What Are Fair Expectations For The Suns, Will They Make The Playoffs? Plus, Kuminga To Suns Dead?

What Are Fair Expectations For The Suns, Will They Make The Playoffs? Plus, Kuminga To Suns Dead?

On today’s show, are we sure the Phoenix Suns are better this year than they were last year? As well as what’s the best case for the Suns in 2025? And is Jonathan Kaminga to the Suns officially dead? I don’t really think so, but let’s talk about it all next. 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 Phoenix Suns. My name is Benjamin Garcia, host of the Ben Garcia Show Mornings on YouTube and a credentialed Suns media member. Thanks for making Locked Ons your first listen on this beautiful John Voida Monday. Don’t forget Locked Ons is free and available on all platforms including YouTube. So, click that follow or subscribe button to do it. Thousands of other Suns fans have already done. Become an everyday dare and get locked on the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money and use code locked on NBA at monarchoney.com for 50% off your first year. And with that being said, joining me today on this beautiful John Voit Monday, none other than managing editor of Bright Side of the Sun, John Voida. What’s up, man? How are do you doing? I know it’s Sunday night and people keep giving me crap because people don’t understand that when I’m doing the show, it’s actually for the next day and I’m giving giving it to them on YouTube early to for being that loyal every day. But it is a John Voya Monday on a Sunday. What’s up, man? How are you? I’m so locked on, Ben. Oh my gosh, I’m so locked on. Uh I don’t know if it’s going to be a beautiful Monday because as you mentioned, we’re recording this on Sunday night. Uh, and nothing is beautiful about any Monday in August because it’s August and it’s literally the worst month of the year. We’re just trying to get through this month to get to the other side into the burrs, right? September, October, November, December, August. Here we are. Here we are, man. It’s It truly is. And that’s why we go down to three times a week in uh in August, late July, August, and then we’ll pick back up in like early September because like it’s tough. You know, thankfully on this podcast, the numbers just keep going up. But I think some of that has to do with the whole Jonathan Kaminga stuff, but now we’re getting into some of the weeds of like what projecting. Now, really quickly, uh, you told me you’re not a WWE guy, so you’re not watching SummerSlam. You’re not you’re not getting any of that. Is that today? Oh, man. It is today. It’s actually There you go. See, I am wearing an Austin 316 shirt, but that’s because I was a big fan of the Attitude era back in like when I was a senior in high school. I mean, me and my buddies were really into it. Uh, the the rock, you know, DX, all that stuff. But, you know, as time has progressed, I’ve grown away from wrestling. I think I think you’ve grown up. I think that’s I didn’t want to say it completely, but like, you know, cuz I don’t want to offend anybody, but at the same time, like I grew out of it. I grew into other interests and one of those became being maniacal about the Phoenix Suns. And one thing, I’m going to get a shameless plug in here, Ben. you know, bright side of the sun. On Tuesday, we are changing for the first time, I think, since like the Obama administration. We are changing the user interface, how the website looks. SP Nation’s doing it across all their websites. So, uh, if you are somebody who likes to read or if you just want to see a new UI on Bright Side of the Sun, pop over there tomorrow, which is Tuesday, for those of you who are listening to the pod. Yes. Uh, and check out. It’s going to be a little bit different and hopefully it’s something that it makes it a little bit more absorbable for readers because I know it got really cluttered there for a while. That would be August 5th if I’m not That’s correct. There you go. August 5th. Yes. Which is tomorrow kind of. And definitely check all that stuff out. My god, John Voida, in my opinion, I think he’s the best writer. I don’t just say that because I bring him on. Uh people wanted you on more than just John Voit Mondays. And I’m like, guys, listen. The dude is busy. Like he’s got other things to do. You’re going to have to be stuck with me for a couple of days. and and John will be on on Mondays. Uh uh we we got a lot of things to get to, so let’s just there’s no there’s no great way to get into this, but let’s get let’s do it. Um you and I had a similar conversation a couple months ago, but I don’t think we were super specific about it. Um but let’s talk about it. I think when people say the Phoenix Suns are going to be better this year, I think they mean more enjoyable. Because although I think the Suns will be emphatically