Suns culture in question after former players laugh at Bradley Beal situation

PHOENIX – Everyone has come out of the woodworks to comment on the Bradley Beal situation with the Phoenix Suns. In Beal’s short and apathy goodbye post on Instagram, multiple former Suns players commented laughing emojis in response. Kevin Durant, Tyus Jones, Damian Lee, Josh Okogie and Ish Wainwright all jumped at the opportunity to laugh at the franchise for how it handled the Beal situation.

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The rousing comments from former players could highlight a bigger problem in the organization of how they treat players, as many find the team’s misfortune funny.

Do Suns have a culture problem?

Many fans on social media are angry at the former Suns players for seemingly joining Beal in trolling the franchise. Durant and Jones are coming off an embarrassing season with the team last year, missing the playoffs at 36-46. Josh Okogie was traded for Nick Richards this past January, while Damian Lee and Ish Wainwright are currently free agents after Phoenix decided not to re-sign them.

Most cases could be classified as players feeling a certain type of way for being traded or not re-signed by the organization. However, Durant and Jones appear to have serious issues with the franchise as a whole, with the 15-time All-Star taking to social media to constantly remind fans of how much fans hated him.

Ever since Durant’s arrival in 2023, the team has faced constant setbacks and controversies. The team went through three head coaches and two general managers with six playoff wins to show for it. All the blame shouldn’t be on the shoulders of the former MVP but much of the drama soon arrived with the Durant trade, which Suns owner Mat Ishbia pushed for at the time.

Ishbia’s arrival change the future of the franchise. The team took massive home run swings with Durant and Beal, which are now looked as to be swing and misses. The 45-year-old famously said that 26 out of the 30 NBA teams would want to switch places with the current state of the franchise. The soundbite has come back to haunt Phoenix, who are in the running for one of the worst situations in the entire league.

In two and a half years, Ishbia has tried to find quick and easy solutions to systematic problems, that in turn has hurt the relationship between the players and the team. The revolving door of coaches and players have shown no signs of loyalty that hasn’t sit well with former players and across the league.

Do the Suns deserve to be laughed at? Mostly, yes. Whether warranted or not in some cases, players feel free to disrespect their former home because it’s likely they didn’t feel wanted or supported in their tenure.

Ishbia stated in his end-of-season press conference that he wants to build a culture similar to the city of Phoenix, tough and gritty. He followed up that claim by hiring first-time head coach Jordan Ott, while adding young and hungry players via the draft and free agency. The process of building an NBA contender can’t be done in one season, it is slowly crafted over time, which has been Ishbia’s problem so far.

Franchise guard Devin Booker has had blind loyalty to the Suns, and it’s time for the front office and ownership to reward him. Booker has been professional, hard working and beam of hope for the city that is exactly the culture Ishbia is preaching for the team.

The only way to response to being humiliated by former players is to prove them wrong by building a winning franchise. The process is going to take time, but it’ll be the only way for the Suns to crawl their way out of the hole they’ve dug themselves.

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Reporter Tanner Tortorella covers general assignment for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @TannerTSports