Phoenix Suns Calling On Jonathan Kuminga?! Plus a Close Call With Joe Dumars

Phoenix Suns Calling On Jonathan Kuminga?! Plus a Close Call With Joe Dumars

Today on Locked on Phoenix Suns, Jonathan Kaminga. Was that what all this was about? The Suns reportedly in on the Warriors restricted free agent. Could it actually happen? 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 Off Announcing and a credentialed Suns Media member. Thank you for making Locked Ons your first listen to close out your week. Don’t forget Lockdown Suns free and available on all platforms including YouTube. Click that follow subscribe button. Do what thousands of other Suns fans have already done. Become an Everydayer. Get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Today’s episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. We’ve got some front office news in retrospect reactions to a farewell post from one Bradley Beal. But first, the Kaminga news that came out of nowhere. Joining me for all of it as always from the Wild West Valley, my fellow Suns Credential media member, how we feeling, Ben Garcia? Um, we got some I’m good, man. We’ve got some good news with or some, you know, bigger news with the Kaminga stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Is that Kaminga stuff coming out? But golly, what what a day, man. We got insiders fighting. We got KD fighting with people. KD stands are still at war with the Sun stands. Like, what a day. Fighting with Rockets fans now. They’ve just they’ve just started drinking the Kool-Aid before they’ve even seen the man suit up in a jersey. It’s crazy. When I when I saw you getting in on the action, I thought what you said was pretty tame and pretty fair. And uh when I saw you get in on it, I was like, “Okay, it’s for real.” Because you’re not really looking for a fight. I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I’m looking for a fight. So yeah, Eddie Johnson called me a water boy, even though I’ve talked to him probably like a hundred times over the past eight years. That was yesterday. Uh so it’s been uh it’s been goofy. people. I I just want everybody to answer the question if if you find yourself defending the stars, including Devin Booker, who led to the failures of the past two seasons. If it’s if you keep defending everybody, I just need to the answer to the question of whose fault it was. Mhm. That’s what I’d like to hear from these people. But we’ll get to a little bit of that at the end of the show. We’ve got to more pressing matters. I think that Jake Fischer over at the Steinline newsletter reported today on Thursday morning that Phoenix is the latest team to express exploratory interest in a Kaminga signing trade, challenging as it would be for the Suns to make such a deal happen. Fresh off of completing a buyout of Bradley Beiel this week, enabling the Suns to wave and stretch the heft hefty contract possessed by the three-time NBA All-Star guard, they have contacted both Kaminga’s representation and the Warriors to make their fondness for the bouncy swing man known. Uh, love the flowery writing as always from those two over there at the Stein line. Um, this is exactly the type of move, Ben, that you you primarily and both of us have been trying to kind of sniff out here as the Bradley Beal wave and stretch became closer to the finish line and ultimately got done yesterday. I I don’t know if that means this I it obviously isn’t done. So, it’s not like the the bee thing was solely for in order to get Kaminga, but it at least feels a little closer to the type of thing that we thought that they might try to do once they got the flexibility by cutting Beal. Yeah, man. When I saw this, my ears perked up a little bit because I was like, “Oh, Jonathan Kaminga, that’s some untapped potential there.” And still, you know, he did average 15 points a game. He didn’t shoot the ball super efficiently, especially from three-point land. uh has some, you know, struggles shooting the ball as a whole. I was like, you know, this is some of the young youth movement that the Suns could use. A 22-year-old who also, similarly to Jaylen Green, was in that like G-League ignite thing. He didn’t go to college. So, I I like all of that. I just I don’t know. I would say with the Sun’s reclamation project right now with Jaylen Green where you and I would both agree he’s got to fix up some things and a lot of this season rides on Jaylen Green’s shoulder. I don’t know if I want to add yet another project to that. I get what the Suns are doing. Athletic wing doesn’t I know he’s listed as a power forward, but he’s probably going to play more small forward than power forward. I liked the idea and then I thought about it and I was like, you know what, I’ve already got one project on my hands. I don’t know if I want another one. I just am curious what the Suns see in it because