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May 19, 2026, 2:24 amLast Updated on May 19, 2026 2:24 am by Keston Paul | Published: May 19, 2026
The Suns went through an offseason makeover, and against all expectations, they found themselves in the playoffs via the No. 7 seed in the 2025-26 regular season and the No. 8 seed via the Play-In Tournament before being swept by the Thunder in the first round.
How’d It Go?
The new era of the Suns began with a 2025 offseason teardown to rebuild the foundation of the team. It began with the Kevin Durant trade, which was expanded into a seven-team deal as the Suns did a lot of work to shuffle around picks in the draft, especially to move up in the second round.
PHX: Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Koby Brea, Daeqwon Plowden, 2nd
HOU: Kevin Durant, Clint Capela
BKN: 2 2nds
GSW: Alex Toohey, Jahmai Mashack
ATL: 2nd swap, David Roddy, cash
LAL: Adou Thiero
MIN: Rocco Zikarsky, 2 2nds, cash
โ Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 6, 2025
Aside from that deal, they acquired Mark Williams from the Hornets for the No. 29 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft (which became Liam McNeeley) and a 2029 first-round pick. Additionally, there was the massive waive-and-stretch of the Bradley Beal contract, resulting in over $19 million of dead money on their books over the next five years, but allowing them a lot more roster flexibility in the short-term.
Still, no one actually expected them to make the playoffs or, frankly, to even come close.
They qualified for the NBA Cup knockout rounds, where they lost to the Thunder in the quarterfinals, but they continued to put wins on the board.
Here is their record at the end of each month:End of October: 2-4 (11th in the West)
November: 12-9 (seventh)
December: 19-14 (seventh)
January: 30-19 (seventh, but they did climb to No. 6 briefly)
February: 34-26 (seventh)
March: 42-34 (seventh)And at the end of the regular season in April, they had the seventh-best record in the West, 45-37. Of course, they lost the No. 7 vs. No. 8 Play-In game to the Blazers, ultimately settling for the No. 8 seed after beating the Warriors with their second chance to make the postseason. From there, it is no shame to be swept by the Thunder.
Considering how “stuck” the Suns appeared to be at the end of the 2024-25 season after missing the playoffs with Kevin Durant slated to be on his way out, the process and results of the 2025-26 season were undoubtedly a success.
Coaching
Just In: The Phoenix Suns are hiring Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as the franchise’s new head coach, sources tell ESPN. Ott has been an NBA assistant since 2012 and has a strong background of offensive and defensive creativity, player development and communication. pic.twitter.com/doDE6Fahdj
โ Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 4, 2025
The Suns have had a lot of turnover in their coaching department lately, but instead of opting for the tried-and-tested veteran coach that hasn’t worked out, they went for a first-time head coach with fresh ideas. That decision turned out to be very successful. What did Jordan Ott bring to the table? Defensive tenacity and smart application of analytics — encouraging a player like Collin Gillespie to shoot, for example, which was quite successful.
Over the course of the season, the Suns recorded a 114.2 offensive rating (17th), a 112.9 defensive rating (ninth) and a plus-1.4 net rating (15th). Additionally, they recorded a pace of 98.14 (24th). Per NBA.com, their 19.9 points per game off turnovers ranked fifth, their 16.4 second-chance points ranked sixth and their 14.1 fast-break points ranked 20th. They had the 29th-fewest points in the paint (43.1), indicating there was a problem getting to the rim consistently.
Defensively, they limited opponents to the seventh-fewest fast-break points per game (14.2), but their lack of size shows up by conceding the ninth-most second-chance points per game (15.5). Sturdy point-of-attack defense prevented consistent dribble penetration, as they only conceded the ninth-most points in the paint per game (48.6).
Ott seems to be an excellent communicator, which is an important skill for connecting with players, and we even see it in his media sessions.
Most of all, it seems like Ott lives and breathes basketball, as his players commented on here:
The Players
Devin BookerSG, Phoenix SunsSeason Team GP GS MPG FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PTM 3PTA 3PT% PTS REB AST STL BLK TO 25-26 PHO 64 64 33.5 8.5 18.7 45.6 7.1 8.1 87.3 1.9 5.8 33.0 26.1 3.9 6.0 0.8 0.3 3.1 24-25 PHO 75 75 37.3 8.7 18.9 46.1 5.8 6.4 89.4 2.4 7.3 33.2 25.6 4.1 7.1 0.9 0.2 2.9 23-24 PHO 68 68 36.0 9.4 19.2 49.2 6.0 6.7 88.6 2.2 6.1 36.4 27.1 4.5 6.9 0.9 0.4 2.6 ADP: 11.6/15.1 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 42/66 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 39/65 (8/9-cat)
Booker recorded the fourth-most turnovers per game of his career and you can never count on much in the defensive areas from him, either. He ultimately played in 64 games as a bunch of minor injuries cost him time here and there, but he played in every game from March until the end of the campaign besides the final two; if you are wondering about the 65-game rule, two of Booker’s 64 games were under 10 minutes due to injuries, so he only had 62 games meeting the award specifications, hence he rested those final games. Most of what Booker did doesn’t stand out positively or negatively compared to the rest of his career, but he played the role as a “tough-shot maker” and creator superbly, even if his fantasy impact does not reflect that. His 33.0 percent clip from 3-point range was the worst of his career, however, and he has declined in that area in recent seasons, which is worrying. As presently constructed, not much should change for Booker in Phoenix unless he has a sudden resurgence as a 3-point marksman.
