Aside from the addition of Tyus Jones at point guard, the real shift for Phoenix this season comes with the arrival of new head coach Mike Budenholzer, who replaces Frank Vogel. Budenholzer’s defensive pedigree could be the missing piece to push the …
Aside from the addition of Tyus Jones at point guard, the real shift for Phoenix this season comes with the arrival of new head coach Mike Budenholzer, who replaces Frank Vogel. Budenholzer’s defensive pedigree could be the missing piece to push the Suns further in their title quest, especially after the team finished 13th in defensive efficiency last season. His system, which emphasizes tough defense and ball movement, should complement the offensive firepower of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal. While the Suns didn’t make significant upgrades in the offseason, Budenholzer’s ability to maximize his players’ potential might elevate their performance across the board.
Steve Kerr made a point to praise the Suns guard for his performance in the Olympics.
While a lot of the attention coming off the final two games of Team USA’s run to gold in the Olympics surrounds Stephen Curry following back-to-back ridiculous performances from the Golden State Warriors guard, head coach Steve Kerr made a point to call out the performance of one specific player.
After Team USA secured gold with a thrilling win over France in Paris, Kerr spoke with members of the media in his postgame press conference. Before his presser came to an end, Kerr shared some high praise for Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker. Kerr called Booker Team USA’s “unsung MVP.”
Steve Kerr shouts out Devin Booker at the end of the U.S. press conference. "He was incredible this entire round. Just what he does, play to play to play. Rock solid. Completely changed his role from the NBA to now. He was kind of our unsung MVP. I just wanted to say that."
Booker was one of four players to score in double figures for Team USA on Saturday. Booker finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes. Booker tallied 10 or more points in four of Team USA’s six games in Paris.
Bronny James isn’t working out for every NBA team, just a select few.
USC freshman guard Bronny James, son of NBA legend LeBron James, is preparing for the 2024 NBA draft in June, which is now just four weeks away. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday that James had at least 10 workout invites from teams but will only visit a “couple” of those teams, which include the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns.
“The Suns have the No. 22 overall pick in the draft, and he’s under consideration there,” Charania said on the Run It Back FanDuel TV show. “It’s going to come down to the developmental plan, it’s going to come down to guaranteed money, whether it’s in the late first-round or in the second-round. The fact that there’s only going to be a couple teams, two or three teams, that Bronny James visits and the Lakers and Suns interestingly are among the two teams.”
“Bronny James has over 10 workout invites… I’m told he’s only going to visit a couple of those, and that’s going to include the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns” 👀@ShamsCharania with the latest on Bronny James pic.twitter.com/DlvjeM7tAT
The Lakers’ interest in Bronny comes as LeBron James’ future with the organization remains uncertain. He hasn’t decided about his $51.4 million player option for next season, but his agent, Rich Paul, said on Sunday during an alternate broadcast of Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals that James “is a free agent.”
James averaged 4.8 points on 36.6 percent shooting, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in 25 appearances for USC last season as a freshman. He missed the team’s first eight games recovering from cardiac arrest suffered during practice in July 2023.
The 2024 NBA draft will be held at Barclays Center on June 26-27.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Devin Booker’s 46-point night against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks.
The Phoenix Suns are currently on a roll. After beating the Mavericks in Dallas 132-109, behind Devin Booker’s 46-point game, they extended their winning streak to seven games.
Book put up 46 points and seven rebounds on a super-efficient 74 percent from the field against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. He even outscored the Mavs 22-20 in the third quarter alone.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to his performance.
Gooooood morning, Winners! Happy Wednesday! Hope you’re having a fantastic week so far. Thanks so much for taking a second and reading today.
The NBA In-Season Tournament has been so fun. So, of course, the NBA’s officials had to ruin an instant classic between the Suns and the Lakers.
If you don’t know what happened, the Lakers were gifted a timeout that they shouldn’t have been able to call. My colleague, Charles Curtis, has more here.
A quick synopsis: Austin Reaves loses possession of the ball on the inbound pass. Grayson Allen picks the ball up and you think the Suns have a chance to tie the game.
This shouldn’t have happened, folks. The Lakers didn’t possess the ball. And, as Curtis writes, if you don’t possess the ball then you can’t call a timeout. It’s that simple.
Instead, LeBron James gets the timeout. The Lakers get the ball and LA puts the game away. Instead of going to overtime, it’s a loss for the Suns and quite the blemish on the In-Season Tournament.
I’m not particularly eager about criticizing officials. They have a hard job to do — officiating the best athletes in the world is not easy. But, man. This is embarrassing. That was an easy one. And missing that in the middle of arguably the best game of the In-Season Tournament so far? This is supposed to be a moment for the league to showcase its product. The officials are part of that. And, boy, that doesn’t look good.
Ultimately, it is what it is. The game went on and the Suns lost. The league is probably happy the Lakers made it through to the finals as one of its premier franchises with its biggest face being LeBron James.
But, man. Just know the last two-minute report today is going to be hilarious. We might even get another one of those apologies! That’ll make it all better, Suns fans.
Shohei Ohtani’s secret free agency is actually very cool
I must say, though, I’m not MLB nut, but it sure seems like we’re still talking about everything just fine.
Ohtani hasn’t said a single word and we’re still grabbing on to every single morsel of information we can. I mean, look at all the rumors we’ve gathered up here! There’s still a lot of intrigue there.
Silence doesn’t take away the suspense. It only adds more. That’s what makes this so great.
Remember when LeBron James took a few weeks before telling us he was signing with the Lakers? Wasn’t that fun? Or what about the time Kevin Durant broke the news that he was going to the Warriors with a column? That was also still very fun.
The process doesn’t always have to be out in the open for us to talk about it. Sometimes, the background suspense can be just as good.
“While Plum is a two-time WNBA champion, she says transitioning from college to the pros was difficult. With her all-time NCAA scoring record (3,527) on pace to be broken by Clark this season, she’s warning her of what comes next.
Per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, Plum expressed concern about who Caitlin Clark is as a person getting lost in the shuffle of earning the scoring title.”
Here’s what Plum had to say:
“I feel like people started caring less about the game and more about just the individual points,” Plum said. “You can play really well and score 15, 20 points and have a great game and people will be like, ‘Aw, it was only a 20-point game.’ It was tough for me because I felt like I lost a little bit of my identity and it ultimately led to a tough transition into the (WNBA) because the expectations were so high. So, if anything, I’d try to send her as much compassion and love as I can and I hope the people around her are checking in with her … because it’s going to be tough to feel like you’re just playing basketball.”
That’s spot on. It took a while for Plum to find her footing in the WNBA. Clark might see the same path ahead of her, too, as the physicality and defense kick up a notch at the next level.
Luckily for her, it seems, she’ll have folks like Plum supporting her along the way. At least when she’s not playing against her, anyway.
Quick hits: Is it time for Bill Belichick to go? … Taylor Swift in TIME! … and more
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to a wild finish between the Lakers and the Suns in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinal.
LeBron James took over late in the fourth quarter and led the Lakers to the In-Season Tournament Final Four in Las Vegas after beating the Phoenix Suns 106-103 in a controversial finale in the quarterfinal.
LeBron was incredible all night, finishing the game with 31 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, and five steals. Austin Reaves was also instrumental with a clutch three-pointer in the final 20 seconds of the contest, as he also added 20 points.
Kevin Durant, on the other hand, missed the potential tying three-pointer at the buzzer.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Lakers’ huge win in a wild thriller.
