to the be era in Phoenix. Yeah. Well, it feels like we already have said goodbye to Phoenix. True. All the contract for all. Exactly. We You and I can open up the door and you can kick him in the ass on the way out. Um the thing like whatever, man. all the contract mumbo jumbo. Like, good for Mark Stein, I guess, for looking up the contract. I’m sure that’s not what happened, but whatever. I’ll give him the kudos. I I what I’m confused is is I’ve heard, again, I’m not a reporter. I just threw the grapevine and then Gambo tweeted out that it was 24 to 48 hours away like a week and a half ago. Did everyone just forget that this contract thing was there? Like it feels like nobody knew cuz it wasn’t just Gambo like Zack Loe’s been saying it Bill Simmons said Brian Winhor on TV everybody’s been saying it. I think once it wasn’t 48 hours then reporters started to say what the hell’s going on and I guess Mark Stein figured it out. Sure. I I just Okay. I it’s almost like you you I feel like you could rewrite that quickly in a contract re and just give him his his money then and then cut him off then like fine. Yeah, that that’s true. Like part of me that I wonder is like couldn’t you have just done this as part of the buyout too and and given him, you know, like did you really have to actually wait the calendar day by day or could you just have negotiated it? I don’t know. Well, okay, regardless, right, it all comes down to who cares? Beal’s going to be gone. Gambo has tweeted out that it’s going to be some sort of a point guardcombo guard. Do we have any idea on who that might be at this point, Brendan? Because that’s what I was going to Yeah, that that’s what I was going to ask is well, one, let’s let’s just close the book the the Beal book before we move to what the Suns will do after. Where do you think he goes just for the sake of conversation? Forget Well, I think it’s Clippers. Um, yeah, seems I think it’s that one makes the most sense. And I I saw someone mention this and it made a lot of sense of if you can kind of recreate Norman Pal moneyball style in the aggregate and bring CP and Bradley Beal, like you kind of get 85% of the player that Norman Pal is and you don’t have to extend him. So, that one makes sense. The Bucks make sense because they’re desperate and Beal could step into that second role, I guess. Like whatever. Like what doesn’t make sense to me is why people are like fonding over Beal even as a $5 million player, man. Like forget about all the stuff. Like let’s say let’s say all these things. Uh fine defender. Like we’ll just give him the benefit of the doubt. Good shooter, good ball player, gets to the rim, used to uh he never plays. He never plays. He is not someone that you can count on to be there for even 60 games a year it feels like. So I I just I I I I don’t get the fonding over. But if I had to pick, I’d say Clippers and then Milwaukee because part of it is like clearly he’s trying to do this for his family, too. There’s there’s no way they up and move him to freaking Charlotte. like it’s going to be one of the destinations of like Miami, LA, and then Milwaukee just because they might sell them on a chance to actually win, but you could do that in LA. What about you? Yeah, so the Clippers, I agree. I mean, you know, as far as we knew before, and of course that’s partially just the negotiating of having the no trade clause, he wanted he preferred warmer weather. So like Milwaukee, I agree that they’re desperate. it would kind of be annoying if he went there to me personally because it’s like hold on dude you you just making that up like whatever. Um but as far as the Clippers go, I think this is one thing that does kind of circle back to the Suns because their books are basically set up. There’s been a lot of conversation about this with the James Harden, you know, renegotiation and everything. They have it’s basically the only players under contract past 2027 for them are Zubots and like you know they’re they’re rookies. their guys on rookie deals. And so I wonder if if it’s Beal, if they sign Beal, would they give him two years on the mid level? And could that facilitate him potentially giving more back than just the 13.9 million that we keep hearing when it comes to the Sun’s relief on that stretch. We’ll see. I don’t want to get into the weeds of oh what exact number but that could be nice for them because if he’s getting 2 years and you know 30 million or so on that mid level maybe he gives back close to 30 and that would go a long way for the Suns to not be hit so hard with that stretch but as you were alluding to we know that the Suns are going to look at a guard I mean it it still seems like they’re not really interested in Chris Paul all that much the Suns as a team even if he might actually be interested in that or maybe Book would like it, Ben. But Brogden is still out there. I like that idea. Still kind of feels like it’s one of those two guys and that might be it. Like I don’t exactly see a lot of available people who check that box at this point. I mean Russell Westbrook of course would have to be brought up. I guess Payne, Dylon Wright, you could bring Monte Morris back. Not sure if any of those last three names I said