What I can tell you is that if you were patient with Booker or bought low, he delivered during the fantasy playoffs. In his 16 games across March, he averaged 28.8 points (.464 FG%, .884 FT% on 8.6 FTA), 2.4 triples, 3.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.4 blocks and 2.9 turnovers for No. 23/35 (8-cat/9-cat) value per game. So basically, Booker offered positive value in points, threes, FT% and assists during that period, and hopefully that resulted in a few fantasy championships.
Jalen GreenSG, Phoenix SunsSeason Team GP GS MPG FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PTM 3PTA 3PT% PTS REB AST STL BLK TO 25-26 PHO 32 27 25.9 6.8 16.0 42.2 2.0 2.7 74.7 2.2 7.1 31.3 17.8 3.6 2.8 1.1 0.3 2.3 24-25 HOU 82 82 32.9 7.4 17.5 42.3 3.3 4.1 81.2 2.9 8.1 35.4 21.0 4.6 3.4 0.9 0.3 2.5 23-24 HOU 82 82 31.7 6.9 16.2 42.3 3.5 4.3 80.4 2.5 7.4 33.2 19.6 5.2 3.5 0.8 0.3 2.3 ADP: 78.5/59.5 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 309/325 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 178/242 (8/9-cat)
Green found himself in Phoenix after the Rockets’ 2025 offseason trade for Kevin Durant. Green was dealing with a right hamstring strain in preseason, which initially cost him eight games, but he aggravated it in his second game on November 8 and missed 33 games until a return on January 20. Green had only appeared in seven games before the All-Star break, not looking healthy throughout that period. After the All-Star break, Green finally looked back to 100 percent (or close to it) and played 25 consecutive games before sitting out the last two of the regular season. In that stretch, he averaged 19.6 points, 2.3 triples, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 28.9 MPG with a putrid .424 FG% and .730 FT% alongside 2.5 turnovers for top-215 9-cat and top-140 8-cat value per game. Over the entire season, he recorded a career-high in steals per game, which was interesting, but pretty much every other counting stat was the worst of his career aside from his rookie season due to the injury issues that limited his minutes and level of play, while already having a flawed fantasy profile primarily focused on the scoring categories.
Mark WilliamsC, Phoenix SunsSeason Team GP GS MPG FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PTM 3PTA 3PT% PTS REB AST STL BLK TO 25-26 PHO 60 55 23.6 4.7 7.3 64.4 2.3 2.9 77.1 0.0 0.0 100.0 11.7 8.0 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.1 24-25 CHA 44 41 26.6 6.1 10.2 60.4 3.0 3.7 80.4 0.0 0.1 0.0 15.3 10.2 2.5 0.7 1.2 1.6 23-24 CHA 19 19 26.7 5.2 7.9 64.9 2.4 3.4 71.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 12.7 9.7 1.2 0.8 1.1 0.9 ADP: 83.2/103.4 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 101/87 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 102/73 (8/9-cat)
Williams was traded from Charlotte to Phoenix on draft night in 2025, which seemed destined after the fiasco of the rescinded trade with the Lakers in 2024-25. Williams managed to play a career-high 60 games in Phoenix, being handled carefully, as his 23.6 MPG were the fewest outside of his rookie year, and that led to some reductions in his counting stats. Still, you got solid points, rebounds, steals, blocks and better-than-average FT% for a traditional big man. Of his 22 absences in the regular season, 15 can be attributed to a left foot third metatarsal stress reaction, which limited him to just one game in March. Hopefully, he can build on this to squeeze out a couple more MPG while staying relatively healthy, but the Suns do have capable big men behind him (for now) which should not require Williams to play significant minutes. Injury-wise, it should be noted that Williams only appeared in the Suns’ first Play-In game (the loss to the Blazers), missing the Play-In win vs. the Warriors and the entire four-game series vs. the Thunder due to the same left foot injury, which appeared to flare up. Injury-related absences are seemingly always going to be a baked-in risk for Williams.
Considering the Suns attempted to play Williams in both legs of back-to-backs in the second half of the season by managing his minutes off the bench for one of the games, they might revert to the full-time injury management as WIlliams’ body did not agree with that regimen. Williams himself likely wants to play, but the resting strategy clearly worked well earlier in the season.
Dillon BrooksSF, Phoenix SunsSeason Team GP GS MPG FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PTM 3PTA 3PT% PTS REB AST STL BLK TO 25-26 PHO 56 56 30.4 7.4 17.1 43.5 3.0 3.6 84.2 2.3 6.6 34.4 20.2 3.6 1.8 1.0 0.2 1.8 24-25 HOU 75 75 31.8 5.1 11.9 42.9 1.3 1.6 81.8 2.5 6.3 39.7 14.0 3.7 1.7 0.8 0.2 1.0 23-24 HOU 72 72 30.9 4.6 10.7 42.8 1.7 2.0 84.4 1.8 5.1 35.9 12.7 3.4 1.7 0.9 0.1 1.2 ADP: 141.3/140.9 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 170/179 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 148/166 (8/9-cat)
This is just a sneak peek of the Season Wrap. The entire roster is covered, as well as the Fantasy Star, Letdown, One to Watch and One Burning Question for this team.ย You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!ย Premium Access Required
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