more enjoyable next year, at minimum they’re going to be young, feisty, more athletic, and they’re going to play harder. I think that is indisputable. I don’t know if they’re necessarily going to be the best team. I my like my realistic expectations for this team is a first round playoff team and then we can get into like what the weeds look like in the next segment, but I think they could be a playoff team. I’ve seen a world where Devin Booker can go supern Nova in the regular season. People for some reason get that so misconstrued with like, no, no, Devin Booker is not a one. I didn’t say he was a one. I don’t think Damen Lillard is a one. He did take them to the Western Conference Finals one time. I think Devin Booker has the ability to take them to the playoffs and we’ll see where it goes from there, but I’m not so sure they’re going to be better next year because of the dynamic between Jaylen Green and Devin Booker. I’m not so sure it’s going to work because both guys really ball dominant. Jaylen Green a little bit of an efficient scorer, better defender than Deon Booker, but neither guys are great at that. Are you sure the Suns are gonna be better next year than they were last year? Or do we keep getting it mixed up with, well, they’re just going to be more fun, which would be very easy to do? Well, I love the word better, right? Because it’s subjective and it creates fun talks in early August because you can’t really uh there’s nothing else to really talk about. You know, how do you define better? Everybody has a different definition. It’s like most valuable, right? Who who’s the most valuable player? Well, everyone has a different definition. If I’m from my perspective looking at the word better, is this team going to be better than last year? I think the answer is going to be no. Now, to your point, they will be more enjoyable. They’re probably going to be more competitive, but I don’t think that they’re going to be better than last year. Look at last year. A team that vastly underperformed 36 and 46. A team that this time last year had a projected win total of 48 and a half wins. That total is now 30.5. It’s 18 less than a year ago. Now granted, we have the benefit of living through last season to come to that conclusion. It’s like, well, you know, last season’s team was not that great, but this time last year, our tones were much different. Our expectations were much different. We thought that that was a team that could put it all together that we that James Jones and the front office made the right acquisitions to add a point guard uh to get us some center depth. Even though it might not have been the most athletic center depth, it was center depth nonetheless. And so everything put together this time last year was a team that on that had a trajectory of potentially winning a championship. Now you look at what this team is and I’m right there with you, man. I’m excited to see what this team can bring. I’m I’m very even excited is probably a little too much just because like I swore to myself I wasn’t going to get excited about this team uh until they prove it. and we’re just, you know, sitting around waiting for them to prove it. But next year, I don’t think that they’re going to be better. I think that they’re they are going to be more competitive. But, you know, you have them as a higher ceiling than I do. You have them as a playoff team. I have them as a fringe playin team because I think that the waters of the Western Conference have risen higher and everyone around Phoenix is better. You know, to use that word again, they’re better, too. So, while the Suns might be better from a roster construction standpoint relative to competitiveness and toughness and grittiness, uh there are numerous questions about this team as you mentioned that chemistry and how it’s going to work between Jaylen Green and Devin Booker. How’s this team going to score? Who’s going to be the guys who can step up and and hit some three-pointers when needed? There’s a lot of question marks. And again, I’m not going to go as far to say I’m excited to see this team play out, but I’m certainly intrigued about who and what they can be. And you know, losing is not going to be fun. Okay. And I think that this team’s going to lose a lot. But it can it be enjoyable? That’s what we got to wait and see. Ben, you’re on mute. As the host of Locked On Suns, I do that very often, but I appreciate you telling me that. Um, no, I I think with this team, I I would definitely say that I am really excited to watch them. Um, but I think I have a better way of viewing the Suns than like the casual Suns fan. