Jusuf Nurkic ended the Suns’ regular season with a dunk on Bill Simmons.
During the Suns’ 125-106 win over the Timberwolves on Sunday, Simmons took a shot at Phoenix after what had been a 22-point lead in the first quarter started to dwindle.
It seemed Simmons’ tweet aligned with the double technical foul between Anthony Edwards and Bradley Beal late in the second quarter with the Suns leading, 61-43.
“Oh no… the Suns went up big early and talked s–t to Ant… STORY DEVELOPING,” Simmons tweeted at 4:25 p.m. ET.
Well, the Timberwolves — unlike WWE’s Cody Rhodes — did not finish the story.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 10 points in the third quarter but could never pull within single digits in the 19-point loss that dropped them to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
Nurkic, who had six points and five rebounds, quote tweeted Simmons after the game and reveled in the victory.
Edwards finished with 13 points and a -21 plus-minus rating.
“Developing ur a**,” Nurkic tweeted in a family-friendly comment.
While Simmons’ comment was rather tame, it seemed there may be some lingering frustration this season with how the media personality has discussed the Suns and Nurkic specifically.
Bright Side of the Suns, the Suns’ SB Nation site, along with the Bill Simmons Reddit page, both detailed how Simmons has questioned Nurkic’s ability to stay healthy this season.
Simmons slammed the trade in which the Suns acquired Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson for DeAndre Ayton last September.
“Phoenix, you know, just quickly to go to them. They’re trying to win this year. They got worse,” Simmons said on the “Bill Simmons Podcast” at the time, as transcribed by AZcentral.com. “They turned Ayton’s money into Nurkic and Grayson Allen and Nassir Little.”
He added: “Grayson Allen, we already know him. He can’t play in playoff series. We saw it in ’22, we saw it last year. I heard and read in some places like ‘they got two rotation players.’ Did they? Is Nurkic a playoff rotation player? Is Grayson Allen a playoff rotation player? Because I’m positive he’s not. So for the same money that they were spending on Ayton, they got three guys that I don’t think are going to help them.”
Simmons also has been critical of Phoenix for acquiring Beal and downplayed the team’s success this year, per the reports.
Phoenix finished the season 49-33 and will be the West’s No. 6 seed, matched up with the third-seeded Timberwolves in the first round.
The Suns swept the season series, 3-0.