he doesn’t necessarily add something more to what you already have on this team. The Suns Oh, I think he definitely does. What would he add? Yeah, scoring. What you just said, scoring. How does he not add scoring? That’s like what Jonathan could That’s like the only thing he can do right now is score the ball. You just said it. 15. Yeah, but not 15 points per game, but he what he only score he only played 24 minutes. So if you go like per 36 minutes, it’s up to 23 points. Like that’s exactly what he adds. That is a good point. He did if he didn’t play a ton of minutes a night. But here’s the other thing that I would say. He didn’t shoot the ball super effectively either. He shot the ball 30% from three, 45% overall. That’s not necessarily awful. Didn’t shoot the ball very well from the free throw line. Five free throws a night, 66%. I’m looking for a little bit more of efficient scoring. Uh but also with with uh Jonathan Kaminga. I know some people have a weird like personal gripe with Steve Kerr after the Olympics because it’s hard to balance that many stars at one time and he took a lot of arrows for that. If Steve Kerr doesn’t trust you, why should I? Like if someone of the nature of Steve Cruz is a very trust him because the Warriors play a brand of basketball that is it’s it’s the only team like itself. No, no one that there’s plenty of players who have come and gone through the Warriors or who the Warriors could have pursued who didn’t fit there for one reason or another. That hap that’s happened with tons of players. That’s kind of the whole conversation with Kaminga. That’s why they they aren’t in a rush to they didn’t give him an extension. Now the restricted free agency is lingering. It’s kind of normal for it to last with restricted guys, but you know that’s and that’s why he he basically got DNPs almost the entirety of the postseason if people remember during this most recent playoff run that they had. He I he only played in eight total games but on occasion was just not even not even in the mix. Um like to me that’s that’s the whole thing is he doesn’t fit how Steve Kerr wants people to play. It’s kind of I mean you mentioned the Olympics. The better example that I could think of is the World Cup before that that Kerr coached in his first, you know, leadup to being the Olympic coach where Brandon Ingram just got benched basically if people remember because Ingram doesn’t play Steve Kerbal. He doesn’t play beautiful game motion offense, you know, read and react, moving off ball basketball. He he Ingram plays ISO basketball and and everything. And Kaminga is more of a he’s like the ex like the X-Men villain juggernaut. Like he’s just going to sprint. He’s just going to sprint straight at your face. And that’s kind of the deal with him. But like I I you So you the question of like another project I think is actually a decent way to look at this. That’s the way I do look at it by the way. That’s my What are the suns supposed to do besides try tribe projects out? That’s what they did with Mark Williams. That’s what they’re doing with Jaylen Green. That’s frankly what they’re doing with Ryan Dunn and Rasheir Fleming. And to a degree like Colin Gillespie, the whole off season has been projects, has been wild cards because they have no picks, no money, and they got to reset the team. So, the whole the whole thing right now is about let’s let’s take a shot on guys we believe in that can improve and fit with the new type of way we want to play basketball and let’s see how many of them we can hit on. So, as long as long as it’s not, you know, a max contract and all this stuff to give up to go get him, I’m totally fine with the idea in general of a project cuz what else are the Suns going to do? They’re not exactly going to go get, you know, Cooper Flag, like you know, they they got to go this route. What would you be comfortable with giving up for Jonathan Kaminga? because it’s going to be obviously it’s going to be a signin trade and I know you’re not a capologist but maybe you say well it has to be technically well close to it in terms of what Grayson Allen and whoever they’re going to package with him makes. What would you be comfortable with giving up to Jonathan Kaminga and then also trading to the Warriors to make this work? So yeah, that that is I mean we could just talk about what the Suns basically would be looking at on the trade side because I think it’s going to be more about what they’re even able to give at this point. So you know it’s Grayson Allen, it’s Royce O’Neal that that’s basically You think it’s both? I mean it kind of has to be like it just depends how much money is gonna get. I just have a hard time imagining he gets, you know, like if it’s Grayson and Nick Richards that gets you to just shy of $22 million. I don’t think Jonathan Kaminga is making less than $22 million. That