The Phoenix Suns didn’t have enough time to figure out what they had on their hands.
By the time a culture and style of play meshed together to electrify the fleeting pulse of the franchise, the harsh mistress known as regression came knocking in February along with even more injuries than before, and a tale of two seasons would ultimately be the story of an unforeseen year.
Regardless of how much the Suns’ roster changes, the wonder about what next year has in store for us will be defined by the unanswerable question of which team we see.
Is the try-hard squad for real? Can its league-best effort for the first 50 games be replicated, this time for longer? Or does Phoenix have another identity to mold?
In reality, a lot of what we’re going to talk about speaks to an organization that would love one more year to answer not only that but the major roster questions ahead.
The problem is that the contract status of a few key players will not allow for that. Some level of commitment, whether strong or lacking, will have to crystallize.
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Here are five key questions to watch with that in mind, questions we will dive into with much more detail throughout the offseason.
Does this offensive structure work?
Phoenix’s downfall, beyond getting away from the little things, was the deterioration of its offensive foundation. And the Suns will have to ponder on if that was because of the timeliness of injuries.
The trio of Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green played a combined 10 regular season games together across 133 minutes.
The power dynamic of the offense coming into the year appeared to be Booker as the head of the snake, taking on the lead playmaking role for a few reasons. He would funnel ball movement, lots of times in an off-ball role at the start of possessions, to set a standard for the type of ball movement that a roster with a good amount of shooting could benefit from. This would take that weight off Green to put him in the best positions possible to unlock his potential as a No. 1 scoring option.
This was the best Phoenix could do with a roster terribly fit to maximize its best player in Booker but it would simply try to make the most of that.
We never really got to see it, though, because Green missed 48 of the first 55 games of the season because of a nagging right hamstring strain.
While he sat, Brooks emerged as a viable secondary scorer next to Booker, at times to the levels of inspiring the proposition of whether he could be an All-Star. Brooks’ highs undeniably made the lows worth it, all while establishing a historic high-usage shooting approach in regard to how little he passed the ball.
Then, Green came back on Feb. 19 for what would be game No. 1 in his first extended run of everyday play. In that very next game, Brooks broke his hand.
Green’s similar volume scoring, for whatever reason, wasn’t as impactful to winning. And that’s not completely fair to him, as the team’s drop-off in several other categories should be even more to blame than Green’s insertion.
Over 49 games prior to his injury, Brooks posted 21.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.8 APG and 1.8 TPG on a true shooting percentage of 57.2%.
Over 19 games before Brooks returned, Green averaged 20.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.1 APG and 2.3 TPG on a TS% of 51.2%.
Not quite as efficient, but was providing more playmaking, so that’s an OK trade-off.
Once all three came together with seven regular season games left, the balance was all off. Brooks took a backseat to the duo but also had his moments attempting to control the individual scoring load.
What was evident is that the play style of both Brooks and Green together was not conducive to what made Phoenix’s offense function well in the first place.
Brooks has extreme tunnel vision problems, even to the point of consistently looking off Booker (when he is open!). Green’s not so bad in that facet, but still has the blinders on at times and more so can’t avoid making bad decisions with the ball. Both are turnover-prone and heavily rely on taking mid-to-long 2s, which historically the pair are not efficient enough at for those jumpers to be worth it like they are for Booker.
By proxy, the performance of the Suns’ supporting cast was really the biggest issue. Breakout seasons for Grayson Allen, Collin Gillespie, Oso Ighodaro, Royce O’Neale and others reached a sudden halt, with the stalling out of the offensive rhythm resulting in all of them looking pedestrian again.
Thus, we arrive at a major quandary for whether the trio can coexist. Early returns are a rather concrete no. But they’re early, and Phoenix could run it back to see if there’s something there.
The issue is…
What does that mean for Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green?
Doing so would require committing to Brooks.
Brooks is due for a contract extension this summer. If he doesn’t get one, he will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
There is no doubt that Brooks is one of the central “culture drivers” of what made the Suns tick in the first half of the year. We also saw the extreme volatility that comes with having Brooks on your team. There is no way to control his brand of basketball. Once the lows started to become more prominent halfway through the season, Booker began an answer on it saying “he’s never seen anything like it” and ended it by saying “it can be controlled.”
As he learned, though, it cannot. You have to live with all the techs, terrible shot selection and “it’s Dillon Brooks time” stretches of games late. The Suns have to decide if they are in that business or not.
If they are, it can’t work with Green, too.
There was no step forward from him this year. Again, it’s not 100% fair to say that with certainty given how he was injured for half of the season. But all of his faults that made Houston pass on giving him a max contract extension draft picks of his nature typically receive were on display throughout.
Green, also extension eligible this summer, has two years left on his deal. He makes $36 million next year with an equal amount for a player option in the final season.
Brooks is slotted at an expiring $20.9 million. He is easily the more tradable piece, and while all it takes is one team, it would be surprising if Green had a market.
The most difficult player to roster in the modern NBA is someone that is definitively not a top-30 guy but either has the upside to be or has shown they could be in the past. Those players are often overpaid, some to a larger extent like Green. To borrow Bill Simmons language here from the G.O.A.T., Green technically has the potential to be the second- or third-best player on a title team. But can he even be the fifth right now? Sixth?
Phoenix should explore trade offers for both and do the value trade-off from there on who to keep. Perhaps the lack of fit for Green alongside Booker is more important than the higher return Brooks would yield.
Either way, head coach Jordan Ott was really onto something that unlocked the best out of nearly everyone on the roster. It doesn’t look like he can achieve that again if both guys are back next year.
What is the present and future of the center position?
This is of course a Mark Williams question.
