It looks like the sun is setting for good on the championship aspirations of the Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Chris Paul-era Phoenix Suns. It’s not an entirely surprising move after the Suns failed to meet their governor’s unrealistic expectations of winning an NBA Championship this season.
Listen, teams make a lot of mistakes when they trade for stars. Some trades become a disaster, while other deals take time for the chemistry to mesh. You could classify the Minnesota Timberwolves as a team in the “trades that take time to evaluate” category and until today, you could have included the Phoenix Suns in that bucket as well.
The problem is usually impatience. Flies fucking know the entire world’s shit. We hear that shit at every fresh pile. Every single fan is tinker-happy in the modern era of sports. You all think you know better than the fucking general managers of these teams.
You want to know some breaking news? You don’t. You don’t fucking know shit. Now, put yourself in the shoes of a person who just acquired an NBA team. It is not all that much different than handing the keys to an NBA franchise over to pretty much any fan.
The reality is pretty obvious. Almost all incoming team ownership groups are looking to make their own mark on the franchise. By the fucking way, they ARE owners, not fucking governors. The “woke” spin in this league is fucking ridiculous sometimes, the NBA isn’t fooling anybody but themselves.
With that being said, new owners like to tinker with their new toys. Unfortunately, experienced general managers such as Danny Ainge absolutely feast on incoming or desperate ownership groups in professional sports. Ainge has fleeced some teams more than once. Cough, Timberwolves, cough.
The impatience, naivety, and arrogance of incoming ownership groups is almost all too predictable at this point. They take a swing for the fences and guess what? It usually doesn’t work out as envisioned. However, is that a good enough reason to abandon ship right away?
Big kudos to the transitioning Minnesota Timberwolves ownership group led by Mark Lore and legendary baseball player Alex Rodriguez for not pulling a Mat Ishbia yet this offseason. Both the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves corked the bats with blockbuster trades recently.
The well-documented and unfairly scrutinized acquisition of Rudy Gobert for the Timberwolves did not lead to the kind of success many people’s expectations set for the 2022-23 season. They also ran into the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
For what it’s worth, heading into the NBA Finals, the Nuggets had only lost a total of three playoff games. One of those losses was to the Wolves while the other two losses came at the mercy of the Phoenix Suns.
Think about that for a moment. The Denver Nuggets look like the best team in the NBA playoffs. They literally were on cruise control throughout the playoffs and Nikola Jokić has even found enough spare time to FaceTime his horses back in Serbia.
That’s from the official NBA on ESPN Twitter account, y’all. Confirmed sources, always accurate. Let’s get back to basketball though. The only two teams capable of pulling off a win against the Nuggies in the Western Conference Playoffs were the Suns and the Wolves. Two teams linked together through guilt by association.
Like the Wolves, the Suns decided to get their sluggers to the plate with a pinch-hitting blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant leading up to the NBA trade deadline. On March 3, 2023, the Suns sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, and four first-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for the Slim Reaper and T.J. Warren. The two teams also swapped their 2028 first-round picks.
Both the Wolves and Suns made similar sacrifices to take a win-now approach. In Minnesota’s case, Karl-Anthony Towns was injured for a majority of the regular season. He missed a total of 51 consecutive games due to a torn right calf muscle.
Yet, Ant Edwards and crew still made the fucking playoffs. They fought and clawed their way in only to run into a Nikola Jokić-sized wall that the rest of the NBA is learning is, well, no joke.
More importantly, Ant and KAT got a taste of what is required to make the leap to contender status. It’s not going to be easy. Just ask the goat himself, Michael Jordan, who did not even win his first playoff series until his fourth NBA season.
Sometimes it takes patience to get where you want to go in the NBA. Patience is key. Perhaps Lore and Rodriguez understand this now. They certainly did not do any ill-advised knee-jerk reactions after their playoff elimination. It’s business as usual around the Wolves’ practice facilities.