would be So, is he going to be a $30 million guy like Josh Giddy is trying to get? Would you be comfortable with that? Maybe 25 to30 as a starting salary. million dollars. Like that that’s probably where I see it banking. Like I mean Jaylen Green got 33. Yeah. And obviously his production has been better, but he also did that before he ever made the playoffs because he got it last summer. So if Jaylen Green gets 33 as kind of obviously a higher pick and some of those things, but you know, Kaminga is at least going to get close to that. I would assume. Well, I would assume he’s going to get 30 as well. Man, dude, it just feels a little rich for a question mark because you mentioned with Jaylen Green, you kind of had to take him back in terms of a Kevin Durant deal. I’m not really sure the risk you’re talking about in Mark Williams play. I get the injury history and like the but like I don’t mean a risk like a risk like it’s it’s some kind of tra travesty. I’m saying a risk. You called it a project. How is Mark Williams not also a project? We have no idea what he is as an NBA player. It’s not like they went and acquired a surefire starter. They got Jared Allen from Cleveland or something. Mark Williams is an is an unknown commodity just like Jonathan Kaminga is. And you’re going to have to pay Mark Williams the same exact way you’re about to have to pay Jonathan Kaminga next summer. Yeah, I would I mean I would just I think we know a little bit more about Mark Williams in terms of he’s starting. He’s probably going to get you a double double a night. How’s that? They’ve Kamika’s played four seasons. Mark Williams has only played three and Kaminga has played like 70 games a year. Well, to be fair, two teams have traded for for Mark Williams and both were pretty uh not clear but similar to what they gave up. So, we have an idea of what his value is and as well as statistically he is a double double guy. I don’t know if he’s much more than that. Kaminga has played 258 basketball games in his NBA career. Mark Williams has played 106. Just just so we’re Yeah. Yeah, and I I agree the the injury stuff I do see the risk. The actual play of the player I think is a little bit different. You know, we don’t know what the play of Mark Williams is because he doesn’t play basketball games. Jonathan Kaminga, we know what he is cuz he’s played four full NBA seasons and he’s been pretty darn good. Counterpoint. Let’s keep debating this. Counterpoint. Well, I don’t know if he’s been pretty damn good because I don’t know if you can just scoot under the fact that one, they didn’t trust him in terms of any playoff in any playoff games until Steph Curry got hurt and they literally need someone to score the basketball. I don’t know, man. It feels like it’s a little is this the is this going to replace what you and I have talked about next year about potentially trying to lure someone else a little bit better here? Because if that’s the case, that that’s the how I’m weighing it, too. I’m not just weighing it like you’re bringing Jonathan Kaminga here. I’m like, okay, this kind of takes you out of the running next year of potentially bringing someone else into the fold. I know Jonathan Kaminga wouldn’t be on a god-awful contract. It’s definitely tradable, but I also wonder where is he going to play. So, here’s what I think would would have to happen. I Yeah, that that would be a conversation for a time once we kind of know what everything would look like. But my my thing is the Suns are currently $3.3 million under the tax. If they can do this deal in a way that allows them to continue to be under the tax, I I have really like not a lot of reservations because they can’t trade much anyway. Like, you know, in terms of picks, we all know it’s very limited and we just went over what the salaries would be. You’re talking about guys who already don’t really have like a great spot on this roster as it stands now. So, if it’s that type of a trade and they don’t go back into the tax and the the salary is at least relatively reasonable, I’m not I I would be for it to be honest with you. If the Suns don’t go back in I’m just I’m working as if they’re going to go back in the tax. Now, how much so it’s not as punitive in the first apron as it is in the second apron. However, if the Suns go back in the tax, I’m a little bit more hesitant, but I am I am listening to the offer. If they’re not and you’re just giving up Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal and you know, God for God no picks. Yeah, what what the hell do I care? Like, yeah, bring Jonathan Kaminga here because then the risk is worth the reward if he blows up into this great player. You got him for nothing. But what I can’t do is I can’t keep taking risks that could potentially sink the shift like we’ve already done with other players. So, that’s where I would go. So, we