Suns get screwed by the NBA Cup in most hilarious way possible

Have you recovered from watching that absolute beat down at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder? Maybe you've even hate watched it again like we have, to see if there were any bright spots.

Spoiler alert, there weren't. It was nice to see the group keep fighting though, even if Collin Gillespie got exposed from the jump.

Suns will have to face Thunder five times this season.

At 24-1 the Thunder are looking like one of the best regular season teams in history. The 138-89 drubbing they handed the Suns proof of just how far ahead they are of everybody else in the league.

Unfortunately as a result of making the quarter-finals of the Emirates NBA Cup, the Suns now have to endure the misery of facing the Thunder five times this season.

The San Antonio Spurs also find themselves in this position, but once they get Victor Wembanyama back for a couple of those meetings they'll feel much better about that fact. The Suns have no such luxury.

They've already lost once to them, a much closer affair, but the cup meeting (which does count towards the 82 game total for the season) could not have been anticipated.

To make matters worse, the Suns will end their regular season in Oklahoma in April, at a time when they could still be pushing to make the playoffs.

The only saving grace there the fact that the Thunder will have locked-up the one seed long before that contest, and if they've also broken the 73-9 record of the Golden State Warriors, will play a G League rotation.

The Thunder are also the final opponent before the All-Star break, although that one will at least take place in Phoenix. It's just unfortunate that they of all teams are the ones the Suns will have to play the most.

It does get slightly better as the Los Angeles Lakers will be their next opponent having also lost their own quarter-final, and that's a much more enticing proposition.

Their head coach JJ Redick has them playing well drilled basketball on both ends of the court, but the tenacity of the Suns means they will have joy attacking both Luka Doncic and LeBron James.

The Suns will also face the Lakers five times, with the final meeting the penultimate game of the campaign before travelling to Oklahoma.

This would have meant a lot less if the Suns were as bad as many expected them to be, and also had a reason to tank. Instead they're competitive and don't have much draft capital for the rest of the decade.

So it will be a bonus meeting with the team who just handed them their worst loss in franchise history that will await them down the road and as thanks for their cup exploits. Yay.