Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic on Sunday sizzled some online beef with The Ringer CEO Bill Simmons.
The former ESPN personality was watching the Suns take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
Phoenix was up 61-43 against Minnesota with about three minutes left in the first half. That’s when Suns guard Bradley Beal and Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards began chirping and exchanging light shoves.
Bradley Beal and Anthony Edwards 🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/pXvnwIn5tn
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) April 14, 2024
The scene prompted Simmons to post on X implying that the Suns were about to collapse because the team had woken up Edwards.
“Oh no… the Suns went up big early and talked s–t to Ant… STORY DEVELOPING,” Simmons wrote (profanity edited by LBS).
Oh no… the Suns went up big early and talked shit to Ant… STORY DEVELOPING
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) April 14, 2024
The Suns did not, in fact, collapse. They led by double figures the rest of the way and cruised to a 125-106 victory against the Timberwolves.
Nurkic responded to Simmons’ post after the game.
“Developing ur a**,” replied Nurkic.
Developing ur a** https://t.co/5wWxsXC0Fs
— Jusuf Nurkić 🇧🇦 (@bosnianbeast27) April 14, 2024
Edwards had just 13 points on 3/7 shooting from the field. Beal nearly tripled the Minnesota star’s scoring output with a game-high 36 points on 14/21 shooting.
Simmons has spoken critically of the Suns on his podcast throughout most of the season.
A few Suns fans still remember Simmons questioning whether or not Beal would be much of an upgrade over Landry Shamet, who averaged 8.7 points off Phoenix’s bench last season. Shamet was included in the package the Suns traded away in order to acquire Beal.
"Suns replacing Landrey Shamet with Bradley Beal what's the difference? " is an actual Bill Simmons quote https://t.co/hLxCoTk1ac
— bjorn p (@bjornallday) April 15, 2024
Is Shamet still better than Beal too?
— Thomas 🏀⚾️ (@ThomasBuckets78) April 14, 2024
If you replace Shamet with Beal, does that really change anything?
— Chris (@chrisdigiusto) April 14, 2024
Earlier this season, Simmons also expressed skepticism about Nurkic’s ability to stay healthy throughout the entire year. Nurkic has played in 76 games for the Suns this season — the second-highest total in the Bosnian’s career.