found some common ground there. All right, we’ll see how that continues to play out. Another news item from the week that we’re a little late to, but there was some be news of course that superseded it is that Joe Dumars, who recently was hired by the Pelicans and then mocked completely for the draft night trade that he made, turned down a Sun’s offer to be a senior vice president of basketball operations. What does that tell us about the early stage of this Sun’s off season in hindsight? Next. First, today’s show brought to you by Game Time. We’ve all been there. Logging on early, waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale, only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. And that’s where Game Time comes in. Game Time makes getting concert tickets faster and easier than ever. Prices drop as it gets closer to Showtime, and you can save up to 60% with their killer last minute deals. The thing I love about game game time is that they really are trying to make it like look, yeah, they’re trying to get you to buy stuff, but they’re making it enticing on purpose for you. They’re they’re lowering the price. They’re showing you all of the costs right up front so you’re not worrying and wondering and stressed. And they give you all the info, the seat view, the um, you know, value you’re getting, all of it right there in the app. So, take the guesswork out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code Loca for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, Ben, let’s keep it rolling here. We’ve got some news courtesy of Mark Spears over at Anscape and ESPN where he wrote about Dumar’s return. Joe Dumar’s return to the NBA, which came this summer after leaving Detroit behind for a long time, uh, after being there for a long time, worked at the NBA league office, coincidentally was just replaced by James Jones in a move we didn’t really talk about because he’s already been replaced in the valley, and now is back with New Orleans running their front office. Um, in this article, Spears reported that quote, “In recent months, Dumar’s declined the vice president of basketball operations job with the Kings and Phoenix Suns,” a source told Anscape. Returning to New Orleans and Louisiana, which is where he spent some time growing up and I believe went to college, Ben uh was quote, “Too much for Dumar’s to pass on.” This really shocked me because, you know, you and I were screaming o over here for the duration of that very strange front office executive search at the beginning of this whole off season about why there was no search. Apparently, Dumar was part of it and we just never heard about it. What did you think when you saw that? Um it well the first thought was okay so we’re just keeping the Michigan connection alive in terms of this guy didn’t really have a ton of experience. He was the chief strategy officer over with the Kings and then he went to the NBA league office. I just don’t understand why we’re not going after people who at least have a little bit more experience in these roles. Like well let’s back up. He ran the Pistons that became the finals team in 2004. He’s won executive of the year. It was just a long time ago. He was an he was a highly respected executive back then with the two phones meme that people remember with with Dumar and some of that stuff. It just he completely fell off and then hasn’t done it in a while. That’s my point. And I’m completely leaving off the the Detroit Pistons stuff as well because that was what we’re in 20 that was that was over 10 years ago where he finished up with the the Pistons and then five years later he went to the Kings and then he was with the NBA league office. It just doesn’t really make a ton of sense to me and it also again just feels like Matt Ishbia hiring his guys or people that he feels are close to the organization man. Like I would ask you didn’t I mean also you also just went down this route already with James Jones. Why would you run it back? I’d be curious your reaction to seeing Joe Dumar because I know you feel some type of way about him controlling really any team’s offices right now. Well, I just think like you just saw it with the way that he made the trade with the the Queen thing, the the Derrick Queen trade, which he gave up an unprotected uh 2026 pick, which is technically a swap between them and Milwaukee, but you know, both of those teams could be bad, and most likely their half of that is going to be good because they’re they’re in no man’s land as a team. So you trade that pick to get a a rookie who’s really rough. Even most people would agree who like him in queen. It just is exactly the type of strange move that you would be worried about for a guy who’s hasn’t been in in place in a long time here, right? Like that’s that’s ex like case in point almost like this is the guy who drafted Darko