ESPN’s history of doubting, underrating, and overhyping the Phoenix Suns

Suns’ Owner Mat Ishbia commented on our recent article, as he felt that the analysts over at ESPN have painted a picture about the Suns that isn’t necessarily the case:

ESPN’s history of past Phoenix Suns rankings:

This isn’t the first time ESPN has called out the Suns, or has had their projections wrong in the past. Before the 2019-2020 NBA season kicked off, their insiders predicted the Suns to finish 14th in the Western Conference with only 28 wins. They ended up beating that projection to end in the 10th spot with a 34-39 record, and were poised to build off of Devin Booker’s talent at the time.

What Ishbia is more recently commenting on is how ESPN was predicting the Suns as a favorite to hold up the Larry O’Brien Trophy with their top-five odds (+600) at the beginning of the 2023-2024 NBA season. That is the thing about predictions: they sound convincing in the moment, though the game still has to be played. If they were wrong about the Suns back then, they can just as easily be wrong now. Tuning out the noise of what the national media is saying will be beneficial for the entire franchise, as they look towards focusing on shaping the new culture of Phoenix Suns basketball.