The Phoenix Suns have the hardest remaining schedule in the NBA, and sit in eighth spot in the Western Conference. Every time it looks like they've turned a corner and figured things out, and disappointing loss follows. The worst example of this being the three losses to the San Antonio Spurs throughout the season.
If the Suns are going to make the playoffs, they are going to have to do it the hard way. Despite head coach Frank Vogel saying recently that his team are going to have to win every game from here on out, the reality is that this is not going to happen, making the Suns' championship aspirations as far away as they have ever been.
Superstar Devin Booker was recently asked if this team is going to have to go through the play-in tournament to make the postseason, and he was his usual, honest self.
The prospect of playing one - and potentially two - win or go home games is a terrifying one for the organization, and a roster boasting Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal should be nowhere near this conversation. Yet Booker has now all but admitted that this undesirable route is what the team is going to have to do to make it in.
"It's a possibility. It's realistic. We need to clean some things up and understand if we don't clean those things up, we won't be able to win it anyway and that's the ultimate goal. Whatever that path may be, I think we'll be ready for it." Devin Booker on possible play-in #Suns pic.twitter.com/N2f93rJwqC
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) March 31, 2024
Saying that it is realistic to expect to be in the play-in just about sums up this Suns season. With Booker recently struggling massively from beyond the arc as well, the roster simply has not lived up to expectations this season. Even with Grayson Allen exceeding expectations, there were several on this roster who fell short and were disappointments for the organization.
If Booker and the Suns can take belief from one thing at this point in the season though, it is that the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers both competed in the play-in last year. The Lakers made it to the Western Conference finals, while the Heat went all the way to the finals proper, with both teams being knocked out by the Denver Nuggets.
In fact it was that same Nuggets team who beat the Suns prior to that as well, although Booker, Durant and company were the only opponent to take two games off the eventual champions all postseason. So if two teams can go from play-in all the way to the final four, then that could bode well for the Suns.
They might have ambitions of winning it all - but after what we've seen from them this season - making it to the conference finals would represent a successful season. One to build on ahead of next season, when Durant will likely still be in town and the championship window for the Suns will remain open.
On a less optimistic note, the Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings currently make up the play-in race. The Houston Rockets aren't completely out of contention either. Each and every one of those opponents is difficult for the Suns - although it would get worse than that again once the playoffs start - but Booker now sounds like a player who has accepted the route he must take.