NBA Did Phoenix Suns Dirty By Inviting Them to Bubble

 

On Thursday, the Phoenix Suns won again to improve to 8-0 inside the NBA bubble. However, because the Blazers and Grizzlies also won, those two teams will play in this weekend’s play-in game(s) and the Suns season is over. 

Is that fair? Yes and no.

Coming into the NBA restart, the Suns were 13th place in the West, ahead of only the Wolves and Warriors and trailed the 8th seed by 6 games and 4 other teams. 

Entering the restart, it seemed like an impossible task to think the Suns could make the playoffs. It turns out, it was an impossible task. And the NBA is the only one to blame here. 

Back in June, Damian Lillard was quoted as saying he and the Blazers only want to partake in the restart if they have a chance to make the playoffs. That should have been the whole point of including the teams below the 8th place line in the standings. If the Suns never had a chance, they never should have been included in these plans.

Sure, you can blame the Suns, who obviously didn’t win enough games between November and March. But the NBA teased them with false hope. 
It’s crazy to think a team could go 8-0 and not make the playoffs, but here we are.

The only reason the Suns got the invite is because the teams in the West were all so close together in the battle for the 8 seed and the NBA rightfully wanted to give teams like the Blazers, Pelicans and Spurs a fair chance. However, because they did it for the West, they had to do it for the East. The problem with that, is the Wizards were terrible and had no business being in Orlando. The Suns and Kings both had a better record than the Wizards, which obviously meant if the Wizards have to be part of these plans, so do the Suns and Kings.

In hindsight, the NBA never should have invited the Wizards though, who finished 1-7 with their only win coming against the G-League Celtics on Thursday. They played all 8 games without Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans, who both opted out prior to the restart. 

Back to the Suns – good for them for going 8-0! Monty Williams is an excellent coach, Devin Booker is a superstar, and there is finally reason for optimism in the desert. Bubble served a valuable purpose from a developmental and positive momentum standpoint.

But despite all of the excitement, the NBA did them dirty by teasing this idea that they were invited to the Orlando restart and had a fair chance to make the playoffs. Next time a pandemic derails the NBA season, they should do a round-robin style battle with 3-4 teams, at most, and give them a shot at the 8 seed.