'My Suns in trouble': Charles Barkley says Suns hurt by lack of point guard, another big

MINNEAPOLIS — Charles Barkley has watched the Phoenix Suns lose the first two games of their first-round series against the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and is concerned.

“My Suns in trouble,” Barkley said on TNT’s Inside the NBA on Tuesday night.

The sixth-seeded Suns fell Tuesday to the T-Wolves, 105-93, to mark the second straight game they’ve scored under 100 points. Phoenix didn’t have back-to-back games like that in its 82-game regular season.

“They never addressed the point guard situation and they needed another big body,” Barkley said. “That’s one of things we talked about at the trade deadline. They need to have those three guys finishing instead of initiating their offense and they play at a faster pace because Minnesota is such a big team, it’s tough to score on them in the halfcourt. You got two 7-foot guys out there (Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns). So it’s really difficult. So the only way is to speed the tempo up.”

Barkley is referring to Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal when talking about “those three guys,” who were outscored by Jaden McDaniels in Tuesday’s loss. McDaniels scored a playoff career-high 25 points while Booker led the Suns in scoring with 20 on 6-of-13 shooting as he missed five of his six 3-pointers. This is after an 18-point effort in Game 1.

Durant managed 18 points on 6-of-15, going 0-of-2 on 3s, while Beal added 14 on 6-of-17. The Suns shot just 44.9% from the field in Game 2 after making just 44% of their FGAs in Game 1.

The Suns compounded their shooting woes by committing 20 turnovers that led to 31 Minnesota points, thus further fueling the conversation that they need a point guard. Phoenix went into the season saying they were going to rely on multiple ball handlers and play fast. The Suns tried Booker at the one and recently Bradley Beal has been manning the role, but they continue to struggle with turnovers.

They finished the regular season 25^th in turnovers per game and points allowed off turnovers per game. In the playoffs, Phoenix is last in turnovers and in points allowed off turnovers.

“They didn’t address the point guard situation,” Barkley said. “They didn’t even need a great point guard. They just needed a serviceable point guard and I thought they needed a bigger body.”

The Suns traded Chris Paul to Washington in acquiring Beal and moved Cameron Payne, who was Paul’s backup, to the Spurs last season. The 38-year-old Paul was due $30 million this season and $30 million next season on a non-guaranteed year, but he wound up at Golden State this season.

Phoenix then saved $26.4 million in taxes by trading Payne and signing Bol Bol, who was a free agent. Saben Lee is a true point guard the Suns have, but being a two-way player, he’s not available for the postseason. They did sign veteran point guard Isaiah Thomas, who last played in the NBA in the 2021-22 season, for the remainder of the season after a pair of 10-day deals but he’s seen limited action.

Barkley noted how the Suns traded for Royce O’Neale, a move that cost them $20 million in taxes, from Brooklyn in a three-team deal before the trade deadline, but he thought they needed another big. The Suns signed Thaddeus Young out of the buyout market, but the veteran big has hardly played as he was viewed as someone who could play small ball at the five.

“When you’re playing against some of the bigger teams in this league, you need more than one big guy and that’s all they got (in 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic),” Barkley said.

Drew Eubanks is the backup five to Nurkic.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Charles Barkley concerned with Phoenix Suns after loss to T-Wolves