Suns fans call for fringe player to get more minutes after horrific loss to Cavaliers

In a season that has lurched from one crisis to the next, the Phoenix Suns moved on to their next disaster with an MLK Day hammering at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday. The final score reading 118-92, but in truth it could have been much worse than that.

This game was over as a contest midway through the third quarter, and none of the Suns' three star players had the kind of game worth talking about. Kevin Durant made some difficult shots as he always does, but Devin Booker disappointed with only 15 points as this game completely passed him by.

Suns fans are now calling for a barely used player to get more run.

Head coach Mike Budenholzer waved the white flag with just under seven minutes to go in the fourth, and he sent out a lineup that is never going to play real minutes together. It also included Bol Bol, whose career in The Valley is now over after the arrival of Nick Richards. The five man group consisted of Monte Morris, Damion Lee, Ryan Dunn, Bol and Oso Ighodaro.

To the surprise of nobody each player did their best to take advantage of the opportunity to push for more time on the court. Dunn has already secured his spot as a starter, and was also the MVP for the franchise throughout the second quarter of the season. Ighodaro brought his usual energy and hustle as well, but his spot in the rotation is already assured.

It was the inclusion of Lee that had fans clamoring for him to get more run in future games - and given the play of others in the rotation - it is not hard to see why. He had nine points in eight minutes of action, which easily surpassed the ugly performance of Bradley Beal and the five points he could muster in 25 minutes off the bench.

This was only Lee's ninth cameo appearance of the season, and his first since playing a single minute in a loss to the Indiana Pacers earlier this month. He's averaging about six minutes per game up to this point, which generally comes either in garbage time or when a game is lost. Beyond that, he gets the occasional minute or two when the rotation is a player short through injury.

But given how poorly the Suns played in this one - admittedly against one of the best teams in the league - only good things can come from giving Lee some more time on the court. Already he looks more engaged than Beal has for most of his time since being relegated to the bench - and although Beal is obviously much the better player - Lee has a nice stroke and decent midrange game.

Lee missed all of last season with a meniscus injury that required surgery, and fans react well to seeing him out there as well. Making everybody feel good about themselves is not reason enough to play somebody, and yet the vibes around this group have been so meh all season that it couldn't hurt to have Lee play 10 minutes a night and take a couple of 3-pointers.

Really though this is about possibly getting a second round pick back for Lee before the trade deadline, which continues to edge closer. He is an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is on a minimum deal, but a couple of nice offensive performances could convince another organization to take a rental on him to fill out the end of their bench.

The Suns are short on draft picks after the Richards deal, and this looks like one realistic avenue to getting one back. It may even be that another team sees this as a chance to add Lee now before bringing him back next season before he can hit free agency, but that does seem overly optimistic given his injury history.

At a time when this group is further away than ever before from the good times prior to trading for Durant and Beal, Lee is a needed link back to that past. It's not like what this team is doing to win games is working anyway, so giving the 32-year-old a more regular spot in the rotation ahead of the deadline looks like a move that could work out for all parties.