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just think like it’s my job. I view it through a different lens. And so when I watch the Suns next year, I do see them as like a fringe playoff team, playin team. And I see a world where Devin Booker could be awesome for two games in a playin and get them the seventh seed or get them the eight seed uh in the playoffs next year. And because of the athleticism, the youth, the fact that they have multiple rookies that I’m going to be watching almost single-handedly and just forgetting the rest of the team and other nights. I do expect them to be more fun to watch. Better is a little tougher, man. I I the seven seed like if forget it, forget it like this. Forget asking the question of will the Suns be better than they were last year, 36 and 46, right? Will the Suns the six seed last year was 49 and 33? What is that? Is that 13? Are the Suns going to be 13 games better next year? No way. No. That’s why I say like a playin team because then you’re talking about I do think there’s a world where the Suns could figure out a way and be four games better than they were last year and they’re the 10 seed and that’s where I talk about Devin Booker being awesome for two games and getting them into the playoffs and then we’ll figure it out from there, right? But man, you look at some of the other teams like Oklahoma City’s not going anywhere. The Rockets, the Lakers, the Nuggets, the Clippers, although I’m a little skeptical how much better they actually got, they’re still in that place too. the Timberwolves, the Warriors, the Grizzlies, the Kings, the Mavericks, outside of the Kings and Grizzlies. I don’t know if there’s a team in in there I think I I would be confident in the Suns jumping next year. And even those two teams, you you flip a coin on on a on a on a whatever basis, but I think it’s important to set your expectations correctly for this team. Last year, how many blowouts the Suns team have? Like 10. And that was just in the first half alone watching them lose by 30. You and I and you know Brendan and and Shane Young, we would joke up there being like, “Hey, how quickly until the Thunder are up 30 and we can sneak down early at halftime and go get our free Yeah, exactly. and go get our hot dog to hold us over for the second half. How quickly can I start writing my postgame article for Bright Side of the Sun?” That’s like That’s the expectation the Suns should be. not better in the sense of win losses, but can we see the drastic improvement on the courts and that there are maybe a handful of nights where it’s just not competitive, but losing at the buzzer, losing by four. The last thing I’ll say and I’ll toss it over to you is the Suns win total is 31 and a half, right? The Chicago Bulls is 30 and a half. Vegas is not often wrong. And like I’ve seen a lot of people be like, “Hammer that 31 and a half.” I’m like, “Okay, you hammer that. I’m not so sure because the people in Vegas who make the lights are a lot smarter than me. I’ll let you take them there and then we’ll Well, and that’s why I mean I hammered the over on the Suns last two years and I lost my booty. So, I’m not doing that anymore. Even in this situation, I’m just going to let it play out. But the key word there, yeah, you got to hammer the under essentially. I got to, you know, but I hate doing that. It’s like it’s like betting the under. you can’t do it. You know, always take the over. It’s more fun. Uh even if you lose. But you know, you said the key word though there, Ben, is it’s expectations. And that’s the different thing about this time this year versus last year is the expectations around this team. But one thing that I want to at least put out there to everybody is to temper your expectations because you mentioned something that’s key is there’s a lot of youth on this team, right? Three rookies, actually four. There’s two two-way contracted rookies in CJ Huntley and Kobe Brea. But there’s a lot of rookies on this team. There’s two sophomores in Oso Gdora and Ryan Dunn. When you look at it through the lens of the rookies, we want them. We instantly like we got depth. We got Rashir Fleming. He’s going to he could be a backup four. Come on, Malawatch could be our backup five. You have to look at next season almost by thirds, right? The first third of the season, those guys shouldn’t be getting much play. They should actually be probably getting some reps down in the G- League just to get their confidence up. the second third of the season is when you start to integrate them into your offense. You know, 14 minutes a game here and there. And then by the last third of the season, that’s where they’re getting more run because in theory, twothirds of the way through the season, the Suns are looking up at the standings and realizing there’s only a team or two below them and probably Portland and definitely Utah. And by that theory alone and the way and and all of that helps with the development of those rookies, too. You’re not just throwing them into the fire being