The Suns‘ season ended in embarrassing fashion on Sunday night in Game 7 at home vs. Dallas, falling behind by 30 points by halftime and trailing by as many as 46 in the second half before losing by a score of 123-90. After yet another Game 7 loss for Chris Paul, the 37-year-old point guard made it clear he has every intention of returning to Phoenix next season and trying to right the ship.
“You play long enough and you don’t win, every time you lose, they’re going to say it was your best chance,” Paul said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “But I think for me, us, it’s we’ll be right back next year. I’ll tell you that much. I’m not retiring tomorrow, thank God. Hopefully, I’m healthy coming back. But I’m (going to) keep playing.”
Paul had a poor showing on Sunday, recording just 10 points and four assists and failing to score his first field goal until the Suns were down by 40 points. He played through a left quad injury that limited his mobility, sources tell ESPN’s McMenamin and Marc J. Spears (Twitter link).
In his post-game comments to reporters, Suns head coach Monty Williams took responsibility for the Suns’ sluggish performance and for the loss, but Paul said the blame should fall on his own shoulders.
“I think we just came out and just didn’t have enough,” Paul said, according to McMenamin. “I think Mont said that’s on him, but I think that’s on me, as the point guard, the leader of the team. To come out and make sure you’re getting the right shots and all that.”
Paul has a $28.4MM guaranteed salary for next season, followed by a partially guaranteed $30.8MM salary in ’23/24 and a non-guaranteed $30MM salary in ’24/25.
Here’s more on the Suns:
- Suns center Deandre Ayton was pulled early in the third quarter on Sunday and didn’t return to the game after exchanging words with Williams on the sidelines, according to McMenamin, who notes that the former No. 1 overall pick logged just 17 minutes, the third-fewest minutes he has played in a game since entering the league.
- Asked after the game about the reason for Ayton’s limited playing time, Williams curtly responded, “It’s internal.” It’s an ominous ending to the season for Ayton, who will be a restricted free agent this summer and will likely be seeking a maximum-salary contract or something close to it.
- Ayton’s upcoming free agency will be the primary focus for the Suns this summer, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) details in his offseason preview. With Ayton up for a new deal and Devin Booker and Cameron Johnson both eligible for extensions, Phoenix’s roster could start to get very expensive, Marks observes.
- In his own preview of the Suns’ offseason, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype also examines potential new contracts for Ayton, Booker, and Johnson.
- The Suns could have used injured forward Dario Saric in their series vs. Dallas, suggests John Hollinger of The Athletic, writing that the team was ultimately undone by its lack of perimeter lineups to counteract the Mavericks’ “space ball” approach. Dallas often employed lineups with five capable three-point shooters, reducing the defensive impact of Suns centers Ayton and JaVale McGee.
You can’t rely on Chris Paul in the postseason. He just hasnt delivered when it counts the most, and he’s always injured in the postseason. Besides, he’s getting old. Suns title window CLOSED.
Suns potential luxury tax
$35 million in 2023-23
$85 million in 2023-24
Keep Ayton starts at $31 million
McGee at $6 million
Johnson starts at $18 million
Suns owner is cheap
Suns won’t beat Warriors, Clippers and Grizzlies next year
Mavs and Nuggets？
6 months ago Lakers are favorite to win West
Blazers plan to offer max to Ayton
… Sending sign-and-trade Nurkic contract and Bledsoe contract. Hope that can get it done.
I would like Dame’s team to be competitive again, maybe they can get Ayton somehow and that can be a good starting point.
But next year, if every team in the west is healthy, will be super tough to get home court advantage.
Kawhi back, Denver healthy, with Suns, Mavs, Mem and GS… i think Memphis will be the most likely to drop of all those team
With young studs like Bridges, Johnson and if they hang onto him Ayton along with Booker their title window is far from closed.
They invested too much money on CP3, and thus will lose Ayton.
Ayton is always the scapegoat in the Suns land. They treat him like some teenager instead of a #1 draftpick star. They should have invested in him with the extension, instead of aging CP3. Ayton will easily win a title elsewhere.
I can all but guarantee that Ayton will not leave and win a title elsewhere. The only real chance he has is with the suns. He’s going to cost the max, and not many teams can afford that…those that can aren’t an Ayton away from winning a title. Meanwhile, the suns were WCF and then best regular season record in the past two seasons. For such an inexperienced squad, those are huge steps
He may or may not win a title but I would almost guarantee it will be at best as a #2 if not #3
Also, if Ayton is a #1 “draft pick star” how is it that he was a complete no show in the most important game of his career to date? Was not getting the extension last summer an excuse for that performance?
If anything wouldn’t it have been motivation to come out and dominate?
Dude’s 20 years old, bigs as a general rule take time. At his age it’s very hard to say what the future brings.
If he was 20 in his first or second year I’d agree but he’s about to be 24 finishing his 4th year. Always hard to predict the future but after 4 years I think we have enough of a sample size to speculate a little bit
In my mind I meant type 23, for some reason my fingers typed 20.
Devin Booker almost won mvp. He also didn’t show as well Chris Paul is a hof. He also didn’t show up in last game. Just cause the suns lost game 7 u think autonomy is no good. Maybe he does sux but u can’t base it off one game.
After you go to the Finals, you are not inexperienced. They may be young but not inexperienced.
Where were they before the finals? No where. That’s my point, for an inexperienced team to go from cellar dweller to finals and best record the following years are huge steps
@Michol
Ayton is a good young player. Whether he’s worthy of the max based on 16/10/2 is a conversation I’ll leave to others but those numbers aren’t anywhere near elite. Now whether or not those numbers are enhanced or muted by Paul’s style of play is debatable. But if the Sun’s DO offer the max I guarantee you it’s being done with high hopes that he can grow into it and justify it with much better production. I put Embiid, Towns, Giannis, Jokic, AD, e.t.c ahead of Ayton.
Many of his fellow draftees have received max extension. They invested their future on the wrong guy.
You said this last year, and you’re still wrong. I would pay 37 year old Chris Paul infinitely more often that I’d pay Ayton whatever you are suggesting
CP3 is a great player, but Suns should have still prioritized Ayton first and then CP3 in the offseason.
@Michol
you’re acting as if they can’t afford to resign him. rather, I think it’s more of a valuation issue. they simply don’t think he’s worth a max contract.
“Can’t Win It All Chris Paul.”
Im so glad the mavs won game 7. Im a Luka fan, and im not usually hating on players floping here and there, but Booker was floping and screaming to get calls all series long, mocking Luka… Im really happy he is out, he’s really proven to be a fake tough guy. He is a really good player and i hope this makes him change his attitude on and off the court.
On Booker – man, what a way to go out after talking so much junk to Luka all series. On your home court this dude comes in and laughs at you, then you don’t even get a field goal until you’re down 40.
Lol, Luka flops and whines as much as anyone! You wanna see a fake a tough guy? Just look at your boy
One thing is amplifying contact or exaggerate a bit, 99% of players do that. Luka whines and complains A LOT, but he is not a serial flopper like Booker or CP3.
He absolutely is but keep telling yourself that.
Name one player that “doesn’t flop”, besides Giannis who i think is the only superstar/star player that does zero flopping.
That’s the point, everyone is a flopper, even Giannis and Luka. Get over self and stop acting like it isn’t everyone.
If everyone flops, i think CP3 and Booker flops more than Luka by a mile.
That’s because you like Luka. It’s called being biased.
LoL. Arguing about who flops more is based on eye-test, there is no stat to check that. So everyone’s take on that is biased. That’s why my take started with “I think”, and im confident that most of the fans will agree with me, that Booker flops way more than Luka.
And this will be kinda irrelevant, what matter its the caliber of player after all and Luka is miles ahead of Booker, and that will be forever.
I didnt think Phoenix was as good as last year from the beginning, and I was right. I didn’t like the rotation decisions they made in this series, but once they got rid of Kaminsky, they didnt have the floor spacing at the 5 they had last year, and were more reliant on good shooting from Jae Crowder, and their bench rotation wasnt as good either, although I do think there were certain things they should have done differently there
I can only feel for Chris Paul. They blew his chance last year when they went away from everything they did all year after game 2 of the finals. Ayton had good matchups throughout the playoffs that allowed them to get away with him playing so many minutes, but once Milwaukee stopped using Brook Lopez, and they kept Ayton out there, they couldn’t guard Giannis or Portis at the 5, and it made them vulnerable to the corner 3 from guys like Bryn Forbes and Portis, very similarly to how the Heat lost in round 1 vs Milwaukee
I respected what Phoenix did this regular season but still thought they had to prove it in the postseason.
They beat an injured Lakers, an injured Nuggets, and an injured Clippers last year then ultimately lost to Milwaukee with Giannis coming off a knee injury in the previous series. I think that was a legit asterisk.
Plus, we’ve seen even recently with a team like Utah that being a dominant regular season team doesn’t ipso facto translate to the playoffs, where “best guy on the floor wins” is a more realistic outcome than during the first 82.
Having said that, that was one of the most embarrassing games I’ve ever seen in any sport. I’m a fan of Luka so I loved it, but if I was a Phoenix fan I’d be mortified.
I dont subscribe to those narratives. They would have beat Milwaukee if they would have stopped using Ayton for 35+ minutes, and used Kaminsky, after Saric got hurt, the way they did literally all season
I’m not sure how much of a narrative it is to note that every team they beat in the West last year had a lot least one max player out with an injury.
Either way though, agree with it or not, if you doubted the Suns’ ability to win at the highest level going into these playoffs you were vindicated Sunday night.
