With three star players on their roster, it would be foolish to expect the Phoenix Suns not to play on Christmas Day - or as many others know it - the unofficial start of the NBA season. Yet prior to 2021 and what would ultimately be a trip to the NBA Finals, the Suns hadn't appeared on the marquee slate going back as far as 2009.
Worse again, the Suns are yet to win on December 25th since making it back to the big day, losing (in order and starting in 2021) to the Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. A record Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal will surely be eager to snap.
They will apparently get a chance to do so in 2024, and it will come against a familiar foe.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Suns are due to square off against the Nuggets, in what is also rumored to be the final meeting of the five game slate. The all Western Conference affair being preceded by another in the form of the Warriors versus the Los Angeles Lakers.
But why were the Nuggets picked as the opponents, when Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves swept the Suns out of the postseason last year? Much as fans are always centered on their own team, the Timberwolves are rumored have their own business to take care of in the form of a rematch with the Mavericks.
The prospect of Edwards vs Luka Doncic - a repeat of the Western Conference Finals from a season ago - too good for the league to pass up on. The Timberwolves themselves might have tried to make something out of the Edwards vs Durant rivalry that appeared to blossom in that series, but the truth is the respect between the two is clear for all to see.
That's harder to sell to the masses than the prospect of Doncic being a straight up villain - and a European one at that - going against a player in Edwards who is rapidly looking like he could one day be the face of the entire league. This still leaves plenty for the Suns to look forward to though, and the Nuggets are old rivals from the past.
Final stats against Serbia:
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) August 8, 2024
🇺🇸 Durant: 9 PTS, 50% FG, 3 REB, 1 AST
🇺🇸 Booker: 6 PTS, 50% FG, 1 AST, +16
📺 @USANetwork & @peacock pic.twitter.com/4ouMBwvU2l
It was Denver who took the Suns out in the playoffs in 2023 - en route to winning their first championship - and the gap between the two appears to have closed. With Booker and Durant having a wonderful summer at the Olympics as crunch guys for Team USA, the Nuggets have watched as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope upped sticks and went to the Orlando Magic.
On top of that, both Booker and Durant were crucial in helping Team USA advance past Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris, which adds another layer of intrigue to the mix. What better way for Jokic to exact some level of revenge than by beating up on the Suns as the sporting world settles in for the run to the playoffs on national television?
Mostly though this is good news for a Suns organization that might have had a solid offseason, but are still lagging behind the top teams in the league. They're still a big time draw and they've got the top-end talent to take on former champions on a big day in the calendar. You can ask for no more when you're trying to win a championship.