like, “Hey, come on. Mwatch day one 18 years old.” He’ll be 19 by then, but 19 years old. You’re our backup big. Make it happen. You want to put them in a position to be successful. And that’s why next season, in my opinion, is a gap year until next off season. Those guys have some development. You know what you have in them. You know what you don’t have in them. And you can start to make some real decisions on how to mold this roster around Devin Booker going into next season. So, this upcoming season ahead of us from an expectation standpoint, we’re excited to see the youth. Okay, I’m intrigued to see how they compete. But ultimately, when it comes to whether or not they’re going to be better, this team is not. And that’s at least my expectation. And I hope that because I have lowered expectations that the team outperforms those expectations and they do hammer the over and we do get some competitive games and we do win. But we’ve had youth on this team before. You go back 10 years ago when Devin Booker started and we went through those first five years of his career, there was a lot of situations where there was plenty of youth and not a lot of knowing how to win. And that’s where a lot of this team is going to end up throughout this season is learning how to win and learning how to win together. So, it’s not going to benefit them necessarily in the short term, but perhaps in the long term. Let’s then change it to what’s the best case scenario for the Phoenix Suns in 2025 now that we’ve got our expectations set. Let’s say they exceeded those. But let’s be realistic about it and let’s talk about it next. First, today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. One of the things for myself when it comes to managing money that should have been a lot easier had I had Monarch Money is the numerous amount of subscription services I had. We were paying for Peacock, Netflix, Paramount Plus, two of those three things I hadn’t watched in probably a year. And then I found out my wife and I were paying for two separate Spotify accounts instead of just man uh merging them together. And she already had Apple Music. Had I been using Monarch Money, would have saw all those finances, would have saved myself a boatload of more money for things that actually needed money allocated to them and not two separate Spotify accounts. So take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked onmbba at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com. Code lockedmbba for half off your first year. keeping the show rolling as I forgot my to put my guy John Voya back on stage. There he is. Uh, what is the best case scenario for the Phoenix Suns in 2025? And in this I’m talking about maybe it’s record. Maybe it’s Jaylen Green is awesome. Maybe it’s come on Malawatch shows you he’s that true centerpiece rookie you draft in the top 10. Um, what is the best case scenario for the Suns 2025? I’ll let you go and then I I’ll spill my piece. I think the best case for the Suns in 2025 is that Devin Booker and Jaylen Green work together. That that makes sense. That Jaylen Green as a young guy who’s now being kind of put in the first put in a situation for the first time in his career where he’s really have to kind of prove it right. You know, it didn’t work out in Houston. They gave him the reigns for quite some time, but he definitely had limitations to his game. and now he’s being brought to Phoenix to play along a player like Devin Booker and being asked to be the point guard, you know, quote unquote. At least that’s what we’re being told. But the hope is that that duo makes sense because if that duo makes sense together, and I’m talking, Ben, both offensively and defensively, uh, if that duo makes sense, a lot of other things will be allowed to flourish the way that they should next year. Dylan Brooks at the three, potentially Ryan Dunn at the four, Mark Williams playing the five, the rotations that kind of play off of that starting five. If they play well together, the Suns could be the best version of the of themselves. Now, best version of themselves relative to record is a playoff team. It is an eighth or seventh seated team. What? So, that means they have to go through the playin. So, you know, a top 10 seed is in my opinion the best case for the Suns. Now, obviously, you could say otherwise. You can say, “No, everything makes sense. The identity clicks. This team becomes the Cleveland Cavaliers of a season ago, and the upside of this team is a two seed.” I’m not going to argue anyone who has that hope, but I’m trying to temper my expectations, live in the real world, uh, knowing that I’m always wrong and they probably will be the two seed. Well, I mean, only if you bet the under, then of course the two seed. Um, let me ask you this. How much do you buy into Devin Booker and Jaylen Green