The situation at the Suns is open in terms of the market. The team that has wowed the past two years may have peaked. The 2021 runner-up got into a hole in 2022 during the playoffs that still cost him his life. And, after a good start to the season, he has lowered his benefits due to the prolonged absences of Devin Booker and Chris Paul, the operation of Cam Johnson and the lack of steps forward from the other members of the squad.
While the team burns Y answers are sought in the coach, players, board of directors and other entities, there are a team member who sees it from outside: Jae Crowder.
The franchise informed the 32-year-old veteran forward in the summer that they wanted to trade him. In response to this, the player abandoned the usual discipline and left the wheel until a solution was found: either his reincorporation into the game or an exit to another team. None of this has been resolved and now it is used, at least as a souvenir, given the lack of solutions in the matches. Chris Haynes has spoken with him to Bleacher Report about the state it is in.
“I have spoken with every player I have lived with in that team and they have all told me how much they miss me despite the fact that they respect my decision. And I am grateful for your understanding. This move to take me out the door was a shock not only to me but also to my colleagues, as can be seen by talking to them.”
“I will continue to prepare myself daily to fight and continue to be a leader on and off the track and in the locker room. I have gratitude for my colleagues, who appreciated my work. I am still confused and hurt with the coaches, who did not appreciate the things that he brought to the team and to the franchise as much. And it has nothing to do with contractual or financial differences.”
From the words of Mikal Bridges, who shares a position with him, which are added to that information, the Suns do not agree with everything that has caused his departure from the team -for now momentarily- and the position is understood from Jae Crowder:
“He is one of our leaders. I wrote to him not long ago to tell him how much I miss him. He is my man. But this is what happens in the NBA. I know he wants to be here, but that’s how this league is sometimes. It’s my fifth year here and I understand how it can be. Sometimes you have to protect yourself. We would like to have you”
Issues
Since that tie with the Mavericks everything has gone downhill. The three injuries mentioned above have not helped, of course, but there is more to understand the mess the Suns have gotten into. It is said in the Phoenix forums that the harshness with which Chris Paul treated his teammates in the series with the Pelicans, the one before his elimination, ended up undermining everyone’s morale and making them look the other way when Doncic and his boys they went to a bloody battle against them. The strange feeling that DeAndre Ayton’s re-contract has left (with the team refusing to renew him for the maximum being a number one, then receiving the qualifying offer from the Pacers because he was a restricted free agent, being almost forced to match the 133 million, the statements by the player in which he let it be seen that he was not speaking with Monty Williams…) is another damaged engine. The last straw has been having one of the most callous players in the NBA sitting on the sofa at home for a riot. And, meanwhile, the sale process of the Suns and the Mercury is about to be completed by a group led by Matt Ishbia for 4,000 million dollars. On the court they survive with secondary players like Damion Lee, Josh Okogie, Dario Saric or Torrey Craig, very secondary players like Duane Washington, Jock Landale, Ishmail Wainright or Saben Lee and what they contribute -not as they should- Shamet or Payne along with Ayton or Bridges .
