Phoenix Suns star Bradley Beal believes the team could have been the one seed if he had stayed healthy last season.
The Phoenix Suns have plenty of issues to work through in advance of the 2024-25 NBA season, which is now just two weeks away. While Bradley Beal recently cast praise on the team’s rookies who were drafted this summer, it’s unlikely they will receive much playing time this year, leaving it up to Beal and his veteran teammates to carry the load once again.
They didn’t do a great job of that last year, as the team was swept in embarrassing fashion by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs after a frustrating regular season. Still, that isn’t stopping Beal from dropping a confident hot take about how things may have shaken out had Phoenix stayed healthier, via “Run Your Race,” per Tidal League.
“I missed 30 games and we won 49 games… If I played half of them games, we are the number 1 seed in the West, or at least competing for the number one seed,” said Beal.
What went wrong vs the Timberwolves?
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Beal also spoke on that infamous Suns’ series vs the Timberwolves, one in which he struggled mightily from the field for the majority of the four games.
“It’s tough, man, because we’re competitors,” said Beal. “I ain’t gonna say we ran into the wrong team, but we ran into the wrong team. Because the way they play, they are huge. Very physical, very physical game. But they made shots. Like, Rudy (Gobert) didn’t miss a free throw. We’re trying to foul him, and he’s hitting 80, 90 at the line.”
While it may not make the pill any easier to swallow for Suns fans, the Timberwolves indeed play out of their minds for large portions of that series vs Phoenix, before riding that momentum to a shocking upset of the Denver Nuggets in round two before fizzling out in their Western Conference Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Meanwhile, the Suns have now failed to make it past the second round for the third straight year following their surprise trip to the NBA Finals in 2021, and their trade for Beal last offseason is looking like it could be one of the worst decisions in modern NBA history if things don’t get turned around quickly.
In any case, Phoenix is set to open up its new season on October 23 on the road vs the Los Angeles Clippers. The team will then stay in the City of Angels for a date with the Lakers two nights later.