The Minnesota Timberwolves were always going to sweep the superstar-heavy Phoenix Suns. And somehow the Knicks have entered the chat with things reaching a boiling point after a failed season in Phoenix.

The Suns’ season ended in disappointing fashion, a 4-0 series sweep underscoring the difference between a team — like the championship-contending Timberwolves — and a mere collection of players, the identity and cohesion-less likes of which the Suns trotted onto the floor after swinging for the fences via a series of blockbuster trades last summer.

Kevin Durant is an elite scorer.

Devin Booker is, too.

And with Bradley Beal in the mix, the Suns immediately projected as an elite offensive team capable of gunning its way to victory on any given night.

But they don’t play defense, they don’t rebound, they don’t have a point guard, and the roster aside from the Phoenix Big 3 is largely composed of minimum players.

Plus Beal, who has a no-trade clause, never produced in the same stratosphere as his $50 million salary would indicate.

Now, the Suns are in NBA purgatory. They have three disgruntled stars, zero cap flexibility, zero draft picks and zero playoff victories to show for their splashy offseason agenda.

And if you watched ESPN’s First Take on Monday, the morning after the Timberwolves sent the Suns into a full-fledged implosion, you saw Stephen A. Smith say Booker, a star scoring guard who averaged 27 points and seven assists in Phoenix last season, now wants to play for — you guessed it — the New York Knicks.

“From what I’m being told — I don’t know if it’ll ever happen — Devin Booker wants to be in New York,” Smith said on the show. “That’s what I’m being told. Now, he might deny it. I haven’t spoken to him.

...continued

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.