The Phoenix Suns can only watch right now as two, true heavyweights go at it in the Western Conference Finals. A series that might evoke a panic trade out of them after all.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder got real after the Game 2 meeting, appearing to call out Isaiah Hartenstein for some of his play in guarding Victor Wembanyama.
Hartenstein's struggles echo those of Mark Williams in Phoenix
There is no doubt that Hartenstein is the better and more impactful player than the Suns' own center in Mark Williams. Which is why bringing the 24-year-old back on an extension this offseason is potentially terrifying, because of how much it would hamper future roster construction.
These playoffs, and really Wembanyama's emergence in general, have proven to everybody else that conventional bigs on the court is not the answer in trying to slow him down.
I didn’t think Hartenstein was playable in this series — but if he’s gonna be allowed to maul and grab Wemby like this on every play he should play 48 minutes. This is hilarious.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 21, 2026
Which is why the Thunder themselves have tried putting Alex Caruso on the French phenom, a tactic the Suns had some success with themselves during the regular season in annoying him with both Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale taking turns.
With Williams failing to make it on the court during the postseason due to injury, and a new power rising in the Spurs, is it really worth sinking so much money into a player with clear limitations?
Gilgeous-Alexander has just proven through speaking candidly about his own teammate that traditional bigs are a luxury, although the inverse was true when the Suns played the Thunder in Round 1.
The defending champions require having bigger players on the court because of how much size they have, which is where Williams would have come in handy. Reading between the lines here and the Suns would be making a mistake in making Williams one of their key players moving forward.
Even if he comes back on a team-friendly team, trading him down the line is not a guarantee. The Los Angeles Lakers rejecting a move for him at the deadline in the past, while this situation is exactly why the Charlotte Hornets wanted to get rid of him in the first place.
This is another negative impact of the dreadful Bradley Beal trade of a few years ago, as the money owed to him is still a part of the organization's cap sheet.
Not that Williams cares about that, he wants to be paid at a time when it doesn't make sense for the Suns to do so. Painful as it is, got to listen to Gilgeous-Alexander on this one.
Add us as a preferred source on Google