Season in Review: Khaman Maluach is the Rudy Gobert evolution Phoenix has always wanted

Welcome to our Phoenix Suns Season in Review series, where we revisit every player who suited up during the 2025–26 campaign through the lens of expectation, reality, and what it ultimately meant.

Player Snapshot

2026-27 Contract Status: $6.3 million

SunsRank (Postseason): 12

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*SunsRank is based on Bright Side writers’ ranking.

Season in One Sentence

The process is underway, and it’s doing its job thanks to a clear evolution in his game.

By the Numbers

GP

MIN

PPG

RPG

APG

BLK

FG%

3PT%

FT%

OFFRTG

DEFRTG

+/- (TOTAL)

46

8.9

3.0

2.9

0.1

0.7

53.3%

23.8%

71.0%

106.0

103.5

+47

The Expectation

Before the season started, Khaman Maluach was viewed as one of the highest‑upside prospects in the 2025 draft. Mainly thanks to an extremely rare profile: lateral mobility for his size, rim deterrence, huge potential in drop coverage, and offensive flashes that hinted at a possible stretch‑five outcome in the medium term.

But unlike other more “NBA‑ready” rookies, nobody really expected him to be immediately productive. Phoenix knew they were getting a raw prospect — a player who still had to learn a ton about NBA pace, defensive reads, and the physical impact required at the highest level. The idea behind drafting him was mostly long‑term: develop a modern center capable of protecting the rim in Jordan Ott’s system while eventually bringing real verticality on offense.

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The Reality

Reality ended up matching those initial expectations pretty closely. Maluach almost never had a stable role in Phoenix’s rotation this season, finishing with only 46 games played and under 9 minutes per game. And yet… we saw the flashes, especially on defense, where as the season went on, Khaman slowly climbed toward the top of certain metrics.

Because even in an ultra‑limited role, he showed exactly why Phoenix believes in him so much. His physical presence immediately changes the geometry of the floor: rim contests, verticality, rebounding, massive defensive coverage despite his age, a real pick‑and‑roll threat, and a shooting touch that suggests he could stretch the floor.

The problem is that everything else was still under…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/season-review-khaman-maluach-rudy-170000569.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-09 17:00:00

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