Chris Finch is eager to get back to coaching this group of guys and the players are ready to take another crack at it next season, together. Flies around the Wolves are reporting team unity, Jaden McDaniels shooting basketballs again, and a pack that appears hungry for success.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns eventually ran into that same Nikola-sized wall, guarded by the Joker himself. The Suns could not seem to find their bat signal and ultimately were eliminated from the playoffs. That led to new team owner Mat Ishbia making the decision to fire head coach Monty Williams. Interesting knee-jerk move.
Some flies even speculated that Durant was looking forward to playing under Monty again. Now Williams is gone just a few months after Durantula joined the team. So much for that. Which leads to a lot of questions regarding why Phoenix is making the decision to move on from CP3.
Assuming there are no internal locker room issues between Booker, Durant, and Paul, there really is no reason to move on from one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. A Fly On The Ball caught up with some fresh piles in the Phoenix area to get the full scoop.
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In a shocking decision that seems to be mutual for both parties, the Phoenix Suns are officially shopping Chris Paul with the full intention of waiving him when no suitor is found. Luckily for Suns fans, Utah Jazz general manager Danny Ainge is not currently accepting phone calls from a 602 area code.
It took a while but after doing some digging, A Fly On The Ball has uncovered the truth behind why Phoenix is waiving Chris Paul. It really comes down to creative differences, which is just a fancy way to hide termination status through age discrimination.
Paul believes he has a lot left in the tank. The Suns, not so much. In fact, the city of Phoenix has made it clear they are looking to “attract talent” which means they might not be very happy with some of their current employees.
In order to make room for this new talent, the city has to let some of its employees go. As seen by a fly on the wall, Chris Paul is at the very top of that list. Meanwhile, Chris Paul is not ready to accept the reality that Father Time is catching up.
Like most people clinging to their glory days, CP3 isn’t ready to let go of his playing career just yet. Sure, there are a lot of jokes that could be made about retirement here, but none of them work. However, there seems to be more than meets the eye here.
City officials in Phoenix are serious about attracting new talent but they realize the area might have a bit of a branding problem. It’s full of retired and elderly people. Some locals are pushing back with an agenda to see Phoenix transition from a retirement community to a hip, youthful scene.
It’s out with the Metamucil and in with the edibles for the new Phoenix youth movement. Attracting promising, vibrant minds has been a challenge for the historically well-preserved community. For starters, the majority of restaurants get busy right around 4 p.m. every single day as they struggle to meet the demands of the early bird special dinner rush.
Retirees flock to these restaurants in massive numbers just to save a few fucking bucks on their meal. By the time normal people show up to eat dinner after 6 p.m., it’s slim pickins. You can eat anything you like as long as it’s lukewarm leftovers at that point. I’d rather eat shit because I’m a fucking fly.
On top of that, retired people wake up on Monday with absolutely nothing to do. In fact, every single day of a retired person’s life is the weekend. Imagine that. Sounds rough.
As a result, if you drive through a retired community on any morning, it’s like a ghost town. Everything is closed except for the country club, a curling salon, and a fucking Denny’s. Hope you like playing bingo at 9 a.m. on a Saturday fucking morning. That’s what living in Phoenix is like.
It might not sound like the tits to you but Chris Paul was just getting comfortable and ready to make Phoenix his own retirement community choice. Unfortunately for CP3, the 12-time NBA All-Star known as The Point God just isn’t a good fit for the hip, youthful Phoenix scene that city officials are trying to establish.
From participating in shuffleboard to competitive speed walking, the 38-year-old dinosaur has been all over TV showing the world how he is preparing for life after basketball. Phoenix is where Chris Paul and his family call home.
Now the city of Phoenix is asking Chris Paul and his grandchildren to leave because he is just too old. Elderly people are no longer are welcome in Phoenix, Arizona. Will your parents be asked to leave next?
Only time will tell, assuming they have any time left before they’re kicked out. Pretty soon your parents will be living in your basement thanks to the new direction Phoenix is taking citywide. Chris Paul was only the first domino to fall.
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