working? And then what if it doesn’t work? I don’t mean to get in out of the best case scenario, but can you move Jaylen Green to the bench? Because like my guy Jackson Gatlin of Locked on Rockets, he’s got a massive following over there. He was like, Jaylen Green has never been asked to be the secondary score. What if just as a secondary score, he’s awesome. But I kind of go the other way of just like I have beat to death multiple times in the show why those two aren’t going to work well together. Um what’s kind of your feel on that? Do you think that they’re going to do you think just smart basketball players will figure it out or Devin Booker will have to accommodate more to Green? There’s going to be limitations to it unfortunately and that’s why again my expectations are tempered because I don’t know how much it’s going to work out. Now granted, from a defensive standpoint, if you have Brooks and Dunn and Williams behind them, I like them on defense and them being Booker and Green because they can gamble a little bit because you know you have quality defenders behind them to make up for their mistakes. Allah the Finals team, right? I mean, that was Chris Paul and Devin Booker. not exactly a defensive stalworth backcourt, but because you had Male Bridges, Jay Crowder, and DeAndre Aton behind them, they could be a little bit more aggressive on the defensive end. Offensively, I have to see it work because Jaylen Green’s not the greatest ball handler. Uh, he’s somebody who is very inefficient, and while Devin Booker is efficient overall in his shooting, from beyond the arc, he’s not, and neither is Jaylen Green. So, this is going to be a team whose two primary, you know, perimeter players are inefficient from beyond the arc. I don’t know if it’s going to work. I’m interested to see if it does. The way that I look at it is this is a try out year for you, Jaylen Green, because next year, ne this time next year, next summer, he’s going to have two years, what, 72 million left on his contract. That becomes a little bit more absorbable to an opposing team. No one wants them for three years. Nobody wants anybody for three years. That’s why Royce O’Neal and Grayson Allen are both on the Suns right now because they both have three years left on their deal. It’s just a little bit too much for opposing teams to digest when they’re making a trade. But this time next year when Jaylen Green does have only two years left on his contract, other teams could look at him and go, “Hey, you know what? He makes sense or he’s going to be expiring in two years. Maybe we can take a chance on him.” But it all comes down to how he performs this year. Could I see him moving to the bench? Potentially. I wouldn’t put anything past the Phoenix Suns. Granted, it was a different regime that did the same thing to Bradley Beiel a year ago, but if if Colin Gillespie comes out and showcases like, yeah, we need a true productive point guard to allow Devin Booker to flourish off ball because that’s where he flourishes. You know, he shot what 33% from beyond the arc last year, but 36% when it was catch and shoot three versus uh, you know, 30% when was a pull-up three when he was generating the shot. So, you have to put Booker in a position to be successful. And Jaylen Green playing off of Booker, I mean, there’s just so many question marks. What do you think? Yeah. So, mine is a just a little bit different. Everything comes down to Green and Booker next year. If those two can coexist, awesome. However, I do think there’s a little bit of a limitation on it. So, I’ll go a little bit differently. I think Booker is going to be awesome. I think Green has the ability to be awesome, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen while Booker is on the court. I think one of those two is going to suffer a little bit more. And I’m just gonna lean towards the fact that it’s I think it’s gonna be Jaylen Green more than Booker because I don’t necessarily see Booker as a like the only way I can describe it is a is a little bit of a ball hog. Uh Booker I don’t think is that guy because Booker is more efficient. Jaylen Green I think can get tunnel vision. If Green and Booker if Green can work out on his own and in those moments have spurts and Booker can figure out a way to get this team into the playoffs in in any capacity, right? playin team and then wins a playin game but maybe loses the other and they don’t make it because they’re the nine or the 10 seed whatever right the best case scenario for the Suns is to be able to sell Jaylen Green to another team next year because I don’t buy into the viability of those two together I’m not bleeping on Jaylen Green in fact the player on its own I kind of like I just not not on the Suns I don’t love it because fit matters and I’m not getting rid of Devin Booker. So, if I