Phoenix Suns

The problems might only be beginning for the Phoenix Suns in the wake of their 123-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals.

Deandre Ayton only logged 17 minutes, finishing with five points, four rebounds and two assists. Asked about Ayton's usage, head coach Monty Williams described it as an "internal" decision.

Reporters couldn't ask the center for his thoughts because he declined to do any media.

Adding to the intrigue, Suns star Devin Booker didn't exactly give a ringing endorsement of Ayton, who's due to hit restricted free agency this summer:

In isolation, Booker's comment could be chalked up as a player struggling to find the right words so soon after a demoralizing loss.

But the questions about Ayton's long-term future with the Suns have been hovering since the rookie extension deadline passed without him and the team hammering out a long-term deal.

Others from the 2018 draft class, most notably Luka Doncic and Trae Young—have already inked max deals. However, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported last October that negotiations between Phoenix and Ayton's representatives "have been slowed by ownership's current assertion that Ayton doesn't deserve to be included in that group of players."

Giving a center max money doesn't tend to be a sound investment in today's NBA. During the Suns' run to the 2021 NBA Finals, Ayton at least seemed to show he could be a key figure on a championship contender. He averaged 15.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 22 games.

Now, the likelihood of the 2018 No. 1 overall pick leaving Phoenix may have grown. The front office presumably won't feel any more comfortable about putting a max contract on the table, and if the Suns don't, somebody else might.

It's difficult not to draw some parallels between this and the fallout from the Philadelphia 76ers' exit at this same stage last year.

Even though Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid both threw Ben Simmons under the bus to varying degrees, surely all of the important parties would cool off during the offseason and get back on the right page. Instead, Simmons' relationship with the organization never recovered.

Perhaps Ayton stays in Phoenix, and all is resolved by opening night next fall. In the event he's playing elsewhere when the 2022-23 season tips off, the signs of a potential fissure between him and the Suns will have been there for some time.

Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul was reportedly nursing a quad injury during the team's Western Conference Semifinal series against the Dallas Mavericks. 

According to Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Paul was dealing with a left quad injury and left his press conference with a limp following the team's 33-point Game 7 loss on Sunday night. 

The All-Star guard was not at his best throughout the conference semifinal, and Sunday served as a stern reminder. 

After scoring 47 points over the first two games of the series, Paul mustered that same total over the ensuing five games—including a meager 10-point outing with the Suns' season on the line Sunday. 

In fact, Paul didn't record his first made field goal in Game 7 until the third quarter when the team trailed by 40. 

With the offseason now underway, Paul will look to get healthy and set his sights on lifting the Suns back to the NBA finals in 2023. 

"We’ll be right back here next year," he told reporters. "I’m not retiring”

After the Phoenix Suns were blown out in Sunday's Game 7 against the Dallas Mavericks, veteran point guard Chris Paul immediately put any questions about his future to rest.

Paul told reporters that he intends to return to the Suns next season, saying, "We'll be right back here next year. ... I'm not retiring."

Paul, who turned 37 earlier this month, would be entering his 18th year in the NBA next season. While he is considered to be one of the best point guards of all time, Paul's career has been plagued by postseason shortcomings. Despite another disappointment, he appears to be undeterred in chasing that championship ring that has eluded him so far.

However, years of high-level battles may be starting to take their toll on Paul. After averaging 23.5 points in the first two games of the series against Dallas, Paul notably looked exhausted as the series continued. He averaged just 9.4 points over the final five games.

Paul is signed through the 2024-25 season, so Phoenix is committed to the 12-time All-Star. Having him back in the fold will help the franchise remain among the top contenders in the Western Conference next year, but there's still work to do to keep the core together.

The Suns have a major decision to make this offseason regarding young center Deandre Ayton, who is set to be a restricted free agent after the team chose not to sign him to an extension when he became eligible last year. The 23-year-old is likely to garner a massive amount of interest from other teams around the league, which will make it a challenge for Phoenix to retain him.

