00:00Let me walk you through what happened. Imagine a player is on the brink of an unbelievable come-from, behind-win. In that moment, his mind isn't thinking about anything except executing the play, but for Colin Gillespie, once his fadeaway jumper went in, putting the Suns up, 114,113 over the Timberwolves, with only 6.4 seconds left on Friday night, and after his team subsequently stopped Julius Randle from scoring a three-pointer, he finally had a second to process the significance.
00:29Of what he had just done. And for this young guard, the win wasn't the only thing, he was thinking about. It's an NBA-Emirates Cup game, so money on the line, Gillespie told reporters after the game.
00:41Now, let's look at the bigger picture. With this win, Phoenix improved its record to 2.0 in Western Conference Group A. They had already beaten the Utah Jazz on Halloween, and this victory keeps them level with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who also have wins over the Jazz and the Sacramento Kings.
00:58Here's how the financial incentives work. The bonus money starts for NBA teams that advance from the group play into the quarterfinals. According to Front Office Sports, each player on the roster will earn $53,093 for making it that far. That's an increase of more than $1,500 from what players earned last season.
01:18The potential earnings don't stop there. The bonus money grows with each knockout, stage win. Reaching the semifinals pays $106,187 per player, making it to the final as the runner, up pays $212 to $373.
01:33And winning the entire NBA Cup nets each player a champion's payout of $530,933. This top prize is up more than $30,000 from the inaugural year's $500,000 in 2023.
01:47So, for Gillespie to keep those financial dreams alive, the Suns need to finish group play with a 3-1 record to have a shot at one of the two wildcard spots, which go to the top non-group winners in the league.
01:58If they win their next two games against the Kings on Wednesday and the 16-1 Thunder on Friday, they would achieve a perfect 4-0 record that would win them Group A and give them an automatic bid into the quarterfinals.
02:11Back to the game itself, Devin Booker, who had fouled out with 3.23 left, said after the game that he's gonna have to watch it back to break down everything that happened that quick.
02:21And Gillespie, who was right in the middle of the action, admitted he had a hard time keeping up with the sequence of events.
02:26I think Royce, O'Neal, got a steal, I don't even know how it happened, Gillespie said.
02:32It happened really quick but no quit, just, continued to fight. It was a really good win for us.
02:38It's important to understand Gillespie's journey. Last season he was on a two-way contract, but this year he's a full-fledged member of the Suns.
02:45As an undrafted player, from, Villanova, he's had to significantly elevate his game, especially, with the team missing Jalen Green.
02:52His performance shows that, in his last two games, Gillespie has scored 20 and 19 points, making 4 three-pointers in each game.
03:00Looking at his overall impact, he has a plus-6 plus minus through 16 games.
03:05That's the second-best mark on the Phoenix team for any player who has appeared in at least 10 games, just behind Isaiah Livers who is at plus-6.
03:143. In the game against the Timberwolves, Gillespie led the Suns with a pleasant 14 plus minus in his 34 minutes on the court.
03:21Finally, let's talk about that game, winning play.
03:24Jordan Goodwin revealed afterward that the play was specifically designed for Gillespie, and Gillespie himself wasn't surprised the ball was put in his hands.
03:33I wasn't really shocked because Dylan Brooks fouled out and Book had fouled out already, Gillespie explained.
03:39He then shared a detail from the huddle.
03:41I told Ryan, done, before we came out of the huddle, I said, make sure you go to the offensive glass because I was going to try to get the ball on the rim.
03:52I didn't want to try and settle, but Rudy Gobert was down there, so I had to take kind of a little floater midrange.
03:57Settling for that midrange shot certainly handled the job and won them the game, but when it comes to the NBA Cup, settling for just a participation trophy.
04:05Not if you're a player like Colin Gillespie, who sees the potential for a much greener future.
04:10So, what are your thoughts on the NBA Cup's prize structure and its impact on players' motivations?
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