could figure out a way to mold Jaylen Green into just a more efficient player and cover up his his issues with Devin Booker on the court, if I could move him next year, even for just like two viable pieces or a viable piece and a pick next year, that I think would move mountains for me because then things become a little bit more flexible and a little bit more easier to want to attract the next guy. Um, I agree. So, that’s kind of where I would go with that. That’s exactly like I and I think they could and like if they do work out, maybe they’re a playoff team. Maybe they give a team a run for their money, but there’s going to be a ceiling to this. There’s just going to be there is. And you could you could see the world where they can coexist because Devin Booker excels at the mid-range. Jaylen Green excels with his athleticism and quickness attacking the cylinder. It’s they both are subpar from beyond the arc and that’s where they’re exact and that’s where they’re going to struggle. And there there could be some coexisting. My the number one concern I have is the end of games is who’s going to have the ball at with the last five minutes when it’s it’s crunchtime scenarios with it’s you know the opposing team is five points ahead of us or five points behind us. How are we going to close out games? Deon Booker has shown that he can, but we’re running into that situation to where you give it to Jaylen Green. Is he going to do too much? Is he going to turn the ball over? Is he going to be, you know, again, like you said, the tunnel vision that he possesses is something that is to his detriment. So, that’s what scares me about this team. I think it can be good in spurts. I mean, it’s Bradley Beal all over again. Same thing. Like, I like the player, I didn’t like the fit. Bradley Beal and Devin Booker two years ago when they played with good defenders around them that it was a good team. Last year was unfortunate because you brought in Taius Jones, you move Booker to the three, they’re compromised defensively, it kind of snowballs from there. So, I can see a world a world where it works for the first, you know, 43 minutes of a basketball game. But when things get tight late, that’s where I’ll get concerned. And I feel like we’ll lose a lot of close games because of that. Let’s close out the show talking a little bit more of Jonathan Kaminga. As we mentioned at the beginning of the show, is it dead? I’m not so sure it is. Let’s talk about it next. First, today’s show is brought to you by 5Hour Energy. Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5Hour Energy. 5Hour Energy Transfusion. It brings the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor for your favorite golf drink minus the alcohol into a quick energizing shot. Whether you’re sinking birdies or just making memories with friends, this one’s a hole in one for your energy game. Let’s be honest, some days on the court, some days on the course or off, you need the extra boost to uh to stay sharp and energized. I last year golfed for the first time during my fantasy football get together with my buddies uh last August, and I got to be honest with you, we had a really early tea time. And believe it or not, I am not a big energy drink guy, but I am a big fivehour energy drink guy. guzzled one of those at like 4:30 in the morning, 5:00 a.m. got to our tea time and I’m already a pretty energetic guy. When you added that to it, I was absolutely bouncing off the wall. So, golf golf is all about good times of good people. And you best believe with the good flavors as well of five hour energy in a couple weeks here when we run it back on that golf course in Prescuit with my buddies, you best believe I’ll be downing another fiveh hour energy. The grape, ginger, lime flavor gives you the best parts of your clubhouse. Go to of your of your clubhouse go to without chasing down the beverage cart. Uh if you go if you go to 5 hour energy.com today, that is the number fivehourenery.com, you can use my code promo code locked ongolf to receive 20% off your order. This offer is valid only until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. This code is not good on also subscription orders. So check out 5h hour energy today and get it in you next time you are you are golfing. Let’s do it. So just te as we get the Jonathan Kaminga thing up and talking here. I just want to tease to everyone as I’m doing this show. Uh Brett Seagull will be making an appearance on the show on Tuesday to break down all the Jonathan Kaminga stuff. We’ll sub out John. We’ll bring in Brett on uh on that Tuesday night show, technically that Wednesday show. But speaking of Brett Seagull, as so that people know, he will be here then uh to break all of it down. He’s basically saying it’s done. It is like the Warriors are not interested in Jonathan Kaminga