As the season limps toward its bitter end, it feels as though an experiment — the Phoenix Suns’ grand, expensive experiment — is coming to its quiet, unceremonious conclusion. With Friday night’s loss in Boston, the team now sits seven games below .500. And when you step back and view that record through the lens of this franchise’s recent journey, the weight of it all starts to settle in.
It’s hard not to drift back to August 2020. The world was unraveling in the grip of a global pandemic, and we were all searching for something — anything — that felt normal again. Basketball, in its strange, sterilized bubble down in Orlando, became that beacon. A controlled environment. A flicker of familiarity.
The NBA extended invitations to a select group of teams, giving them a chance to finish out the season in this isolated setting. The Suns, despite being 12 games under .500, made the cut. It felt symbolic at the time. A team on the outside looking in, given one final shot. And in that moment, they didn’t just show up. They came alive.
What happened then was nothing short of magical. The Phoenix Suns, written off and overlooked, rattled off eight straight wins, the only team in the bubble to go undefeated. For a fanbase starved of relevance, it felt like the beginning of something real. Something earned. A corner turned after a decade of wandering in the dark.
Along that improbable 8-0 run, one night stands out: August 10, 2020. The Suns dismantled the Oklahoma City Thunder, 128-101. Devin Booker poured in 35 points. Both Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges added 18. Ricky Rubio orchestrated the offense with nine assists. It was beautiful basketball. Joyful basketball. A team finally finding itself.
And that, my friends, was the last time the Phoenix Suns were seven games under .500.
Until now.
The last time the Suns were 7 games under .500? August 10, 2020 in the Orlando Bubble. pic.twitter.com/xORixM1Kq6
— John Voita, III (@DarthVoita) April 5, 2025
Five years is a long time. Long enough for a franchise to rise, to believe, to dream. And apparently, to unravel. In the half-decade since the Phoenix Suns last found themselves seven games under .500, the story arc has been nothing short of dramatic: an NBA Finals appearance, a franchise-record win total, and the formation of a so-called super team.
And now? The feeling is unmistakably different. This isn’t the same seven-games-below-.500 we knew in 2020. That version carried hope. Energy. A sense of something stirring. That Suns team was young, hungry, and beginning to understand what it could become.
This one feels like the opposite. The air is thick with desperation, confusion, and a complete lack of identity. The roster is bloated with salary, stripped of synergy, and allergic to defense. They’re not just underperforming. They’re unraveling. They can’t win games. They can’t make stops. They can’t even claw their way into the Play-In.
Five years is a long time. And somehow, it feels even longer.
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