and you know like you could make fun of a bunch of different things but he obviously toward the tail end just ran those those teams into the middle in Detroit where it was like you know the the Andre Drummond tenure and let’s take a shot on these kind of late lottery picks and not really ever having a superstar and kind of short-sighted moves and everything else and it feels like he’s back right back to that. So that that’s the thing. And to be honest with you, like I might just take Brian Gregory over that. At least it’s like Oh, for sure. At least it’s somebody who who does have a relationship with Ishbia more than just, hey, we’re from the same region. And then also, yeah, at least it’s like something a little younger and newer, which is crazy to say about Brian Gregory, but it’s true. Yeah, I would agree with you in terms of which one I would rather do, but like I don’t want to like I don’t want to when when when Joe Dumar’s left the NBA office, it was seen as I think a to a lot of people, especially in the NBA league office, of like, oh, the Pelicans got a good one because of all of his time spent in the NBA league office. And then he immediately makes a boneheaded move that was mocked. It was almost like when the trade was through, everyone was kind of like, wait, is that an error? like we’re waiting for the protections to come in on this pick. That was atrocious, man. And again, you go back to those Pistons years with Brandon Knight and and Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson where years ago they again stuck in no man’s land. The the the Kings, he was with them right before they went up to uh you know the Light the Beam stage and right before that they were back in no man’s land. Uh I would have been a hard pass on this one. I’d be curious to know now how many people they did interview and who were the ones that actually got interviews for this job because if Brian Gregory ultimately was the guy it’s like God how bad were the other ones cuz Joe Dumar’s that’s tough man that’s I’m just surprised he was even offered it that’s just wild so that like let’s I guess just clarify too as we wrap up here because so declined means it was offered like that that’s the part that’s interesting All right. It wasn’t just so you could say, well, they kind of maybe they just brought him in because he’s a respected guy and, you know, they wanted a a stronger voice in the room and sometimes teams just interview people to bounce the state of their franchise off of them and hear what that person would do, even if they don’t necessarily intend to hire that person. But that clearly isn’t what happened here. At the same time, the specific wording in this piece is vice president of basketball operations. So, that sounds to me like, hey, we’re gonna go with Brian Gregory, period. Would you want to be his right-hand man? You know, and that would, you know, okay, it’s nice the hometown return thing with with Louisiana. He grew up in um around Treport and then went to McNe State as I’m looking at this article. That’s a cool story. But if that was the only place where he was actually offered the lead executive role in with the Pelicans, that’s probably why he took that job. So, part of me wonders if it isn’t just that he was offered a lower position with the Suns and that’s why he turned it down and maybe he was never going to be the top dog here. And I guess I wouldn’t have hated that if he’s not the final say. I mean, either way, I think we know the final say is going to be Matt Ishpia, but it’s still just a strange reach for me. Like, Stan Van Gundy worked for the Pistons. Call him up. I I feel better about that. or probably could name, you know, five other guys if you gave me 20 minutes to go back through their history if we’re just picking Pistons at that point. It It’s just a weird one given that he’s kind of been off the map for a while and he hasn’t made a move that was really really good or smarter turned the tide of a franchise in a decade plus. It’s a weird It’s a weird weird little nugget there. I was letting you take us into the next segment, but I agree with you, man. I think it’s it’s wild. I I think it’s also kind of crazy that like shows the Pelicans over the Suns. Okay. I I mean I I at least I I like I know people perceive Matt Ishp as like a bad owner, but like at least he spends money. I don’t see the Pelicans opening up the checkbook, but there’s that as well. Well, again, if it’s the control to be the top guy versus maybe a lower job, that that could have been what it was. Let’s get to an Instagram post by Bradley Beiel that set Suns fans on fire on Thursday. Next, first today’s show is brought to you by Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you know every mis call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need, maybe for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person