to the Phoenix Suns for anything the Suns have and virtually kind of shutting down things a little bit. Here’s my theory. Here it is. This is not like a normal restricted free agency in a player in Jonathan K. It’s not like DeAndre a couple years ago when he needed that when he was a restricted free agent. The Pacers knew that the Suns wanted DeAndre back. They just didn’t want him back at that number. It’s not like the Jonathan Kaminga thing. Steve Kerr has been pretty prevalent and and and loud about either vocally or with his actions. He can’t really trust Jonathan Kaminga. It doesn’t really seem like the Golden State Warriors are in a rush to bring back Jonathan Kaminga. It’s not the same kind of scenario. So, if I’m the Suns with the little bit of leverage I have, knowing that the Warriors aren’t very fond of this guy, well, why not offer them some scraps and then as things kind of progress, when the Warriors really want to move on from this guy, that’s when you bring Oso Agadaro in the fold or a Grayson Allen or picks from a different Grayson Allen trade and you give up Oso and and whatever Royce O’Neal and a couple of picks or whatever it looks like and then you bring out their best offer for the Suns. feels like Kaminga likes them the most. Why am I bidding against myself? What do you think of that theory? Or is this thing just dead? Like this thing’s just done. I think that money talks and Kaminga knows that he can come to Phoenix and and start and the reports are that the Suns have offered him 90 million over four years, which is what 225 a year, right? So, of course, we’re his favorite destination. a team that’s going to start him, a team that’s going to pay him and it’s going to give him the security that he wants with that fourth year being a player option. Whereas the frustrations that he has with the Golden State Warriors right now is they want to extend him for a couple years and that second year as a team option. Uh I think it’s dead I think and good good riddens Jonathan Kame does not make sense. I totally I I agree with all that stuff, right? I I already know I I just I know what you’re going to say cuz you you mentioned it before and I agree with you and we agree. However, we got new information. Four years 90 million for Jonathan Gaming with the fourth year player option. I’m a little bit more interested in Jonathan Gaminga than I was before. They just like if if it costs like let’s just say you don’t have to give up OSO. Let’s say you don’t have to give up Ryan Dunn and it’s four years 90 million. I think that’s a calculated risk that I would be willing to take because the riskreward feels fairly high in that in terms of the reward part. I I get like I’m with you. I 25 million 30 million seems a little hefty. Give up OSO who’s like the last remaining asset we have. I would be interested in Kaminga in that. If it is not this, like if we got to give up more and it’s more money, I’m with you. But even for that little of money, you wouldn’t do it. Feels like a very tradable deal, too. For that little of money, I would do it. But I still am just not a fan of the player overall. And that’s what it comes down to. It would make sense if they were to trade Grayson Allen, you know, Nick Richards, OSO, whatever that combination would equal to give to Golden State to get him back to have him on 22.5 million because 22.5 million this year, you know, is I don’t have my calculator out in front of me, but my assumption is it’s probably somewhere along the lines of 17% of your total cap number. You know, in four years from now, that drops to like 12%. So, it makes perfect sense to have that asset at your disposal, as you mentioned, a tradable asset if if need be. But, I’m just not a fan of the player. I just I I kind of that’s where my I I’ve planted my flag early on watching Kaminga. Even going back to when the rumors were uh that we were going to trade Kevin Durant in a three-team trade with the Miami Heat, we’d get Jimmy Butler, we’d end up with Kaminga, uh KD would end up in Golden State. You know, when all that was going around, I was like, h Kaminga really? Like it depends on on what we think of him as a player and I just I’m not super high on him as a player. I haven’t seen it yet and I’m not necessarily one of those people. It’s like well I have to see it to believe it because I haven’t seen it necessarily yet from Ryan Dunn but I have faith in Ryan Dunn and and I have I have faith in his upside. Perhaps that’s the the hometown bias in me. Kaminga I’m just not sold on. And it goes back to if the Kings and the Suns are fighting it out for Kaminga that says something. That says something. So why are why are other why are good teams not fighting it out for Kaminga? If if the Celtics, who literally just reid their entire roster, gave themselves financial flexibility, why