After dropping two consecutive games on the road in disappointing fashion, the Philadelphia 76ers got back to the winning column during their most recent game, routing the Nets on the road to the tune of a 29-point beatdown. Having said that, they still find themselves five games below .500 — their current 14-19 record being way far from what everyone expected from them at this point in the season.
The 76ers will now return home following an exhausting six-game road trip that netted them four wins in total. Awaiting them will be the Suns, a team which, unlike the 76ers, had a pretty strong start to the season only to quickly falter as made clear by their freefall in the standings.
After initially sending a strong statement by going 8-1 to kickstart their campaign, Phoenix went on to lose 17 of its next 24 games as they are now starting to lag behind their counterparts in the jampacked Western Conference. They are now in 12th place, and things are starting to look pretty grim for the star-studded ball club.
The 76ers could be the first to dismantle the Suns, which are making a drastic change
Surely, a team with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal would be dominant, right? Well, the reality has been the complete reversal of such. While Durant has been, well, Durant, his co-stars have not performed as well as expected. Booker is having an inefficient shooting season while Beal has been a tremendous stinker.
This season has seen a lot of fallouts. In fact, the 76ers will get the first crack at perhaps forcibly opening a looming one with the Suns. According to Senior NBA Insider Chris Haynes, Phoenix will be going for a different starting lineup ahead of their game in Philadelphia, reportedly demoting Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkić to the bench with rookie Ryan Dunn and veteran big man Mason Plumlee supplanting them in the opening group.
Sources: Rookie Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee expected to replace Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkić in the Phoenix Suns starting lineup. pic.twitter.com/ody525bQsg
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 6, 2025
While Mike Budenholzer and company are perhaps justified in making this shift, the 76ers have every opportunity to capitalize and make this change backfire early. Joel Embiid is not someone that an aging Plumlee can slow down, and sending Beal to the bench gives Nick Nurse and the coaching staff one less scorer to worry about in the starting unit, although Dunn is certainly a much better defender to throw at Tyrese Maxey.
The Philadelphia 76ers probably do not have this on mind when they face the Phoenix Suns, but it would be ideal for them to take advantage of their opponent’s lack of stability and their sudden vulnerability thanks to this huge change.