didn’t answer, did you wait? Probably not. You moved on. And that’s why if you’re a business owner, you need open phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or computer. Told you I’ve been dealing with paying a moveout bill from the property management company that was trying to nickel and dime us. Couldn’t even get a hold of anybody to ask a question or figure out where I needed to go to pay. And literally if they had too many calls already on the line or if they were not open, I got a busy signal as if it was 1971 or something because they didn’t have any of this set up. But you should, you know, the value if you’re a business owner. Get it figured out. Open Phone offering our listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/lockonba. That’s oph.com/lockdonba. And if you have existing numbers with a different service, Open Phone will port them over at no extra charge. Open Phone, no missed calls, no missed customers. All right, Ben, let’s close it out. So, uh, I got to admit, when I first saw this Bradley Beal post, I didn’t really look at it too carefully. I didn’t really notice it in any kind of way. Then you take a closer look and it’s his kind of farewell post after the buyout is official and reports suggest he’s moving to the Clippers, although I don’t think that’s been official yet. Um, and it’s the caption is a peace sign. He’s cheesing it up in some of the photos and immediately damn near the entire NBA apparently has Bradley Beiel on notifications or something on Instagram because everybody starts chiming in with their their little reaction laughing emojis and whatever little little trolling jokes and things like that, right? It’s it’s uh Tai players. Tyus Jones, Monte Monty Morris, Damen Lee, I believe. Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, and it’s like then Bam too was maybe one of the other ones. Um Bam had a bio Trey Young were all in there too. Theo Pinson like Yeah. And Pinson apparently is is one of his buddies because he interviewed him on that podcast a couple years ago. But yeah, I just it was the more I I sat with it and if I if the players were interpreting it correctly, that started to change my vibe on it. And I think a lot of Suns fans feel the same way. Ben, uh it’s just kind of like, listen, just so we’re fair, I thought the Instagram post itself, even still, is just like I felt the shade at the beginning, but it’s like, ah, it’s really not that bad. He’s just throwing up a peace sign. If that’s as toxic as as he’s going to be, whatever. It was all the other NBA players that I guess he was in a group chat with them, posted it, and they were all like laughing about it as some inside joke. Something I like especially Kevin Durant. Like what is it? What What are you laughing at, dude? Like I don’t understand this idea of like you guys had no blame for the Cardinals or for the Suns season going ary and it’s like Monte Morris, Damen Lee, dudes who don’t even have jobs like agreeing with the with like what Brad is putting out there. I I just like I’m over it. What I would ask you is like do you think the Suns now have some sort of black eye on them post big three era because it blew up so horrendously or Theo Pinson and Trey Young and Bameio and Taius Jones and Damen Lee just like nope we’re not thank god we’re not playing there even though Tus Jones literally said that he’d be open to coming back. So to be clear on some of this right Damen Lee has been on Twitter during the day Thursday. Yeah, whatever. Basically saying like he didn’t mean it in any kind of negative way and Suns fans are taking it out of out of um context and blowing it out of proportion. Whatever. That might be true for Damen Lee. He’s a really good guy. I don’t I don’t think of him as a type of dude who would care enough to to wade into those toxic waters. So maybe that’s true. I have a hard time believing all of these responses were just being silly. joking around with Brad. I I don’t think that’s probably what it was. I think many of these guys were saying, you know, as much as you can read into a couple of emojis, I know it’s ridiculous, but hey, it’s 2025. It’s kind of what we got to do here. That’s what we do now. Yeah. I think that a lot of them were saying the Suns did you wrong and you’re absolutely in the right to to be mocking them on your way out or or laughing at them on your way out. And you know, he the pictures are him like again kind of like beaming slash laughing slash whatever. So I don’t know what to make of all of it, but I I doubt that it’s just random and everybody was just really really you know giggling at Brad’s post. I think it was more pointed than that. So does it mean that they have a, you know, scarlet letter on their chest, so to speak, or something? Um, I don’t think so because Jimmy Butler wanted to be here five months ago. Bad. De