The Phoenix Suns are still waiting on a couple of players to join them in the Disney bubble. Here is an updated look at who that might be.
Ever been wrong? Yeah, me neither. But evidently there is a first time for everything. Last week, I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and amplified by baseline Benoit Blanc accent in an attempt to piece together the Phoenix Suns puzzle of which players possibly tested positive for COVID-19 and have yet to travel to Disney with the team.
To recap, the Arizona Republic reported a few weeks ago that two players tested positive, but unlike other teams around the league, the Suns kept their identity quiet. Then, when it was time to travel to Orlando, the team admitted there were a couple of guys who would not yet make the trip, essentially confirming the Republic’s story.
With social media clues, I narrowed it down to a handful of players and eventually landed on the most likely players being (in order): Frank Kaminsky, Aron Baynes, and Jalen Lecque.
Clues as to which Phoenix Suns players might not be in the bubble have changed.
I felt most confident about Kaminsky due to the lack of social media presence except for a cryptic, “The night is always darkest before the dawn,” Instagram post.
I was way off.
Kaminsky gave an interview for Barstool Sports on Sirius XM Radio where he claimed to be living the bubble life. And if you thought that was some master conspiracy to throw us off the scent, the Suns recently tweeted out a video of an intense Spikeball game with him in the background.
https://twitter.com/Suns/status/1283929047878307843?s=20
So, rule him out.
I actually still like my pick of Aron Baynes. There has still been no evidence the big Aussie is in Disney, however, I’m cooling on Jalen Lecque. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Lecque is in the bubble, but not because of his COVID-19 results. He hasn’t traveled with the team much at all this season and the likelihood of playing time is low, so it seems reasonable he just sat this one out too.
The same goes for Tariq Owens.
So, who did I miss before? What puzzle piece did I attribute to evidence of a particular being in the bubble that was wrong?
Ah hah! Ricky Rubio.
To quote me:
"Rubio posted on his Instagram a message to his wife that he missed her. Unless he is quarantining in a separate location, he is probably in Orlando."
Maybe he really was quarantining separately, and if so, that has to be rough. Can’t be with his family (including his newborn son) and can’t be with this team? Ouch.
Duane Rankin, the original writer of the COVID-19 Arizona Republic story, may agree. On Friday, he asked Monty Williams how Aron Baynes and Ricky Rubio were looking in practice. Williams responded:
"“All of our guys have looked about the same.”"
This might be the biggest non-answer in the history of non-answers and is about as close to an admission as we will likely ever get.
To be fair, there are a few other players who we have yet to see pictorial evidence of their presence in Disney: Mikal Bridges and Elie Okobo. However, just recently, Bridges responded to a fan on Twitter claiming he was, in fact, in the bubble.
Yes lol
— Mikal Bridges (@mikal_bridges) July 16, 2020
So, at this point, I think we can say with high confidence some combination of Baynes, Rubio, and Okobo aren’t in Orlando. If it is only two, I would shift my bet to Baynes and Rubio, but as I said earlier, I’ve been wrong once before.
Regardless, we should be nearing the end of the required quarantine period and assuming these guys produce a couple of negative tests, whoever is absent should be touching down in Disney to rejoin the Phoenix Suns very soon.