They still would have beat those teams. Denver and Phoenix were very similar teams, but Phoenix had a tiny edge. The Clippers were also 1 of their tougher matchups, but they made shots, so it didnt matter. Not trying to be hostile or anything. Just saying that people tend to talk about those things for certain teams, and ignore the same situations, or worse, for other teams. It only matters if players that matter in the matchup are out, or if they didnt have other things they could have done rotation wise to make it not matter
With Deandre Ayton having disagreements with coach, and wanting a Max contract, and with Ayton not able to play current day basketball big man perimeter defense, do the Suns reassess their entire game plan and instead of doing a max deal to keep him, do they perform a sign-and-trade for Deandre with another team that feels they could be a big man away?
I could see offering him 16-18 million, or maybe going as high as 22 million, but if their cap situation is at a place where they cant make much of an upgrade anyway, he might be able to get more
I still think it was weird the way they handled the Jalen Smith situation, even though they were able to get Torrey Craig back for him. The only reason he couldn’t get more consistent playing time was them getting Kaminsky back from Sacramento last year, but then when he was hurt, they still dint play Smith, and then got rid of Kaminsky. He would actually be a really strong fit there, if they can keep most of what they have, and bring him back
The only weird thing was declining the 3rd year option on Smith. They decided to move on from Smith (I don’t know why), but (regardless) it was still strange that they declined the option. Saric was the guy they were looking to fill that perimeter big role; he was hurt in the Finals, but they thought he’d be back mid-year. They re-signed Kaminsky to a new 1 year deal to hold the fort and then backup Saric; until then, Smith was backing up Kaminsky. When Kaminsky got hurt early on, Smith did pretty much get his minutes. He played pretty well, but I guess without the ability to retain him they saw it as a rental and thought Craig could help them more. Saric ended up needing a second surgery, and they never really had that skill set covered. I expect them to try to resign Kaminsky – he was released for the roster spot prior to the playoffs, they like him.
I believe DA is restricted so they might not have a choice, if, IDK, Detroit decides to make him a max offer I’m assuming they’d just have to match (then maybe try to flip him down the line)
But if they think bringing this core back is ill-advised (I might…) then moving Ayton in a potential S+T is probably their biggest trade chip. Will be interesting to see what his market value is though
While Ayton has significantly improved, mostly b/c of Chris Paul and the pieces around him, he is expendable. Unless you are certain guys, paying bigs more than a certain amount isnt conducive to building a winning roster, especially when you can get comparable options for very little. That being said, they might have to do so, depending on the position they’re in, but they should definitely at least explore the idea of seeing what they might be able to get for him, if they do end up on that position. That’s not unlike what I said the couple of years, but I havent seen anything to suggest anything has really changed
I don’t think most fans know how tough it is to repeat in the NBA. 1 injury to a starter can knock you out like the Bucks. You can face a team that matches up better than your team and knock you out like Dallas did. Teams need more than just great starters they need a good bench. All 4 teams to the conference finals have good role players off the bench.
Most fans only know 1 guy and the rest dont matter to them b/c that’s what their overlords at espn taught them
Speak for yourself. I know 3 guys.
Mavs did it without their 2nd best scorer too in Hardaway Jr. nobody even mentions him being out, but Saric would’ve helped. C’mon
As trendy as it is to dump on CP, and as much as I hate guys leaking injuries *after* they lose, it’s hard to put the majority of this on him.
The dude is 37 years old. In theory he has two max level guys in their 20s playing next to him for this reason.
What Booker and Ayton did in that game was just flat out embarrassing – Luka POSTED Ayton up in Q1 of a Game 7, shot a fadeaway over him then laughed.
That was a a pure Jordan level cold-blooded dominant performance by LD tonight, and while that should have been enough to get Dallas the win, the magnitude of the loss is Phoenix and their so-called young stars.
Something’s weird about this playoff season. It’s one thing to face a defense that keeps you from MAKING shots but to keep you from TAKING shots is perplexing. Paul and Harden just seemed uninterested in competing.
Phoenix has an excellent team and should run it back with the same group. In addition to Ayton … McGee and Biyombo are both free agents, who were excellent additions at minimal cost.
McGee is an ideal backup … a tough bruiser, plays hard, finishes in the paint.
Biyombo is one of the better big defenders and Phoenix has to be thrilled that they picked him up on the scrapheap for next to nothing. I’m surprised Monty Williams did not utilize him more against the Mavs. He did a tremendous job when inserted in the later games of the series of defending and managed to keep Luka in front of him on mismatches.
Paul still has a lot of juice left in the tank and one of the best floor generals and close out specialists the league has ever seen. He got wore down by Bullock, Ntilikina and Dodo picking him up full court, who are all elite defenders and got targeted on defense, getting into frequent foul trouble. The latter half of that series is a blurb on Paul, but IMO, it’s foolish to scapegoat him or move on from him.
I remember earlier this year when Suns fans were so happy they picked Ayton and not Luka. Funny, I haven’t seen those posts lately.
Their value towards their team is not even close. Booker and Luka would’ve been problems for the entire NBA. Thanks Suns ownership.
Why stop there? Let’s chop the last 5~10 drafts up and I bet we could make 20+ super teams but first we have to point a finger at your team for letting Joker slip to the 2nd Rd
And 32 other teams. I’m more upset the Mavs took Shane Larkin instead of Giannis. Cuban made that pick. Donnie Nelson wanted Giannis.
I’m happy about it still. I’d root for a different team before supporting that euro trash Fluka.
*inserts meme of Luka smiling up at Devon Booker*
*inserts meme into own azz whole for a second time without breaking eye contact because the commies deleted the first comment* and I’ll do it a third time if I have to.
@snowflake – No you wouldn’t. Stop lying. Unless Ayton is your video game buddy.
Yes I would. I dare you to prove I wouldn’t. Bet you can’t.
Ayton over Doncic will be taught in GM school as an example f what GMs shouldn’t do.
*Bagley over Doncic
Also, recency bias
Bagley will be remembered as the biggest mistake. Of course Ayton is a lesser player than Luka, but at least he is an all-star caliber player. Bagley has yet to prove he can be a starter in this league.
If theres a lesson to remember it’s probably in the trade that ATL gave up
Re-living drafts is silly
PHX will be fine, as long as JJ (the anti-2k’er) is running things. In retrospect, maybe his refusal to not just hand Ayton the 5 year max he insisted upon wasn’t as short-sighted as thought. Maybe, in addition, the Bridges extension wasn’t such an “overpay” after all. Since their window closed after last year’s Finals (or so I was told), last night shouldn’t be considered an event.
Yes true I’m with you. Plus if we watched the playoffs at all this year we can see that a 30-point blowout is nothing to be alarmed at as well. There’s quite a few teams that are moving forward that have suffered the wrong side of blowouts in these playoffs. Phoenix will be back but the elephant in the room is will it be with DeAndre ayton or without him?
I’m guessing DA is back in PHX, and no offer sheet back and forth will be needed. JJ and Monty both like him. JJ might have even reached a bit if his agents were so adamant about not sitting down except for a 5 year max. At this point, whatever the market price turns out to be, I think they’ll pay it. It’s a good young core that can compete for the next 10 years. It costs what it costs.
The Suns thought they could play old-man CP3 a lot of minutes. They thought wrong. Whether it’s injury or fatigue, they took that fact for granted. 33mpg in the regular season and then having to overextend him in the playoffs.
To be clear, he’s still a very good/borderline elite player even now, but Father Time waits for no one. At his age, you don’t possess the same level of stamina and, more importantly, don’t recover as quickly so its no surprise he wore down as the series progressed.
That said, it’s also on the rest of the team to not put CP3 in a position where he needs to be the hero down the stretch, which should not have been the case with the amount of talent that they have. If they hadn’t done so, maybe they could’ve scaled him back and allowed him to stay fresher.
Next year, he needs to play 28mpg tops while getting more off days. In any sort of blowout/near-blowout, pull him ASAP and put the onus on the other guys to compete. And during the first few rounds of the playoffs, the Suns need to stick to that target as best as they can unless they absolutely need to extend him in order to secure a victory.
Yes good post I think you’re right. Thing is Phoenix had two good backup point guards ready to go, why not play them more?
A funny way to look at the whole matter is that Steph Curry with his ankle injury sat out about a month. The fear with him is too many minutes also even though he’s a couple years younger than Chris paul.
Same with Draymond Green. They lean on him so much it’s almost a good thing, so to speak, that he sat out two months. Plus of course Klay had two years of rest.
Not sure if that’s the right way to look at things but perhaps it’ll help Golden State in these playoffs? Maybe with the time off Steph Curry won’t have too many 3-15 shooting nights. He always seems to catch fire coming off of injury.
Good question. Frankly, I think Monty is overrated as a head coach. He’s certainly a good coach and a great motivator and developer of talent, but I think he leaves something to be desired with his rotations. The notion that he was outcoached by Kidd in this series I think is a fair one on some levels.
And I think that’s a fair way to look at things. Normally, you might worry about chemistry issues with missing so much time, but that’s where the benefit of having guys who have played so many minutes together comes into play. I think the added rest may serve them better in the long run.
I realize teams always want to secure home court advantage, and for good reason. It has value. But if you’re asking me to choose between pushing my critical old guys hard, particularly one who would run my offense, to move up maybe one spot in the standings I’ll probably prioritize their health instead. Not that this would even apply to the Suns, of course, given how they ran away with the West this past season.