PHOENIX (AZFamily) — After the disastrous experience of having a Big 3 of Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant, the Phoenix Suns have a revamped roster but lowered expectations for the 2025-2026 season. With new head coach Jordan Ott (the fourth coach in four years), a new general manager and basically a new front court, the squad should be fun to watch and could make some noise during the regular season. Here are five things to look for with the new-look Suns.
Check out the new faces
It’ll mostly be new players in the starting 5. Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, who both came to Phoenix in the Durant trade, are set to start at shooting guard and power forward, respectively. Green is expected to be the second-best player behind Booker as he averaged 20.5 points for the Houston Rockets, the top regular season team last year. How he plays with Booker remains to be seen since he didn’t play at all during the preseason.
Brooks’ reputation precedes him, known for his defensive tenasity and getting under opposing players’ skin. He’s made a name for himself as “The Villian,” the player fans love to hate, unless he’s on your team. He should bring that game intensity that was often missing for the Suns.
Center Mark Williams came from the Charlotte Hornets in a June 30 trade and will start.
A new face off the bench is Jordan Goodwin, who was waived by the Los Angeles Lakers in July and scored 24 points in the final preseason game. Ott chose him over Jared Butler for the 14th spot on the roster and may get some playing time as a third-stringer. Nigel Hayes-Davis, who signed as a free agent, and CJ Huntley, on a two-way contract, will see limited playing time.
The rookie class consists of 10th overall pick Khaman Maluach, who will back up Williams and Nick Richards, 31st-overall pick Rasheer Fleming and Koby Brea, who was taken at 41.
Can the rookie class thrive?
The 2024-2025 season is a rebuilding year for the Valley of the Sun and a big part of it will be the development of the newbies. The 10th pick, used on Maluach, and Green were the two biggest assets to come from Houston in the Durant trade. Some draft experts had Maluach in the Top 5 so for him to fall to 10 was a win for the Suns. The Suns traded up to get Fleming and traded two picks to get Brea, who some believe was the best shooter in the NCAA last year.
It was only one game but Maluach looked good in the final preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers on both sides of the ball, getting 17 points on 8-10 shooting, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks. Fleming and his 7-foot-5 wingspan showed flashes of defensive brilliance in the same game and had nine points.
With Williams’ history of injuries, we may see a lot of Maluach and that should please most Suns fans. The Suns have been missing an athletic, hustling wing so depending on how the season goes, Fleming may see some valuable minutes as well. If the Suns hit on these two draft picks, plus have Dunn, last year’s first round pick, take a big step forward, that would shorten the years needed to rebuild.
Can this team stay healthy?
The injury bug has already hit the Phoenix Suns before the first regular-season whistle. Green is sidelined with an injured hamstring and will miss at least the home opener, possibly longer. Williams battled multiple injuries during his first three seasons with the Hornets, playing just 106 of a potential 246 regular-season games. Booker isn’t injury-prone, but the 2024-2025 season was the first time he played at least 70 games in a season since the 2019-2020 season. Only 23 times in 2024-25 did he appear in the starting five alongside Durant and Beal.
Booker sat out 14 games in 2023-24, 29 in 2022-23, and 14 in 2021-22. Grayson Allen missed 16 last year. The problem with the Big 3 of Beal, Booker and KD is that they couldn’t stay healthy all at the same time.
Green missing preseason damaged his ability to gel with Booker before the games actually count. How they mesh will be one factor in how well this team does this season.
Ball distribution
After the center position, the glaring need for the Suns was point guard. While Booker is a natural shooting guard, he’ll be starting at the point. While that may worry some, he’s still an above-average point guard and averaged 7.1 assists last season, a career high. The team was 10th overall in assists last season, averaging 27.8 per game, in an offense that often looked stagnant.
It appears Brooks, Dunn, Allen, Green and maybe even Maluach will bring the ball up to half-court and start the offense. It’ll be up to Ott to make sure the days of iso-ball, like with the Big 3, are gone and get that key ball movement. But the big unanswered question is when Booker is not on the court, who is going to create for the offense.
Grayson Allen will be coming off the bench and saw his points per game, field percentage and three point percentage dip last season. He’ll be a key guy in the second unit and will need someone to create his open looks.
Change in attitude
The last two seasons of the Phoenix Suns should have been fun to watch with two generational stars and a multiple-All-Star selection leading the team. But the two yeas were anything but enjoyable as it looked like players didn’t care and didn’t want to be out on the court. But with Ott, that appears to have changed. Even though it’s only preseason, the guys were hustling by going for lose balls and crashing the boards. Ott’s focus on defense will be welcomed since the Suns were bottom five defensively last year. The Suns may not win that many games, but they should be fun to watch.
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