The Phoenix Suns were thoroughly defeated in Sunday's Game 7 123-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

When speaking to reporters after the blowout, Suns star Devin Booker could only describe it as a "Good old-fashioned ass-whupping, end to end."

When asked about his biggest disappointment with Sunday's result, Booker responded, "Just that we lost. That's the biggest thing. And the fashion that we did it in."

Booker scored 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting in his lowest-scoring game of the postseason. Cam Johnson led Phoenix with 12 points off the bench. Chris Paul and Ish Wainright chipped in 10 points apiece, though all of Wainright's baskets came in the game's final four minutes. The Suns shot 37.9 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from three-point range as the Mavericks put together a stellar defensive performance.

"Just a tough game," Paul said. "All season long we tried to lean on our defense, tonight our defense wasn't there, our offense wasn't there either."

Luka Doncic led Dallas with 35 points and 10 rebounds, while Spencer Dinwiddie torched Phoenix for 30 points off the bench. Jalen Brunson added 24 points as the Mavericks reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time since their championship season in 2011.

After finishing with a 64-18 record, the Suns were the favorites to make a second straight trip to the NBA Finals. Despite the crushing loss, Booker is already looking to turn the page and move on.

"You just have to stand up and be a man about it," he said. "Accept the loss and move forward."

If Chris Paul was looking for any sympathy following Sunday's disappointing 123-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns star won't find it with Patrick Beverley.

Former NBA point guard Jeremy Lin reflected on Paul's larger body of work and said the 37-year-old "deserves" to taste victory in the NBA Finals. Beverley disagreed:

If one applied a very literal definition of the word "deserve," then Beverley probably has a point.

Paul has spent 17 seasons in the NBA and reached the playoffs on 14 occasions. He has certainly had plenty of opportunities to earn the most glaring omission from his Hall of Fame resume.

The 37-year-old has encountered some bad luck—most notably the hamstring injury in 2018 that might have cost the Houston Rockets a spot in the NBA Finals. But he has also deserved some blame in his teams' postseason exits, too.

But it's easy to see the wider point Lin was making.

Paul is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, yet the absence of a title might overshadow a lot of what he achieved on the court. He could potentially join the likes of Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor and Patrick Ewing as the one of the best players never to win a championship.

Of course, it's all relative.

Beverley and plenty of others around the Association might be thrilled to swap places with Paul and be considered a great who couldn't win the big one rather than somebody whose contributions will likely be lost to history over time. 

Around this time last year, Chris Paul was rewriting his career narrative as he helped the Phoenix Suns reach the NBA Finals. Now, the future Hall of Famer might be right back at square one.

Phoenix suffered a 123-90 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.

To be clear, this was a collective failure from the Suns. Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant summed it up:

Paul was singled out for a lot of criticism because of his marginal impact on the game. He finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting and four assists. His first made field goal didn't come until the third quarter when the Suns were trailing by 40 points.

The discussion also centered on what this could mean for Paul with regard to the bigger picture. He's perhaps the greatest player of his generation without a championship ring, though some of that is simply down to rotten luck.

Still, the 37-year-old went to Phoenix with an eye on a title, and it looked like this finally might be his moment. Instead, he has taken a massive step backward in that pursuit.

Absent him taking off one of his shoes and having a seat at half court, it's difficult to envision how this game could've gone worse for Paul.

When CP3 committed to a four-year, $120 million extension, it was both an affirmation of the franchise's status as contenders and a bit of a bargain based on what he contributed in his first season in Phoenix.

In light of recent events, getting Paul to take a partially guaranteed salary ($15.8 million) might come in handy down the road for general manager James Jones. 

Facing a winner-take-all Game 7 against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker is focused on the task ahead.

Speaking to reporters after Saturday's practice, Booker said the Suns are "locked in" ahead of their first must-win game of the season.

"That's why we play the sport," he added. "We thought we had something going there [in terms of pressure] during the regular season, trying to break the franchise record, and this is a whole different beast."

Even though the series is tied 3-3, the individual games haven't been close at all. Only two games have been decided by fewer than 10 points, and the average margin of victory is 17.2 points.

The Suns won Game 5 by 30 points to take a 3-2 series lead. Dallas responded with a 113-86 win in Game 6 on its home floor.

Home teams have won all six games thus far. The Suns, as the No. 1 overall seed in the Western Conference, have the benefit of playing Sunday's game in front of their fans at Footprint Center.

Phoenix led the NBA with 32 home wins during the regular season. It has won five of six games on its home court in the postseason. The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Suns in Game 2 in the first round.

Sunday marks the first Game 7 in a playoff series for the Suns since the 2005-06 season. They defeated the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers in seven games in the first two rounds before losing to the Mavs in the Western Conference Finals in six games.

Chris Paul's performance could determine how the Suns fare in this game. He is averaging 9.3 points and has 18 turnovers in the past four games. The 12-time All-Star averaged 22.6 points and had a total of 13 turnovers through Phoenix's first eight playoff games.

Booker is coming off one of his worst games of the postseason. He scored 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting and committed eight turnovers in 39 minutes in Game 6. The 25-year-old scored at least 28 points and shot 55.6 percent from three-point range in three of the previous four games.

The Mavericks and Suns will play Game 7 on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET with a spot in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors up for grabs.    

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic said he's enjoyed the verbal exchanges with the Phoenix Suns throughout the teams' second-round playoff series.

"I like when people trash talk to me," Doncic told reporters after the Mavs' 113-86 win Thursday night to force a Game 7. "It gets me going. It's fun."

The comments come after Suns guard Devin Booker stayed down for several seconds after being fouled in Game 5 on Tuesday before calling the act, "the Luka special."

Doncic took heat after a Game 5 performance where here finished with more turnovers (four) than assists (two) in a 110-80 Phoenix victory.

The three-time All-Star bounced back in a major way Thursday. He tallied 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and just one turnover in 35 minutes as Dallas scored a 113-86 win to level the series at three games apiece.

It continued a trend of Doncic putting on a show in elimination games, per ESPN's Marc J. Spears:

The 23-year-old Slovenian sensation isn't worried about his own numbers, though.

"I don't care about stats as long as we win," Doncic said. "If we win, I'm good. The statistics don't really matter to me, but if we win, it's going to be amazing. I think we won this game on the defensive end, and we've got another game."

Mavs head coach Jason Kidd was happy with his point guard's bounce-back outing.

"Elimination is I guess the word that you guys use, but it's just another game for us on this journey, and our journey is to win a championship," Kidd said. "Sometimes it ends early, sometimes you're able to play until June. I think he just enjoys the moment. He's not afraid of the stage."

Another standout showing from Doncic would go a long way in helping the Mavericks upset the top-seeded Suns, who owned the NBA's best record at 64-18 during the regular season.

If Dallas is going to make that happen, it'll have to buck the trend of all six games in the series being won by the home team.

The series returns to the Footprint Center in Phoenix for Game 7 on Sunday.

The Dallas Mavericks kept their season alive with a 113-86 win over the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Thursday, and it was largely thanks to the bully-ball played by star point guard Luka Doncic.

The 23-year-old dissected the Suns defense to finish with 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. With Doncic leading the charge, the Mavericks shot a scorching 41 percent from three-point range.

Doncic wasn't only praised for his production on Thursday, but also his attitude when facing potential elimination.

Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, who is forever tied to Doncic after they were traded for each other in the 2018 NBA draft, couldn't help but to be among the many people who admired the energy Doncic played with to help his team live to fight another day.

Facing the top-seeded Suns, the Mavericks weren't expected to put up this much of a fight. Game 7 will be in Phoenix, and Dallas has struggled away from home in this series. But the team has an ace in its pocket in Doncic.

The last time Doncic was faced with a Game 7, he poured in 46 points and 14 assists. It can be expected that he will be locked in once again in another win-or-go-home scenario.

Dallas has the chance to pull off the biggest upset of this year's playoffs. Doncic will have to be at his absolute best if the Mavericks hope to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the team's 2011 championship run.