aren’t they going after Kaminga? That seems like a very well-run front office, why wouldn’t they take a chance on him if it if the price isn’t too high? Uh there might be some other things at play here that are outside of our purview. And when the Kings and Suns are fighting out or duking it out for Kaminga, let the Kings win, man. Let him go there. We We don’t need him here. Stay the course. Stay the course. Make the moves next off seasonason. That’s what we should be looking at. See how this season plays out. Watch for developmental opportunities for our young guys in that progression that I mentioned earlier. A third and a third and a third relative to the season. Allow this Devin Booker/jayen Green thing to progress into what it’s going to be so you have a better understanding of what your team is rather than trying to bring somebody in who you’re trying to fit in while you’re trying to fit in all this other stuff together. It just doesn’t make sense to me. And I’m glad that, you know, Seagull and everybody else like, “Put a fork in that, kill it. It’s done. Dead.” It’s a It’s a good point. I I just think, and I’m not going to back off of this, I think since it’s a calculated risk, and I wouldn’t have to give up much, $22.5 million year, very tradable deal. I would do that. Anything really more than that, I I probably wouldn’t. But you make a lot of good points. It’s not a great fit and I get that, but the Suns just don’t get a lot of chances to bring a younger player in here that I do think has upside. Would you find it here? I’m skeptical, but because the risk isn’t that much, I would absolutely do it without. But the other side of that risk is like, okay, now Dun’s uh overall growth and development is stunted because Kaminga is the guy who’s going to take a lot of his minutes. And that’s where I kind of sit doing Brooks. Yeah. But now you’re paying a guy $21 million to sit on the bench. How’s he going to react to that? He’s been an enforcer. I mean, there’s just ripple effects. And no one’s wrong or right here. I just think that there’s ripple effects to what that potential decision could and and it’s clear that the Suns want him, right? If they’re making a four-year offer for 90 million to a guy, they’re trying to make it happen. For once, the fact that the Suns don’t have draft picks is actually, in my opinion, going to help this team because if this team had draft picks, they would attach every one of them to get to Kaminga and he would be here. Yeah, that’s nuts. I the what the Kings are offering for Kaminga which tells me he really doesn’t like the Kings like the leaked reports Carter Malik Monk or or a F or one of those two guys in a first round pick. I’m like okay I’m good you guys are just dumb that’s ridiculous. Uh like you had mentioned Brett Seagull kind of put a fork in it but we’ll get that from the horse’s mouth himself. Is that rude to say the horse’s mouth at all for a guy like Brett Seagull? No he’s a he’s a pretty big dude. He’s coming on the show uh the next show that we have. We’re we’re working on the details out there couple days the the next show that you see from lockdown Phoenix Suns Brett Seagull will join me for about 15 20 minutes we’ll break down the Jonathan Kaminga situation and we’ll get it from the horse’s mouth himself if Jonathan Kaminga to the Suns is actually dead so be on the lookout for that. But for now for my guy John Voida myself Benjamin Garcia managing editor of the Bright Side of the Sun John Voida myself Benjamin Garcia uh uh make sure you check out John Voit’s work as well over at Bright Side of the Sun. Thank you so much for making us a part of your day and I will see you guys along with Brett Single the next time I see you guys and I will put that announcement out there fairly soon. But until then, it’s been locked on Phoenix Suns. Thanks for watching everyone.

Phoenix Suns fans, brace yourselves for a rollercoaster ride in 2024-2025. Will the Suns shine brighter or fade into the Western Conference shadows?

Benjamin Garcia and John Voita (@SunsJAM) dissect the Suns’ upcoming season, exploring the potential Devin Booker-Jalen Green backcourt dynamic and its impact on playoff hopes. They debate the merits of a possible Jonathan Kuminga trade and outline strategies for rookie integration. The duo also paints a picture of the Suns’ best-case scenario for 2025, weighing the long-term fit of key players.

Tune in for expert analysis on whether the Suns will be a fringe playoff team or if they’ll exceed expectations in the competitive West.

0:00 Intro: Are the Suns better this year?
5:39 Defining “better” and expectations for Suns
14:40 Best case scenario for Suns in 2025
21:38 Booker and Green’s potential fit together
31:09 Jonathan Kuminga To Phoenix Dead Already?

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