February 2024
This is the month of the All-Star game, and the Suns have some big games built around the midseason exhibition. The Milwaukee Bucks come to town on February 6, the first game back after that gruelling seven game series.
That will be a test of their character as much as anything, and the chance to get one over on the Bucks after what happened in 2021 is also appealing. The Suns won’t play more than two games at home or away in a row this month, in what will be on where they are coming and going.
The final couple of games do form part of a four game home stand, and six in seven in The Valley, to bring us from February into March, but there will be plenty to worry about before then. The Lakers and Kings will be in town, while there will be trips to face the Warriors and Mavericks.
If there is on saving grace here, it is that between February 23 – March 2, the Suns will play four games. Three of these will be against the Houston Rockets, two home and one away. At that point the hope is that they’ll have little to play for, and with many of their draft picks owed to other organizations through previous trades, they could be turned over easily.
The flip side of this however, is that the Rockets made a splash this offseason in signing Fred VanVleet, and alongside their young core, they could be closer to being competitive than we think. A bit like the Magic, this is a team that could get out and run, and cause the Suns a lot more problems than they realize.