Despite sweeping the Minnesota Timberwolves’ emphatic sweep of the Phoenix Suns, Charles Barkley is refusing to give the team their flowers just yet. Speaking about the Wolves’ size advantage, Barkley never expected Kevin Durant and co. to win the first-round series. But by dismissing the Minnesota side’s achievement, the Chuckster is being questionable, to say the least.
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Barkley spent four seasons of his illustrious 16-year career playing for the Phoenix Suns. So, it was not surprising to see him support Frank Vogel’s team during the first-round encounter. But, despite being discontent after the Arizona side was humiliated 0-4, Barkley refused to give Anthony Edwards and Co. much credit. Constantly reminding everyone of the size advantage that the Wolves had, the Inside the NBA analyst said the following.
“They beat a mediocre Suns team because the Suns are just too little. Now, when they beat a team that they don’t have a size advantage over going forward, then imma give them their flowers. I was totally surprised they swept my Suns. Shocker.
Suns got no bench, they got no size… Great win against a mediocre Suns team. But, it was an easy matchup for those guys,” Barkley said.
With the Denver Nuggets expected to defeat the Lakers, the Wolves are slated to face the reigning champions in the second round [per NBA.com]. A win against Nikola Jokic and Co. would have to be appreciated by Barkley. For, the Colorado side is also one squad known for using their size to an advantage. And of course, in terms of just pure quality, the Colorado side is a massive step up from Phoenix.
It seems evident that the Suns’ early elimination from the playoffs has Charles contradicting many of his takes. Despite what he claims about the Minnesota side having an unfair size advantage, the Phoenix Suns were the favored side entering the postseason, having had a 3-0 record in the regular season against Minnesota [per Statmuse].
Unfortunately for them, the lack of a pass-first point guard in addition to a traditional big man seemed to have huge implications for the Suns in the best-of-seven-games series. And in the end, Anthony Edwards and Co. made quick work of them.
Kevin Durant was never comfortable with the Phoenix Suns’ offense
When Bradley Beal had just been acquired in the summer of 2023, the Phoenix Suns were touted to be the greatest offensive unit in the modern NBA. However, there were several doubts about the team’s lineup – how could three ball-dominant players co-exist and how could two traditional shooting guards share the court at the same time?
Initially, each of the big three – Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker – downplayed such doubts by constantly speaking about passing the rock and having faith in the other. However, reports now suggest that KD was never comfortable with the Suns’ offensive plays.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania, KD was struggling to find answers to the questions that were constantly brought up by the media and naysayers.
“Durant had persistent issues with the offense, feeling that he was being relegated to the corner far too often and not having the proper designs to play to his strengths as the offense was built around pick-and-rolls.”
Being the far more cohesive offense, the Wolves moved the ball well on offense and lodged 24.5 assists per game. Whereas with the Suns recording just 19.8 assists per game (14th in the playoff per Statmuse), it is evident that they were struggling without a traditional play-making floor general in the lineup.
Additionally, putting up the worst rebounding stats across all the teams in the playoffs, per NBA.com, Phoenix also was in dire need of a traditional center with capable two-way abilities.
It goes without saying, the Suns front office has many things to consider during the upcoming offseason.
