Suns Not Expected to Advance Far During NBA In-Season Tournament

The Phoenix Suns are looking to capture their first title in franchise history, though they'll have two opportunities to do so for the 2023-24 season.

The NBA will be rolling out their inaugural in-season tournament beginning this November, splitting teams into different groups which eventually dissolves into group play. If you're a soccer fan who has watched the World Cup or UEFA Champions League - you're familiar with this format.

Yet this is new for the American basketball scene, and it's unknown how players and teams will approach this tournament (that doesn't count for anything that goes towards the postseason and only offers a cash prize).

This became a topic in Bleacher Report's predictions for the tournament, where the Suns advanced as the winners of Group A:

"Even though Memphis is the unofficial No. 1 seed in Group A, Ja Morant will still be serving a 25-game suspension, thus wiping out any chance he'll be playing in November. The Grizzlies will still be trying to integrate Marcus Smart into their system instead," wrote Greg Swartz.

"LeBron James hasn't taken the regular season seriously since he was in Miami, while Utah and Portland will almost certainly be lottery teams in 2023-24. This leaves the Suns, who should be hungry to prove this new core with Bradley Beal is championship-worthy and look to get some early playoff-style reps while they can."

Advancing to the knockout stages to face the Sacramento Kings, B/R says the Suns are prepped to exit in the first round.

"When trying to predict a winner, one has to factor in which teams will be OK with some extra traveling to Las Vegas as well as caring about the prize money from advancing to the next round (at least $100,000 guaranteed)," said B/R.

"Flying to Las Vegas doesn't represent a great deal of traveling for either the Suns or Kings, but the teams are built quite differently.

"With all but four players on minimum contracts for Phoenix, most of these Suns have the financial motivation to keep winning. Unfortunately, asking a 35-year-old Kevin Durant to play big minutes and take this tournament seriously may be too much to ask.

"The Suns could still be figuring out each other's names at this point after so much offseason roster turnover, while the Kings will run back the same starting five and most of their key bench pieces."

Phoenix - much like other top teams - won't be very upset with an early exit so long as they remain healthy and in form for an eventual playoff push for the NBA Finals later down the road.