The trade acquisition during last year’s draft looked like a borderline top-10 center in his first 20 games before his quality of play quickly diminished, just as he began playing in an everyday role for the first time in his four-year NBA career. Sixty games were 16 above his career high and it was a 245-minute bump on that previous best. He also re-injured a left foot that gave him problems in the past, and his season ended after he re-re-injured it.
Williams is a restricted free agent. It’s clear as day the Suns cannot afford to attach any serious money to Williams. There is the idea of an incentive-based contract built around non-guaranteed money, but remember, Williams did not play well for a lot of those games. He could just reach a lot of those guarantee totals, all while playing uninspiring basketball.
It would be shocking to see another team interested. On top of the lack of precedent for offer sheets presented to RFAs the last few years, Williams’ track record should not draw much.
A qualifying offer feels like the outcome. Williams’ is just over $9 million. While there is reason to explore a trade, the only way that can happen is by a sign-and-trade, which would also require him coming to an agreement with another team. If Williams comes back to Phoenix either on the QO or a new deal, he can’t be traded until Dec. 15. It doesn’t feel like he’s going anywhere this summer.
Elsewhere, while Oso Ighodaro’s shortcomings have shown, he took major steps forward in his second season, firmly cementing himself as one of the most versatile 5s defensively and he’s also finding more avenues to success offensively. Ighodaro is not a starting-caliber big yet, at least not right now. But he was one of the best backup centers in the NBA, supported by his stellar on/off numbers, so it’s a matter of if Phoenix can send him back to a reserve position.
The “if” there hedges on if the Suns believe No. 10 overall pick Khaman Maluach is ready to spring from non-rotation role to starting center next season. Maluach’s slim pickings at real minutes in the tail-end of the season went fairly OK, all while still showcasing how long he has to go. Next year will inevitably include some level of growing pains. The Suns will have to determine 1) how high that level is and 2) what heights they are fine with accepting.
The bottom line, however, is that Maluach has to have a guaranteed role next year. So if that comes while not looking to start Ighodaro, what does that mean for Williams? How about for Ighodaro and Maluach?
This is all a little funky. Which makes you curious on…
How can Phoenix upgrade its perimeter size?
There is much more to fully unpack here in the offseason, but the mission statement is to develop a legitimate wing group when it comes to size, length and athleticism.
That could come via trading one of the plethora of 6-foot-5 players on the roster. Whether that’s Brooks or Green, it feels like only one of Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale should return as well.
In a vacuum, Allen is the more valued player, a high-end shooter with more to his offensive game that is not as much of a negative defensively as O’Neale.
But there are no dust bunnies and crumbs around us currently. We are not in a vacuum.
Allen makes almost twice as much money, up to $18.1 million next year with a $19.4 million player option next season compared to O’Neale’s $10.9 million and $11.6 million left. On top of that, Allen’s now got a track record of injuries, where durability is a concern. O’Neale will be easier to trade, so he seems to be the most likely candidate.
The most obvious addition internally is thrusting rookie Rasheer Fleming into major minutes, whether that’s as a starter or the first wing off the bench. Fleming’s development will just simply have to be prioritized, and he has earned that with the flashes he showed in the second half of the season.
Starting feels like the best bet, because 6-foot-8 wings with plus length that are smart with the ball while shooting and defending at a solid level are some of the most valuable player archetypes around. The odds of the Suns finding one available are low, even if they consider using assets like Fleming, Maluach, Ighodaro or their two tradeable first-round picks on draft night.
If Phoenix dips heavily into a search for that bigger forward, it will have to do so with some more flawed players teams are willing to part with. Again, more on that this summer.
What does the bench look like?
Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin are unrestricted free agents. Both have said they want to be back.
Gillespie can be offered over eight figures in a new deal, and honestly, his regression in the last quarter of the season probably did the Suns a favor in not having to go that high. Goodwin’s max is around the same, and while it would be surprising to see him go to eight figures, he’s worth every penny as the player that embodies what Phoenix wants to be.
Unless Phoenix completes some cap gymnastics for the second straight offseason, it will go into the tax if the pair returns.
For the rest of the bench, if Fleming isn’t starting, he should be a mainstay of the second unit. There needs to be another competent wing with size alongside him, and Ryan Dunn did not do enough to prove he was that guy. Phoenix has a fourth-year team option to decide on by the start of next year with Dunn for the 2027-28 season that jumps from $2.8 million to $5 million.
The Suns probably plan on this being Haywood Highsmith. If they add enough size elsewhere, perhaps one more 6-foot-5 king can remain.
Add on whomever the backup 5 is and that’s suddenly five reserves, whether Fleming or a new name is the new big wing starting. That was simple enough.
Bonus: Do they do ‘it’?
Yes, the “it” here is trading Booker, who turns 30 years old the day before Halloween. It’s a dynamic conversation to have.
The short version of it is Booker has slightly regressed the last three seasons, where you wonder if he reached his plateau as a top 10-15 player and won’t get back there again. He’s got four years and a combined $250 million left on his deal. Believe me, plenty of teams would be interested despite that.
While this season did not reveal a path toward contention, it did show promise, something Phoenix could get one more glimpse at next season with a much better constructed roster around Booker to see if he and Ott can be onto something. What this pair achieved with severe limitations offers up the tantalizing thought of what they would be capable of without them.
If that optimism is not rewarded and/or the roster construction still stinks, the Suns can look into “it” with legitimate contemplation and while not losing much value on what it could have got in return for Booker this summer unless his quality of play unexpectedly nosedives.
To be clear, it would be shocking for either Phoenix to entertain trading Booker or for him to ask out. The only way he gets moved is if fractures develop between him and the front office or his desire to win a championship trumps loyalty to the city.
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