After much disappointment, Frank Vogel finally disclosed the departure of a crucial player who had finally inked a new contract with another team, which has dealt a serious blow to the Phoenix Suns.

After much disappointment, Frank Vogel finally disclosed the departure of a crucial player who had finally inked a new contract with another team, which has dealt a serious blow to the Phoenix Suns.

Frank Vogel ultimately revealed, to much chagrin, that a key player had signed a new contract with another team, a move that has severely harmed the Phoenix Suns.

Their loss against the Los Angeles Clippers, 105-92, doesn’t seem like a big deal at first. It’s hardly ideal—especially when playing at home without James Harden and Kawhi Leonard in LA—but worse things have happened at Footprint Center.

However, taking into account Phoenix’s awful beginning to the game—a 35-4 deficit that started with the Suns scoring just 10 points in the opening quarter—only a victory would have made up for what was, to be honest, one of the worst performances the Suns had put on show in a while.

Phoenix made just two of their opening 19 shots in the game. The Suns sleptwalked through maybe the most significant game to date in a string of games where nearly every game is a must-win to avoid play-in tournament positions.

After a while, the Suns rallied to make the game exciting, cutting Los Angeles’ advantage to just eight points, but the Clippers managed to hold on for the win in the end.

It’s elevated. When asked about his team’s level of displeasure, Suns coach Frank Vogel responded, “But we’re manning together, and we’re connected, and we’re confident.”

Vogel went on to discuss the team’s tenacity, saying, “We didn’t play well enough, we didn’t execute, we didn’t make shots, and when we got down, we started pressing, and it snowballed.”

“We have to fight for positions and play with more physicality than we have,” not only in this game but also in other ones lately. Teams want to attack us, get rebounds, and foul us; that’s the nature of postseason basketball, so we need to step up our offensive game.”

On Wednesday, the Suns, who are 46-33 in the West, will face the Clippers for the second leg of a back-to-back. With the No. 7 seed now in place and one game behind the New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix now needs additional assistance to avoid the play-in tournament.