phoenix Page 22 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Okay, Sure, Devin Booker Is Now A Max Player
Devin Booker—Devin Booker—is set to become one of the highest-paid players in the NBA, after agreeing to a max contract extension with the Phoenix Suns. In a move that makes Sacramento’s $78 million offer sheet to Zach LaVine look downright frugal by comparison, the Suns will pay Booker a whopping $...

Rockets Retain Chris Paul, Get Worse
Chris Paul has reportedly agreed to a four-year maximum contract worth $160 million to stay in Houston and continue fine-tuning the absolutely hateful brand of basketball he and James Harden pioneered last season. But they will have to do it without their most accomplished and important three-and-D ...

My Weird Son Deandre Ayton Is The Green Goblin
When the Phoenix Suns draft big lanky Arizona lad Deandre Ayton with the No. 1 overall pick on Thursday, as they are expected to do, they will also receive Josh, Eric, and Alejandro. Those aren’t members of Ayton’s entourage or family, but three distinct personalities that inhabit the very large bod...

Diana Taurasi Isn't Done Yet
Fourteen years ago, when Diana Taurasi began her WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury, she was fresh off a legendary career at UConn, where she helped lead the Huskies to three straight NCAA championships on top of her individual awards. She was also in the midst of training with the U.S. Olympic te...

Elfrid Payton's Hair Has Been Laid To Rest
Through all those tough years in Orlando to his current stint in Phoenix, the most notable feature of Elfrid Payton’s game has been his head. Not his “basketball IQ” or his “clutch mentality”—just that majestic drooping frond on top. Every season it protruded further past the point guard’s forehead....

Even If You Haven't Heard Of New Suns Coach Igor Kokoškov, He's Ready<em></em>
Last night, the Phoenix Suns announced that lead Jazz assistant Igor Kokoškov will take over as the team’s head coach next season. Kokoškov inherits a team full of young whippersnappers who logged the NBA’s worst record last season, and he has the tricky job of turning unrefined talent into NBA prod...

Tank Warfare, Or A Night At Mavericks-Suns
DALLAS — If the Mavericks were going to do what needed to be done on Tuesday night in the finale of their 2018 season, it would take an almost herculean effort. A guaranteed share of the NBA’s third-worst record and the attendant lottery-odds boost was on the line, but they would have to lock in, fo...

The Crappy, Grumpy Suns Took Two Cheap Shots At Ricky Rubio
One thing about being on an NBA team that’s rounding into the home stretch of a miserable tanking campaign is that it can make you cranky as hell. As evidence, please see the shenanigans the Suns got into with the Jazz last night....

Damian Lillard Rescued His Blazers From The Lowly Suns, And Also The Suns From The Blazers
It is not an exaggeration to say that Damian Lillard’s heroics in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s Blazers-Suns tilt rescued both teams: the Blazers are smack in the middle of the West’s dense playoff pack; meanwhile the Suns, had they won, would’ve gone from having the worst win percentage in...

Get Ready For The NBA Tanking Campaign Of A Lifetime
By the time the NBA’s All-Star break usually rolls around, the standings are more or less set. It’s typically obvious which four or so teams will be contending for a championship, and it’s also apparent who will be spending the rest of the year in the toilet, tanking for superior lottery odds and dr...

For Horrific Injuries, The Image Is The Story
Suns guard Isaiah Canaan suffered an ankle injury in Wednesday’s game against the Mavericks, but “ankle injury” is putting it lightly. That it was immediately described with the words “Gordon Hayward-like” might provide a clue to the severity, or maybe it’s the image in which the heel of Canaan’s f...

Idiot On The Golf Course Gets Naked, Hops In Bunker, Throws Sand
A streaker fully embraced the Phoenix Open’s reputation as the most laidback event in golf by running on the course, doing some basic tumbling, jumping in a sand trap, and generally being an idiot during today’s pre-tournament pro-am. In all his naked glory:...

Isaiah Canaan Goes Down With Gruesome Leg Injury
Suns guard Isaiah Canaan left tonight’s game against the Mavericks after suffering a brutal leg injury while driving to the basket. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Gordon Hayward’s season-ending ankle fracture from opening night; I can’t describe it in any more definitive detail, because I could not wa...

Jared Dudley Brutally Fat-Shamed By Enes Kanter
Hey, remember Jared Dudley? The doughy swingman who makes the analytics crowd swoon with his sparkling net rating history? Unbelievably, the 32-year-old Dudley is still kicking around the NBA, as a seldom-used bench gnome for the doomed and hopeless and endlessly depressing Phoenix Suns, the Western...

Marquese Chriss Had A Heroic Game-Saving Block
The Phoenix Suns are basically toast in the Western Conference playoff race, and they were going up against the lowly Hawks at home last night. But that lack of high stakes doesn’t mean there can’t be any thrilling late-game drama....

Tyson Chandler Dunks Off The Inbound Pass For Last-Second Win
Tyson Chandler helped the Suns finish off the Grizzlies tonight with a sweet last-second dunk straight from the inbound pass....

Mike James, Two-Way Contract Success Story, Summarily Waived By Suns
Mike James was waived by the Suns Saturday, as the team prepares to reactivate Devin Booker following his recovery from a groin injury. This is an excruciatingly tough break for a guy who just two weeks ago celebrated becoming the first player in NBA history to convert one of the association’s new t...

Give This Camera Person A Raise
Here’s a fairly mundane play from last night’s game between the Raptors and Suns, which was made spectacular by the quick thinking of the camera operator under the basket....

Devin Booker Carried Off Court With Groin Injury
The last few minutes of the Raptors’ victory over the Suns brought a scary moment for Phoenix fans, as Devin Booker was carried off the court by teammates with what looked to be a groin injury. ...

Here Is The Exact Moment The Suns Gave Up
The Phoenix Suns were actually up by two on the Celtics in the third quarter in Boston yesterday, but they didn’t show much interest in keeping that lead. With the Suns on defense, some miscommunication led to Marcus Smart having an entire half of the court to himself. Smart couldn’t knock down the ...