Tracking 40, Week 24: Suns’ chaotic season takes another hit in brutal stretch

The Phoenix Suns face an uphill battle after tough Week 24 losses.

It’s been a relentless season for the Phoenix Suns, one long uphill climb with no summit in sight. Night after night, they seem to stare down the league’s toughest remaining schedule, a gauntlet that never ends. It hasn’t just been a stretch of bad luck. It’s been the story of their season. A constant battle. No breathers. No breaks. Just wave after wave of elite competition crashing against a team still trying to find steady ground.

Week 24, the second-to-last week of the regular season, was always going to be pivotal for the Phoenix Suns. With matchups against the Bucks, Celtics, and Knicks, we knew it could either be a defining moment or a brutal reminder of their limitations. It turned out to be the latter.

Frustration hung over every game. The Suns never seemed to gain momentum, barely holding leads, constantly fighting uphill, both against their formidable opponents and their own internal struggles. Without Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal playing with what felt like a flat tire, Phoenix simply had no shot against the Eastern Conference’s elite.

So, where do the Suns go from here? Home, most likely.

With just four games left, they now trail the Sacramento Kings by three games for the final Play-In spot. Yes, one of those games is against Sacramento, but the hole they’ve dug is deep. So deep, in fact, that it might be too much to overcome. The dream of a late-season surge is slipping further away with each passing game. At this point, the Suns are left hoping for a miracle, but it feels more like a long shot than ever.

One thing’s for sure: the Phoenix Suns are staring down a losing record for the first time since 2019–20. With three consecutive losses in Week 24, they’ve already racked up 43 defeats, so even if they win out, they’ll finish 39–43.

If a car crash in slow motion is the go-to analogy, it doesn’t do justice to this season. It’s been more like a team navigating without GPS, hitting curves, speeding over bumps, sideswiping cars, and crashing through obstacles in a spectacular display of chaos. It’s not just a crash; it’s a full-on demolition derby.

Let’s just hope the airbags deploy.

Week 24 Record: 0-3

@ Milwaukee Bucks, L, 133-123

• Suns 3PAr: 48.9%
• Suns 3PT%: 40.0%

The Suns gave it a go, but missing $100 million worth of stars in KD and Beal, they were basically armed with slingshots at a tank parade. Booker played hero ball with his usual mix of grace and desperation, while guys like Gillespie, Allen, and Richards did their best impression of a playoff-caliber supporting cast.

But Giannis was a wrecking ball in green, and every time he checked back in, hope evaporated. Phoenix played hard. They played together. And, once again, they played just well enough to lose. Moral victories are for November. It’s April.

@ Boston Celtics, L, 123-103

• Suns 3PAr: 39.8%
• Suns 3PT%: 32.4%

The Suns didn’t implode against Boston, they simply got outclassed, and somehow that hurts more. It felt more like a reality check than a beatdown, Phoenix actually looked like a functioning basketball team. Effort? Present. Execution? Occasionally. But against the reigning champs, effort without identity doesn’t cut it.

Boston moved like a machine; the Suns looked like a half-assembled prototype. It wasn’t embarrassing. It was clarifying. There are levels in the NBA. The Celtics are on one. The Suns are still searching for the staircase.

@ New York Knicks, L, 112-98

• Suns 3PAr: 37.0%
• Suns 3PT%: 11.8%

The Suns wandered into Madison Square Garden and left looking like ghosts of playoff hopes past, falling to the Knicks in a game that felt more like a séance than a showdown.

With Kevin Durant sidelined, Phoenix once again became a one-man show. Devin Booker howling into the void while the rest of the roster played backup tambourine. The Suns are now 2–14 without KD, and their Play-In dreams are on life support.

Week 24: 41.9% 3PAr, 29.3 3PT%

Nothing like a critical week for the Suns to roll out their worst three-point shooting performance of the season, right?

A miserable 29.3% from beyond the arc, dragged down by a 11.8% disaster against the New York Knicks. With Kevin Durant sidelined, the other guys had to step up — and shocker — they didn’t. Devin Booker did what he could, dropping an impressive 38.7 points per game, but when your supporting cast consists of Royce O’Neale, Grayson Allen, and Tyus Jones all jacking up threes without playing defense, things aren’t going to go well.

Week 25 Preview

We did it. We made it to Week 25, the final stop on the carousel. One last week of Suns basketball, one that has four games, and includes the final homestand on the season.

It begins on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors. A team that was left for dead made a move at the trade deadline: they acquired Jimmy Butler rather than Kevin Durant. The move paid off as the team was the 10th seed in the Western Conference when they made the move. They are now 5th.

The Suns face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, the second night of a back-to-back. In case you need a reminder, they’re just 4-11 in those games this season.

The final home game of the year comes on Friday against the Wemby-and-Fox-less San Antonio Spurs before the Suns head to Sacramento to play the Kings. That game, on the final day of the season, may indeed have Play-In implications as the Suns are currently three games back with four games to go.

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