Booker. Devin Booker still wants to be here. Is it really that bad? Like, you could have you could sign an extension and maybe next year Booker wants to be out of here. But I would argue the person that has done more winning out of those three guys the most recently was Devin Booker and he wants to be here. Jimmy Butler wanted to be here. Listen, man. You want to go freeze your ass off in Minnesota in the winter, you go right on ahead. But in Phoenix, where the weather’s great, the owner is going to spend money and at least try to win. Yeah, man. Sure, you want to go live out in in in, you know, Oklahoma City, you know, go for it. But I don’t I don’t see that as the case. Um the the other thing was like just because this is, you know, we’re doing social media, let’s do the social media thing. It’s like, “Oh, well, he’s he’s it’s not the media. It’s the fans that pushed him out.” If the fans pushed out any player, oh my god, get over yourself. Wipe your tears with your money, your $100 bills. I am so like Kevin Durant got what he wanted. Bradley Beal got what he wanted and he’s not losing I think he’s losing like a total of like $2 million. Boohoo. Maybe even then he could opt out next summer and and you’ll make money. Exactly. Boohoo. You’re missing out on 2 million. I’m sorry. Whatever. Kevin Durant got what he wanted. Why are these dudes still talking about the Suns? And why are there still Suns fans defending these players? Like, can we just be done with this? Can we move on? Like, it’s so nauseating, man. I I That’s how I felt about it. Seeing Kevin Durant go after people. Like dude, at one point since we’re talking both these guys, it was like uh Kevin Durant’s talking about that the stands are what uh what drove us insane. It wasn’t the six playoff wins in three years and two playoff appearances. It was stands getting to us. Like I’ll let you kind of take it from there, man. But the whole thing today was like it should have never happened. Everyone should have just tooken the high road and been done with it. Beal got his money. KD got his trade. Have fun with what you’re doing. Yeah, I don’t love the like I think sometimes players have it kind of twisted because I I think that like my my best reading on whatever was going on in the comments section of Beiel’s farewell post, if you even want to call it that, was not so much a pylon against the Suns or any sort of like, oh yeah, that’s a bad franchise or something like deep like that. I think it was probably just in a way to summarize it as succinctly as I can all those dudes in suits are such a joke and we’re always right is kind of like the read on it, right? It’s like whether I’m Trey Young or I’m Taius Jones or I’m Bradley Beal, I’m I’m doing my thing and anything that goes wrong probably is somebody else’s fault, you know, in some kind of way. I just think like where I get frustrated with it is I think sometimes athletes lose sight of the fact that fans feel a sense of entitlement and they can have a problem with that but they feel a sense of entitlement because they’re punching up. They love a thing and the people who who decide or contribute to the success or failure of the thing that they love make ungodly amounts of money and live lavish lifestyles that they can never imagine. So part of how this thing whole whole thing works is it’s sort of fair game to jeer them, heckle them, have some kind of opinion about them. And does it cross a line? Yeah, it crossed the line when people were hollering at Bradley Bill’s wife and and children and and he has every right to be angry about that. It did cross a line in that case. But where I think it gets twisted because we’re all just like barking at each other on the internet these days is that like you kind of don’t get to do it in the opposite direction. Like you just kind of don’t get to. It’s just not part of the deal. You make all of the money in the world to play a sport. You don’t get to drag and tease and and make fun of and blame Joe construction worker who spent a paycheck once a year to take his family to the game because you’re in a bad mood and you don’t like Mr. Ishbia. I don’t care. Like you said, I think I have a a few million things you could probably drown that frustration with that don’t involve turning it into some kind of like nana boooo contest with the fans. It’s ridiculous. So, it did it did really frustrate me today seeing both of the former big three who are now not Suns exiting the way that they are because it’s just not how it’s supposed to work. And if they can’t get over that, then like they got some bigger problems. 