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Phoenix Suns have Zion and the Wizards to thank for ushering in their new era

NEW ORLEANS, LA - FEBRUARY 4: Zion Williamson #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans reacts to a play during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on February 4, 2020 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - FEBRUARY 4: Zion Williamson #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans reacts to a play during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on February 4, 2020 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images)

The Phoenix Suns have Zion Williamson and the Washington Wizards to thank for ushering in their new era of great basketball.

While there are a few teams who have looked really good in the bubble thus far (Raptors, Nuggets, Celtics to name a few), no one has been more of a breakout than the Phoenix Suns.

Coming into the NBA restart with about a 500-1 chance (seriously) to make the NBA Playoffs, they have made up serious ground on the 8th-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and find themselves 1.5 games outside of 9th seed and the play-in.

They have beaten a top-three team in the Los Angeles Clippers and two top 10-13 team in the Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers. They also dominated the Jazz and Raptors (who have been on a tear since) in two of their three exhibition games.

Devin Booker seems to be rising to the moment and further proving his elite status by playing some of the best basketball of his career in the first games with true playoff implications, hitting an incredible turnaround game-winner at the buzzer against the Clippers (and creating viral gold with his laying down after) and earning the nickname “Bubble Book”.

Deandre Ayton is hitting three-pointers, Mikal Bridges has a leap in his development, Cam Johnson looks stronger, Dario Saric is playing very confident and effective basketball, and Cam Payne is playing the part of a backup point guard better than anyone since Ish Smith.

Zion and the Wizards provided the Phoenix Suns an avenue for their success.

So why am I saying Zion Williamson and the Washington Wizards may be responsible for ushering in the next great era of Phoenix Suns basketball? Because without both, the Suns would never have had this golden opportunity.

When the NBA was mulling over how they wanted to restart the NBA season, they were determining how many teams they would invite to come for an eight-game extension of the regular season.

While they would never say it, Zion Williamson’s immense drawing power as a rookie (no rookie has had this drawing power since LeBron) made it a priority to include more than the 16 teams who were in a playoff position. Zion equaled TV ratings.

Once it was determined that there would be more than 16, the discussion narrowed to somewhere between 20-24 teams to be invited to the bubble.

This is where the Washington Wizards come in. They were sitting in 9th place in the Eastern Conference with a 5.5 game deficit in the standings to the 8th-seeded Orlando Magic. The NBA knew if it was going to enact an extra eight games and a chance for a play-in between the 8th and 9th seed in the Western Conference, it needed to do so for the Phoenix Suns as well.

The Suns were the last team of 13 teams in the Western Conference to have a better winning percentage than the Wizards and were six games back of the No. 8 seed, this is why the Suns were essentially the 22nd and final team invited to Orlando.

If the Wizards were closer than 5.5 games back of the 8th seed in the Western Conference and had a better record than the Suns overall, (also if the NBA didn’t need an even amount of teams), the Suns would have been left home without an extra month and a half of practice, three weeks against the NBA’s best teams, and the greatest bonding experience a young team could ever have in the NBA.

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Not only does the extra time give the Suns a massive advantage heading into the 2020-21 season over the Minnesota Timberwolves and a number of other young and developing rosters like the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers to name a few, but it also gave the Suns a (literal) once-in-an-NBA lifetime chance to comeback mid-season as a completely new team mentally, emotionally, and physically and change the narrative on a season that had gone south after an exciting start.

The Suns went 8-13 in their final 21 games before the season was suspended and there is no way they would have been able to magically develop and find their mojo again in the latter stages of the grueling 82-game NBA schedule to play anywhere near the level they have played at in Orlando.

These past few weeks have been the most exciting for the Suns organization in six years (2013-14 season) and have helped shed a light on what their core should be for the future.

It feels like the Suns are officially headed toward being an NBA Playoff team moving forward and in the right direction with multiple stars and a great supporting cast for the first time in over a decade.

These few weeks of the bubble could very well ignite the next great era of Phoenix Suns basketball and Suns fans have Zion Williamson’s star power and the Wizards’ position in the Eastern Conference standings to thank for their lucky break.

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