Suns complete their high-priced flop, won't make postseason after dismal year

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Suns complete their high-priced flop, won't make postseason after dismal year

2025-04-10 13:45 Last Updated At：13:51

PHOENIX (AP) — The NBA's highest-paid team is officially among its lowest performers this season.

The Phoenix Suns — with a roster that included an All-Star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal — were eliminated from postseason contention Wednesday night when they fell 125-112 to the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder for their eighth straight loss.

In a sign at just how bad the season has become, all eight of those losses were by double figures.

The Dallas Mavericks wrapped up the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament and the Suns will go home after their regular-season finale against Sacramento on Sunday.

“There’s not one thing or one person or one player or one coach that’s the problem,” Booker said. “When you’ve had a season this bad, it’s a bunch of things. I think the most frustrating part is being that close a few years ago, and now being back to where we are.”

Booker was referencing 2021, when the Suns reached the NBA Finals before losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. The franchise has endured an agonizing backward slide after adding Durant and Beal in a pair of blockbuster trades.

The group never reached its perceived potential in two full seasons together.

Not even close.

The Suns finished with a 49-33 record last season before getting swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. This season was even worse — Phoenix is 35-45 and became less competitive as the season progressed.

Durant and Booker have been fairly healthy and productive this year, but Beal has been hurt for big chunks of the schedule and first-year coach Mike Budenholzer could never figure out a consistent playing rotation. At 36 years old, Durant was still one of the best scorers in the NBA, averaging 26.6 points per game and making his 15th All-Star team.

Phoenix actually started the season with an 8-1 record, but Durant went down with a calf strain and the tailspin started. Even when he returned, the Suns could never regain their early form.

“There's no answer for it, there's no words for it,” Booker said after the Suns lost by 38 to the Warriors on Tuesday night. “Nothing I can say can really make it better.”

Durant missed the past five games with a sprained ankle, which only exacerbated the freefall.

Wholesale changes could be coming to the franchise over the next few months. Budenholzer — an Arizona native brought to the desert with much fanfare — might not be around to lead a second.

He didn't speculate on his future after Wednesday's loss.

“It's pretty raw right now, it's pretty fresh,” Budenholzer said. “It's been tough. There's no doubt about it. We haven't been as good as we've needed to be and expected to be.”

The only player who seems certain to be on the Suns next year is Booker, who has played all 10 of his NBA seasons in the desert. He said establishing a better team culture — no matter who is around — will be critical to bouncing back next season.

“I think that's one of the steps that we skipped,” Booker said. “Learning through the wins and the loss, continuing to get better every day, no matter what the circumstances are. We had spots where we did it, but it has to be something that's turned on at all times.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Vegas moves on with 3-2 win in series clincher, as Wild go 1-and-done yet again

2025-05-02 12:16 Last Updated At：12:21

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jack Eichel and Mark Stone made clear they belong together, on a Vegas first line that can be one of the most potent in these NHL playoffs.

Eichel and Stone each had a goal and an assist and Adin Hill made 29 saves for the Golden Knights, who became the first Western Conference team to reach the second round with a 3-2 victory in Game 6 that ousted the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

“They gave us everything we could handle,” Eichel said. “They played so hard.”

Shea Theodore scored on a power play early in the first period, Eichel got his first goal of the series late in the second period and Stone had the critical late score for Vegas, which will face the winner of the Edmonton-Los Angeles series. The Oilers took a 3-2 lead on the Kings into Game 6 on their home ice later on Thursday.

The Wild have lost nine consecutive series, tied for the third-longest streak in NHL history, according to Sportradar. Their skid of eight straight one-and-done appearances is tied for the second-longest in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Wild, who last made it out of the first round 10 years ago, got two goals from Ryan Hartman, including a wraparound with 3:27 left that came 31 seconds after Stone had given the Golden Knights a two-goal lead.

Stone, who set up Eichel with a long pass out of the zone that was inches out of reach of the stick of Kirill Kaprizov after he dived to try to prevent the breakaway that beat goalie Filip Gustavsson, had four points in the last three games.

“Everyone stepped up at different parts of the series and found ways to contribute,” Eichel said. “That’s how you win this time of year.”

Neither Stone nor Eichel recorded a single point in the first three games, thanks in part to the bruising Wild who frequently took away the middle of the ice and most of the Golden Knights' opportunities to use their speed.

Coach Bruce Cassidy shuffled the lines for Game 4, which helped ignite more of an attack. The absence of Pavel Dorofeyev in Game 6 prompted Cassidy to reunite Eichel and Stone in the top trio alongside William Karlsson.

“They got better as the series went on,” Cassidy said.

Hartman tied the game for the Wild with 4 seconds left in the first period, a goal safe from replay review unlike his go-ahead score in Game 5 with 1:15 remaining in regulation that was revoked for an offside call after Vegas challenged.

The Golden Knights went on to win their second straight overtime decision, before finishing off the Wild with a third consecutive one-goal win.

“We hear the noise of getting by the first round. We understand it,” Wild left wing Marcus Foligno said. “We really felt like we could’ve done it this year, and that’s the disappointing part, right?”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL