The competitive spirit of the NBA seems to be spilling over onto teams’ social media accounts, with the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns engaging in some playful banter—even though it’s not playoff season yet. Surprisingly, infamous social media personality Kevin Durant isn’t involved this time. On Thursday, the Suns’ X account (formerly Twitter) shared a thread of photos representing the fanbases of the teams they’ll face this season. While the thread was mostly lighthearted, the Heat’s X account chimed in with a sharp response, quoting the original post.

In its reply, the Heat account posted a picture showing the league’s attendance rankings and commented, “Interesting. Check in when you climb into that 24th spot, @Suns 😉.”

The photo revealed that the Suns ranked 25th in attendance with an average of 17,071, while the Heat ranked fourth with an average of 19,749. You can check out the original thread for more details.

Interesting. Check in when you climb into that 24th spot, @Suns 😉 https://t.co/7nKV3L9GaO pic.twitter.com/kXH7INa2zn

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) August 15, 2024

Heat vs. Suns?

It’s intriguing to compare the attendance numbers of two playoff teams that had fairly similar results last season.

For example, the Suns won three more games than the Heat and made a bigger splash in the offseason by trading for Bradley Beal from the Wizards. This move created a Big Three with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, despite Durant’s previous Big Three experiment with the Brooklyn Nets ending in failure.

However, as expected, adding Beal didn’t address the Suns’ defensive weaknesses, and they were outplayed by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs, leading to a humiliating sweep. Three of their four losses were by double digits. If I were a Suns fan, I’d be tempted to stop watching the team, too.

On the other hand, the Heat also traded their aging point guard for a dynamic scorer to boost their offense. In their case, they acquired Terry Rozier, sending Kyle Lowry to the Charlotte Hornets, though Lowry eventually landed with the Philadelphia 76ers.