This season’s first Suns-Pacers …

This season’s first Suns-Pacers meeting, a 112-87 Indiana win Wednesday night inside Phoenix’s Talking Stick Resort Arena, served as a reminder of how a non-superstar player can get swept up in the offseason frenzy. Early in the day on June 30, league sources familiar with Rubio’s free-agency process told The Athletic there was “100 percent” belief that the 29-year-old point guard would sign with Indiana. During a Wednesday-morning conversation with The Athletic, Rubio himself acknowledged “it was close.”