are really going to be would really be playing for this team. So, I guess the only guy we haven’t talked about is Russ. Do you have thoughts? We haven’t really gone there, but he’s on the he’s on the market still. No, I’m good. Like, do I have to discuss why I don’t want Russell Westbrook here? Uh I like Russell Westbrook, just so we’re clear, is like one of my favorite basketball players of all time simply because he tries really really hard, but at this stage in his career, he’s a minus defender. He doesn’t know when to stop shooting. And like honestly, sometimes his his hot streaks is like the death of him because he doesn’t know when to stop shooting. So, like I I I feel like I don’t need to get super into that, but like for the obvious some locker room stuff at a at multiple stops now, you know, like you you could take his side or KDs or whatever like a decade ago when all that was playing out, but at this point, Michael Malone’s stuff was was well documented. He seemed to leave the Clippers on or on the Lakers, I should say, on pretty poor terms. I just don’t really want to deal with that if I’m the Suns for a guy who what’s even the real value he’s bringing a backup guard and you’re not trying to win a title. So what how how much do you really need that guy to be a differencemaker anyway? So yeah, it kind of just comes back to Brogden for me if I’m being honest. Well, I don’t know if you saw this because it was it was in replies but Gambo did shoot down Brockton. I saw that. But it’s like then who are you talking about, bro? I think it’s just I think it’s just like a I know it’s I I don’t have a name on me, but I think it’s a Monte Morris level guy where they’re just coming in. They’re willing to play the third string position. It seems like they’re really okay with having Colin Gillespie being the backup guy. And I’m not saying that’s the wrong thing. Um I just The problem with that for me is like the backup to a guy who’s not actually a point guard, which is either Book or Green, however you want to slice it. So it, you know, it whoever it is, that guy will become the second point guard on this team if we’re just being straight up about it. And I kind of want a dude who can actually play a little bit because of how thin that position is. What if what if it just really doesn’t go well putting more ball handling and playmaking on Jaylen Green? What if we realize, hey, Book’s not that’s not where he’s bet. Like I I want the options there. So, but Morris, I mean, you know, I liked him during last season. He’s only 30. he could play m maybe it’s him and I’m just I’m thinking about it because we didn’t talk about this before show so I don’t mean to have empty space but I think Morris makes the most sense that type of player because we know Beiel’s not getting traded like obviously I don’t see the reasoning to add a significant player to this roster even if it means like you’re getting rid of Grayson and a pick I think the roster’s set I think this is the Suns are going to add a marginal player for injury reasons or to be a third string guy that isn’t going to ruffle like the depth chart of the locker room. I think that what we’re seeing is mostly set, which is a little disappointing. I thought the Suns might have something up their sleeve, but I think it’s pretty clear it’s when Beal’s gone, which it also makes it that much more frustrating, but whatever. Like I don’t I still don’t understand just getting rid of Beal because why don’t you just make him your third shrink point guard and then next year when he’s expiring figure it out like you wanted a combo guard he’s that guy just sit him on the bench he’s going to make just as much money so what does it matter so I I don’t get it I’m kind of complet like I’m kind of coming at myself from both sides it just doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Yeah, it’s it’s hard to see exactly what the point of all this is still, but I mean I think at this point Yeah. Well, I think we know it didn’t go well last year. Maybe they have some cap space dreams next summer. We’ve kind of talked through all of that, but I mean there’s a world where Beal goes to the Clippers. Chris Paul also goes to the Clippers. Maybe Brogden goes to the Bucks where he started his career. And then Suns might not even get to pick who they want. they might just be, you know, Monte Morris at the minimum or something, but uh obviously that’s kind of the last domino to fall around the whole NBA free agencywise and Beal is holding the cards as he told us all the way back last year. That’ll wrap us up. Hit follow, hit subscribe if you haven’t already. We’ve got one more summer league game coming Wednesday and the conclusion of the saga we were just discussing, plus more. Enjoy your Tuesday. We’ll catch you tomorrow.

The Phoenix Suns suffered their worst loss of NBA Summer League as Khaman Maluach came back down to Earth against the Sacramento Kings.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia break down the L, including Ryan Dunn flashing improvements once again and Rasheer Fleming looking lost in his debut. Then, the latest on Bradley Beal as his payday hits on Tuesday.

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