Suns' Dragan Bender deals with dog-eat-dog world as fan tweets threatening to eat pet

When Suns power forward Dragan Bender benignly tweeted out to see how his fans were doing one fine April afternoon, the majority of replies went as expected.

Most people were "doing great!" Bender responded to about a dozen of them, his tweets laden with exclamation points and thumbs-up emojis.

However, there was one answer he probably wasn't anticipating.

Four days earlier, Kris Hanson, a Suns fan who lives in San Diego, had posted a tweet that tied the fate of Molly, a 10-pound terrier mix adopted off the streets of Mexico, to Bender's performance on the court.

With Bender averaging 6.5 points per game this season, Hanson was comfortable hitting send.

"I mean, he’s dunked what, like six times? The Suns have been very injury-riddled lately, and it’s a great opportunity for Dragan to score 20 points, but unfortunately, he hadn’t been up until that point," Hanson said in a phone interview. "And he’s only dunked a handful of times all year, especially for someone tall.

"Before the game... I was like, if he dunks, I’ll eat my dog. It was really random. Nothing really prompted it."

Molly survived the April Fool's Day game unscathed, as Bender scored 14 dunk-free points in the Suns' loss.

Instead, the Dragan dunk came two days later, when the Suns defeated the Sacramento Kings 97-94 at home on April 3.

"Everyone at once – well, not everyone, but like four people – immediately tweeted me, and they were like ‘You have to eat your dog now,' " Hanson said. "And then I posted a photo of holding a fork and knife over my dog."

Molly seems unfazed in the picture. Either way, she was certainly less concerned than Bender.

"I don’t know about that," Bender said about the tweet, laughing, at the Suns' media availability on exit day. "I definitely don’t want people eating their dogs because of me. ... It was kind of crazy."

Bender was shocked at the proposition; Hanson was shocked that he even knew about it.

"I think I was mostly surprised when he responded five days later, because it kind of meant he read it or knew it, 'cause I never tagged him," Hanson said. "The fact that he understood the context five days later meant that he saw it somehow."

The fourth pick in the 2016 NBA draft, Bender has embraced the community that social media can bring.

"I think it’s important to interact with people, wherever they are, just talk to them here and there. I think it can make their day for sure," he said. "All we do is about the fans."

And fans on the receiving end of those interactions, no matter how outlandish, are certainly appreciative.

"It’s really great when players interact with fans on social media, and especially being lighthearted or willing to take a joke," said Hanson, an Arizona native who has been a Suns fans since he was young. "It’s just really cool to tweet them and they’ll respond."

It's all fun and games as long as no one gets hurt – mercifully, dogs included.

"I did not actually eat her, thankfully," Hanson told The Republic about Molly. "She’s very lucky."

A Suns fan herself, with two of her own jerseys, Molly is lucky – for now. Hanson hasn't fully ruled out the idea of putting pets on the line in the name of motivating (?) the Suns.

"That’s the go-to ... That’s probably the ultimate thing," he said.

But for Hanson, it's less about the ingesting of family pets, and more about the Suns' improved stats that would lead to that.

"I don’t know if I’ll randomly make a bet to eat my dog again," he said. "But Dragan Bender dunking more would be cool. I’m 100 percent behind that."

RELATED: Frustrated Devin Booker believes better days are ahead for Suns

MORE: Suns say it's time to stop rebuilding and start winning

RELATED: Peters makes like Larry Bird with career-high 36 points in win