Charles Barkley makes bold claim about Suns

Charles Barkley loves his hot takes. 

This is the same man who predicted the Blazers would represent the West in the 2020 NBA Finals and "guarONteed" the Celtics would smoke the Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals. Over the past few years, his "guarONtees" have begun to fall on deaf ears of not only listeners but even his "Inside the NBA" co-panelists, who routinely laugh off his predictions and don't take him seriously.

On Tuesday, though, Barkley made a sound point in the aftermath of the Lakers versus Suns game. The 1993 MVP referred to his former team, the Suns, as the biggest threat to the Thunder in the West. 

"When healthy, the Phoenix Suns are the second-best team in the West," Barkley declared.

Frankly, there isn't much pushback here. If we scope the situation in the West, the Warriors are starting to come back to earth after their explosive start, the Mavericks and Nuggets have been too inconsistent and the Rockets are largely untested. Furthermore, fringe contenders like the Timberwolves and Lakers have too many holes in the roster that can't be fixed midseason to make a title push. 

The Suns are, by default, the Thunder's biggest threat for a spot in the 2025 NBA Finals. 

It's been quite the turnaround for the team that got swept by Minnesota in the first round of last year's playoffs. The biggest game changer has been point guard Tyus Jones, who continues to live up to his "assist to turnover ratio king" moniker by providing steadiness on a nightly basis. On Tuesday, Jones produced six assists and committed only one turnover. For the season, he leads all starting point guards with an AST/TO ratio of 6.44, ahead of other floor generals such as Fred VanVleet (5.48), Tyrese Haliburton (4.94) and Chris Paul (4.38).

Last season, the Suns routinely squandered fourth-quarter leads due to the absence of a floor general. Jones' addition has done wonders to not just calm nerves in tough situations, but ensuring that co-stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker get the ball in their preferred spots during the business end of games.