Ahead of the Phoenix Suns‘ opening matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, they had love from one of their own, Jamal Crawford. While the Suns could overachieve this season, Crawford said on the Pat McAfee Show that he believes they can utilize the underdog status.
“I think Phoenix is the dark horse in the West,” Crawford said. “The reason why is because when Durant first went to Phoenix, he and Booker were almost overpassing each other the ball, it seems at some point they had lost that kind of continuity, but I think the Olympics got it back.”
Durant was traded to the Suns in the middle of the 2022-23 season. While he only played eight games, it was a case of both superstars trying to be mindful of each other. Crawford said it best, they were passing each other the ball too much. Although they both showed out in the playoffs, they fell in the semifinals to the Denver Nuggets in six games.
Fast forward one season and Phoenix brings in Bradley Beal. The Big 3 only played a combined 41 games together throughout the season. Once again, there was an issue of who would score, handle the ball, and who could take a backseat. There were more factors besides the overall play.
Jamal Crawford believes the offseason did wonders for the Suns
Coaching and a lack of a point guard dominated criticisms of Phoenix. In that offseason though, they signed Tyus Jones and hired Mike Budenholzer as the next head coach. Crawford emphasized how important those signings were for a team loaded with All-NBA talent.
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“Having a point guard in Tyus Jones, who’s as solid as they come,” Crawford said. “He’ll take the thinking out for those guys. Do what you do best, go score buckets. Brad, Book, and KD, I’ll do the thinking (for you), I’ll put you guys in position. And (don’t forget about) Coach Bud (Budenholzer), he’s a great coach as well.
In the middle of that season was the 2024 Olympics, where Durant and Booker represented Team USA. Both players were essential in the Gold Medal for the United States. Booker was labeled as the ‘unsung Team USA MVP’ by head coach Steve Kerr. Durant offered that dynamic scoring punch down the stretch. In his first game back, he scored 23 points on eight of nine shooting in only 17 minutes. Crawford detailed a minor but crucial moment after winning the Gold Medal with the Phoenix stars.
“Booker is one of the most important players, not because he was scoring, but because he was doing everything else,” Crawford said. “Durant was doing everything else and then afterward a small thing, but a big thing, they go on vacation together right after the Olympics.”
It’s clear the Gold Medal run helped, as both are in top-tier basketball shape, physically and mentally. Still, Phoenix has doubters after an embarrassing end to the 2023-24 season. They’ll aim to keep the dark horse mentality before their regular season begins against the Clippers.