100%. I totally agree with you in that instance where like you if you want to trade places, let’s do it. I will make all the money and you can hurl I don’t give a bleep and bleep. You can say whatever you want to me. I I really you already can do it. I don’t really care. But like that as well. Like let’s switch roles a little bit. You don’t actually have it that hard. Uh, my other thing was like, do you guys have mirrors? Do you ever look in your house and you’re like, I wonder who the problem could be? Oh, and you point the finger at yourself. Part of the issues were the fact that you couldn’t stay healthy, be part of the issues was Bud asked you to play like someone else and you freaked out for saying he wanted you to act like a twotime NBA champion, play the role of Drew Holiday, Kevin Durant as well. when the Suns were on a whatever game losing streak because he was either not healthy or not filling in his role to the max capacity, he was arguing with people on social media. I’m not saying it’s all on them, but part of it is your fault. So, when you say the thing of like the players are like, “Oh, we always know better.” That makes a lot of sense because cuz like I didn’t do anything. Those people are crazy. It’s the lack of self-awareness from Kevin Durant and lack of accountability from Bradley Beal that drives me insane, man. Like it was and yeah, I agree with you. The nanab boooo is like a perfect way to to sum it up because that’s exactly what Beal did today. Uh much more frustrated with KD than than Beal, but it’s like you make a lot of money a year. It’s not like the Suns did you wrong. You got all your money back and now you get to go contend and I’m we’re not sending you to Milwaukee. You went to the Clippers. It came to the sending him anywhere. You have to have because he has a no trade clause and then he became a free agent. So again, it’s like in what way are you the victim, brother? It’s it’s it’s crazy. It’s I’ll tell you what, like this was the one winning situation. Yeah. This is the one winning situation Beal has ever been in. And he’s a losing player catastrophically. It’s It’s frustrating. He is a He is a career losing player. Kevin Durant obviously not true because he won a couple championships he hasn’t won recently. Yeah. The best player in the history of Team USA like Yeah. Sure. And I when I say sure I mean like I just totally agree with you Bradley Beal. You still have a a question mark on your back of like are you just a career good stats bad team player? And now if you don’t figure it out with the a conference finals semi-final appearance where you go game seven with the team, people are going to talk about you being like a eh how much do you really impact winning? So instead of teasing, you know, John from Mesa who made fun of you because your ugly shoes or you’re always injured, how about you focus on changing your own career path because right now you are on the path of being just that, a career loser. Uh maybe not moneywise, but as a player for sure. Like I saw some push back that okay with Beal, like we’re reading into a post that didn’t have any words in it. And like I understand that maybe he was talking about the front office, right? Maybe he was talking about whatever situation around him, but either way, it’s like, well, why in that case, why aren’t you addressing the fans? you know why? Like the the the overlooking of it is almost just as bad as if it were pointed at them because that’s what matters. Like that’s the stuff that actually matters. And if you’re either ignoring that or you’re punching down at that, it just starts to be a little bit icky to me to be honest with you because I I it it doesn’t exist without people who go to games and watch them on TV and everything. And I think sometimes these people lose sight of that stuff. Yeah. Can I ask you a question? Um, when you were ready to turn the page on the Kevin Durant experience, was the first thing KD Prime and all the Stan accounts on social media like that were really just hindering you and stopping you from sleeping at night? Is that why you wanted to move on, Brendan? I didn’t even have that strong of an opinion about wanting to move on, which is the funny part cuz No, you wanted the twins. Look online. You wanted the twins. We were out in front of his, you know, Paradise Valley home with pitchforks and they wouldn’t even let us into his gated community. You and I couldn’t even get in. Silly. That’ll wrap us up. Hit followers, subscribe if you haven’t already. Become an everydayer. We’ve got more content for you even though the off season is here. The Kaminga thing, hey, that could just be lingering for weeks now. We’ll see. Enjoy your weekend everybody. We’ll talk to you next week.

The Phoenix Suns may pursue Jonathan Kuminga in a sign-and-trade after waiving Bradley Beal.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia react to the news before breaking down news that the Suns tried to add Joe Dumars to the front office. Then, a look at the response around Bradley Beal’s farewell Instagram post.

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